History Film / TheLittleThings

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler:Baxter accidentally kills Albert with a shovel after being taunted too many times. Deke helps him dispose of anything related to Albert and eventually buries Albert's corpse; Baxter keeps trying to tell himself that Albert was the killer and Albert encourages him to believe this so his life won't be ruined, but it's ultimately left unknown whether or not Albert was the killer]].

* AmbiguousEnding: [[spoiler: Baxter accidentally kills Albert with the shovel after being taunted too many times. Deke helps him dispose of anything related to Albert with Albert's corpse buried eventually, while Baxter keeps trying to tell himself that Albert was the killer. Meanwhile, it's still left unknown whether or not Albert is the killer, basically leaving whether or not the actual serial killer who nearly killed Tina is still out there...]]

* BeautyInversion: Jared Leto is a very pretty man, but Sparma has greasy hair, a ratty beard and a pot belly. He also waddles when he walks.

* TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch: The big reveal for Deke's backstory is that [[spoiler:he shot a victim on reflex, and her death was blamed on the killer who had killed the other two people she was with. The coroner has to lie and claim it was death by stab wounds, since the killer doesn't use guns]].

* ContrivedCoincidence: The film's finale offers this as one potential explanation. Either [[spoiler: Sparma is guilty, or a man who enjoys confessing to crimes he didn't commit just happened to have been working for a company tied to a victim. And that man just happened to be tracking Deke's old case as well as Jimmy's current case, and happened to be listening to dispatch at the time of a body being found. And happened to fit the description given by the escaped victim as well as the profile made by both Deke and the FBI. But there wouldn't be enough evidence to convict him, regardless]].

* DrivingQuestion: Why is the serial killer going after prostitutes?

* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler:Used repeatedly throughout the movie which all leads to the AmbiguousEnding. The ColdOpen implies that the young girl trying to get away from the odd stalker will be missing and/or dead and will play a major role. But midway through the film she shows up unharmed at the Sheriff’s office. Then her being left alone in the station for a few minutes seems like it’ll be huge, but ultimately only corrupts the identification process and she’s never seen or mentioned again. Then Sparma’s insistence on taking Baxter to the site out on the country is creepily reminiscent of “Film/Se7en” and he even starts talking about Baxter’s family. But then he tells him he’s never killed anyone in his life right before Baxter murders him and no bodies are found.]]

* AssholeVictim: Played with in regards to [[spoiler:Albert Sparma; it depends on whether you think he was the killer or not. If he was the killer, then he had it coming, but if he wasn't then t worst he's guilty of being a creepy weirdo and wasting police time; he's not the most sympathetic victim but it doesn't make him deserving of death]].

->''"It's [[TitleDrop the little things]] that are important, Jimmy. It's the little things that get you caught."''

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