Misery (1990) - 32 mistakes

Revealing: During the big fight scene, just as Annie Wilkes falls to the floor and hits her head on the typewriter, the actress is replaced by a really bad looking Kathy Bates dummy!

Continuity: Early in the movie there is a closeup of the typewriter as Paul is writing an early chapter in his Misery book for Anne. In one of the final scenes, as Paul is finishing the last chapter, there is a closeup of the typewriter. It is the exact same text as was written early in the movie, even the word "and" without the "n."

Audio problem: In the scene where James Caan's character is lying in bed, practising grabbing a large knife from his arm sling, there is the metallic sound as he pulls out the knife. In the sling are his arm and the knife. There is nothing the knife could be pulled against to make the sound.

Continuity: Buster parks his car outside Annie's house and is then shot inside her home. Then in a following wideshot of Annie's house, the car has vanished...

Continuity: When Paul types "what else was there...?" on his typewriter, it is all on one line in a closeup. In the next shot it is on two separate lines when he writes "The End."

Continuity: Buster gets to Annie's house, and as Paul turns in his wheelchair, his cast on his leg disappears between shots.

Continuity: When Buster and his wife Virginia, first get in their 4x4 truck to head down the road, they discover that broken tree limb. Before he yells "stop!", the only part of the road not covered in snow is the tire tracks. After he walks back up the hill (and Annie drives by), the road has no snow on it.

Deliberate "mistake": Kathy Bates gives James Caan his Noveril a number of times, but one particular time Kathy gives him his Noveril and leaves the room. When the camera shows James Caan holding the capsules between his thumbs and forefingers, it is apparent that they are not James Caan's hands in this shot.

Continuity: When Annie leaves Paul's room at one point, she doesn't lock the door. She walks out and walks away, yet when Paul decides to leave the room he has to unlock it with a bobby pin.

Other: When Paul goes through Annie's scrapbook, a fast reader may notice that several newspaper clippings (although having different headlines and being based on separate events), have the exact same story underneath. The text has simply been repeated, rather than a new report being created for each story.

Continuity: When Annie arrives with the tray with champagne etc Sheldon's newest chapter is placed next to his typewriter leaning one way, but in the next clip they are leaning the other way.

Continuity: In the first scene, where Paul just finishes his book, the typewriter he is on seems to change from a big, old typewriter to a newer, small electric one.

Other: Marcia Sindell calls Buster to check on Paul's whereabouts . She doesn't tell him what firm she works for, what city she's calling from, or her phone number. Yet, Buster says when he gets some information on Paul, he'll call her back and they both hang up.

Visible crew/equipment: When Paul is in the kitchen, he looks at the knives. In the stove is the reflection of a person with a white shirt, but Paul is wearing a red shirt.

Continuity: When Annie refills her wine glass when having the toast, the amount of wine poured changes from under a third to about three quarters between shots.

Continuity: When Paul hops out of bed after Annie yells at him for killing Misery, you can see his legs move in the braces several times, even though they should be immobile.

Continuity: When Annie and Paul are having dinner together, Paul pours her a glass of wine. As he is doing so, a few drops spill on the cloth covering the table. The camera then cuts to Annie. As it cuts back to Paul, the few drops of spilt wine are gone. Later, they come back.

Continuity: In the final fight scene, the typewriter changes position.

Continuity: Paul is eating in bed and by the plate are some pain killers. The position of the pain killers in relation to the plate changes between a few shots.

Other: In one scene, Paul locks the door, but Annie enters the room without unlocking the door.

Continuity: When Buster puts the post-it note on the board, it moves about between shots.

Continuity: In the scene where Kathy Bates shoots the sheriff at the top of the stairs, his body collapses and falls on the steps. However, in the next shot, the body disappears.

Continuity: When Annie Wilkes is shaving Paul Sheldon, when she is almost done she stops shaving and talks to him about something briefly. Before she stops talking there is still some shaving cream under his nose. Then when the camera goes back to Sheldon, after she's done talking, there is no shaving cream under his nose.

Continuity: When Sheldon has knocked Annie out the first time you see a view of the room. But the ash is in a neat pile and not spread out as it would have been after he grabbed some of it and stuffed it in her mouth.

Continuity: After Paul burns the manuscript on the grill, Annie begins to take it our of the room after pouring water on it. In the shot in the room, the grill is smoking, but in the shot from the doorway, the papers have suddenly stopped smoking and there is no smoke anywhere else in the room.

Continuity: When we see one wideshot of Annie's house, we can see her car parked in the driveway. But in the next shot we see Paul's face being hit by the headlights of her vehicle, which is just pulling in.

Continuity: When it starts to snow, and Paul puts the windshield wipers on, the rate that they swing differs between shots.

Continuity: When Paul is looking through Annie's album, there is an article on her as a nurse. The headline has her name as Annie M. Wilkes. But, in the accompanying photo her name is listed as Annie C. Wilkes.

Continuity: In the scene where Paul falls down the basement stairs we see a shot with a case of "Canadian" beer behind his head. In another shot the case is covered up with a blanket.

Continuity: When the two main characters are having dinner together, the food on the plates varies in the amount that is eaten - a lot is gone, and then the original amount of food is back again.  A bun on the table also goes through this obvious splicing of different takes, and moves around the table, seemingly unaided.

Continuity: The lighter fluid flips around before James Caan picks it up.

Continuity: When Paul adventures throughout the house (and when Buster, The Sheriff, visits), the house looks very large as they travel within it (the large bedrooms, large upstairs, large dining room, etc.). However, when they show the outside of the house there is no possible way that all of those rooms and that space can fit into that tiny mountain home that they show the outside of.