 Coming at the tail end of the giallo cycle , Tenebrae does not appear to have been as influential as Argento 's earlier films were on subsequent thrillers , though Douglas E. Winter said that Tenebrae 's Louma crane sequence was stylistically influential and was used in Brian De Palma 's The Untouchables ( 1987 ) . In addition , towards the end of the film , with Neal the killer supposedly dead , the camera faces Detective Giermani directly . When he stoops to pick up some evidence from the floor , Neal is revealed to be stood behind him , their silhouettes having perfectly matched in the shot . Alan Jones believes Tenebrae was the first film to use this specific shot , and that it was copied and referenced deliberately in many subsequent films . One such example , discussed as an unacknowledged " steal " from Tenebrae , is De Palma 's " surprise reveal " of John Lithgow standing behind a victim in Raising Cain ( 1992 ) . Robert Zemeckis 's What Lies Beneath ( 2000 ) also contains a very similar moment , although Zemeckis has denied having any familiarity at all with Italian thrillers . 
