The Shining (1980) - 18 mistakes

Revealing: In the first scene, when Nicholson is driving to the Overlook, the shadow of a helicopter can be seen at the bottom right. This is only visible in the un-matted VHS print and fullscreen DVD.

Continuity: At the beginning when Danny is talking to his Mom and eating a sandwich, the sandwich gets about 5 bites smaller in a split second.

Other: Wendy has a baseball bat in her hand and Jack is trying to get the baseball bat. When Wendy hits him over the head, the baseball bat bends.

Visible crew/equipment: In the final shot of the opening sequence (before "the Interview" title shot), at the top of the frame, you will see the helicopter blades twirling. (Visible on fullscreen DVD and VHS.)

Continuity: In the initial overhead shot of the house the hedge maze is not there though later on it is shown quite close to the house.

Continuity: Wendy comforts Jack after he has had his nightmare. His hairstyle keeps differing depending on the angle focusing on him.

Continuity: In the beginning when Wendy is talking to the doctor, Wendy lights a cigarette, seconds later the paper has burned almost to the filter.

Continuity: When Danny is playing alone in the corridor, with his toy cars and trucks, in the overhead shot, the little vehicles are set up on the orange and brown pattern, as the ball roles to him down the center brown path in the carpet's sextagon pattern. However, in Danny's close-up, when the ball is in front of him, all the little toy vehicles are now set up (still the same way) on the opposite side of the carpet's distinct pattern, as he also faces the opposite way. This mistake has absolutely nothing to do with the ghosts of The Outlook moving the ball.

Continuity: While breaking down the bathroom door with the axe, Jack repeatedly strikes and damages the right hand panel, but as he turns away from the door (when he hears the snow-cat) both left and right panels have been damaged.

Revealing: In the scene where the barman drops the drinks on Jack Nicholson, the cups are fixed to the tray. This is seen when the barman takes the tray up from the floor, and in the next scene, when he puts it on the table at the bathroom.

Continuity: When Jack breaks the door to the bathroom and reaches in to unlock, Wendy cuts him. Later there is no blood on the knife.

Revealing: In the scene where Wendy is confronting Jack about the bruises on Danny's neck, and she carries Danny away, take a look at "Danny" in her arms. She picks up a real little boy, but then after a cut away, in the next shot she is very obviously carrying a dummy (you can see his stiff body and cloth hand).

Continuity: Jack is walking through the apartment towards the bathroom door with the ax. In the scene before he enters the apartment, "redrum" is written on the bathroom door. In the shot where we see him getting ready to break down the bathroom door, "redrum" is missing from the door.

Continuity: When Wendy is looking through all the typed sheets where Jack has typed 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy', you can see that they are getting disorganised, and when Jack sneaks up on her, she gets a fright and puts them down in an untidy pile. However, in the next shot, they are in a relatively neat pile again in the tray.

Continuity: At the end of the movie there is the chase scene through the hedge maze in the dead of winter in Colorado. While Jack Nicholson runs after his son in a winter setting you cannot see their breath in what would be the cold night air.

Continuity: When Hallorann is showing Wendy & Danny around after they first arrive at the hotel, they walk through the kitchen towards camera & into the freezer door to the left of the screen. You can see the kitchen still visible in the background. When they leave the freezer (after Hallorann calls Danny "Doc"), the background is completely different & the kitchen is not visible. This is because they have actually filmed a different door on the opposite side of the corridor. They then walk towards camera again & back into the kitchen they have just walked through.

Continuity: In the scene where Jack is talking through the door of the food closet he has been locked into, his right hand is leaning on a long thin door handle on his side of the door. However, a later shot of the door shows the same handle to be on the right hand side of the door, in which case in the earlier shot he would have been leaning on it with his left hand.

Continuity: As Danny is writing 'redrum' on the bathroom door, the lampshade on the nightstand light is askew. A moment later, when Jack is knocking down the door with the axe, the lampshade has somehow straightened itself out.