Question: How could Damien's mother be a jackal? That has always thrown me for a loop and I could never understand why they'd do that unless it was for entertainment purposes. I mean, I know it's Hollywood and all but that's just too far-fetched.
Answer: It's Satan's twisted and macabre mockery of Jesus' virgin mother.
Question: Can anyone tell me the name of the music the band is playing when chief Brody and his wife are dancing?
Answer: Teach me tonight is the name of song when Chief Brody and his wife Ellen are dancing to.
Answer: The songs are: Downtown, The Girl From Ipanema, and Teach Me Tonight.
The very first piece the Amity High School band plays, is a piece called "FANFARE." It was composed specifically for the film -> by Universal's music department head (at the time) HAL MOONEY, utilizing a small Universal staff ensemble of musicians. The composers of the other pieces: Downtown (Tony Hatch), The Girl From Ipanema (Antonio Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes), and Teach Me Tonight (Gene DePaul/Sammy Cahn). I had hoped so much when they came out with the definitive JAWS 2 score, that John Williams would have permitted these pieces to be included on the score. I think the case was that those particular pieces were not in the 'vaults' along with the John Williams score. We'd all agree, those songs are essential to the JAWS 2 narrative.
Any idea if the Teach Me Tonight arrangement from Jaws 2 is commercially available? Great instrumental in the big band style.
Question: Is this film accurate to how rabid dogs behave in real life?
Answer: Not really. Rabies has a wide range of behavioural symptoms, and it's rare for a rabid dog to display what's called "furious rabies," whereby they become more aggressive. And even then, they wouldn't become single-mindedly determined to terrorise two people in a car. It's much more common for a rabid dog to get slower/lethargic as paralysis sets in, eventually leading to coma and death. You can find more info here: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/rabies-in-dogs.
Question: In the film we see one ghost that is more of a neutral spirit. It is never seen harming anyone and the only time it scares someone is when it walks towards Bobby, but his head is near Bobby. Is the Torso a murderous spirit or not?
Answer: No, it isn't that they're evil, but all were victims of violent crime. They're all tortured souls.
Answer: They all have the potential for danger, however some of them are not dangerous. I would say the Torso is not a murderous spirit, though potentially he could be one.
Question: Why doesn't Howie try to escape when being carried up to the wicker man?
Answer: What's the use? He's surrounded, he can't fight everyone and there's nowhere for him to run.
He is also a fundamentally religious man and he believes that he is going to die and go to heaven.
Question: In the middle of the movie, one of the doctors tells the others of John Merrick, aka The Elephant Man. They show him for a few seconds Disrobed.. What is the point of showing Merrick in the movie? This scene seems totally isolated from the rest of the plot. It almost feels like they had an extra minute to kill and decided to add it in.
Answer: In the original book, Merrick's appearance is used to show William Gull's education, expertise as an anatomist and that he recognises and respects cultural diversity - Gull assures Merrick that, had he been born in India, he would be worshipped as a descendant of the elephant-headed god, Ganesa. In this spirit, Gull even offers the victim of his first Ripper slaying to Ganesa as a sacrifice, as Indians make a sacrifice to Ganesa at the beginning of an important enterprise. Merrick is present as a vehicle to establish the rich nature of Gull's character. When it comes to the film, however, this subtlety is completely lost - it seems very much that the scriptwriter noted Merrick's appearance in the book and felt that it would be cool to include the character in his script. As such, as you point out, it does feel that Merrick's presence, stripped of the subtleties of the book, is almost entirely pointless.
Question: Why was Carter deliberately causing enough commotion to drive the other tenants out?
Answer: If there are no other tenants, it means a loss of income for the owners. Carter, meanwhile was destroying the other apartment, making it useless to rent out. Patty and Drake need the income from both apartments that they are renting out in order to pay the monthly mortgage on their Victorian house.
Question: Why did Louis kill Church at the end? He only planned on killing Gage if he came back like Timmy Baterman did, and he could have just walked in after distracting Church with the meat.
Chosen answer: Church's behavior had changed after being buried. He was now violent (and working with Gage) and needed to be put down before killing anyone.
Answer: I think he was testing whatever was in the syringe on Church first to make sure it would actually kill them.
Question: This is a weird question, but was December 11th 1960 actually on a Friday?
Answer: No, it was a Sunday. However, December 11th fell on a Friday in 1959, the year before release.
Answer: The film was shot in 1959 and released in 1960, so the reference to this date being on Friday would be correct.
Question: Where is the David Schwimmer reference in this movie? I know that there is a Jennifer Aniston reference, but I heard that there was one about David Schwimmer.
Answer: It's when Dewey and Randy are talking about the movie Stab. Randy says to him "At least you get played by David Schwimmer, I get the guy who rode the stage coach through one episode of Dr Quinn".
Question: Does anyone know the song that plays on the radio after a Graboid swallows it?
Answer: Trouble by Travis Tritt.
Question: If the "cold drink" vending machine was unplugged and the buttons were unresponsive, WHY did the saboteurs deliberately illuminate the front of the machine? Wouldn't this ATTRACT people to the machine, only to subsequently arouse curiosity when it failed to function (as it did with Mulder)? The more logical approach would be to disable the vending machine (including the illumination) and tape an "out of order" sign on it. People would then just ignore the machine, arousing no suspicion. The illuminated vending machine gimmick looks like an illogical contrivance to advance the plot.
Chosen answer: If they had put an "Out of Order" sign, or left it unilluminated, someone in charge might try to have it fixed or replaced, or could have checked to see if it's plugged in, etc. By leaving it illuminated, it doesn't look out of place and simply not taking money wouldn't arouse too much suspicion. In my own life, when I've come across a seemingly working vending machine that won't take my money or dispense drinks (but gives my money back), I just find another one instead of calling someone or reporting it. But yes, it is very convenient to the plot that Mulder just happens to try and use this particular machine.
Question: When the Debutante examines herself in the mirror, why does she center on and support her breast just before doubling over in pain?
Answer: She was most likely giving herself a breast-self examination. Doing this would enable her to feel for lumps, distortion or swelling which if felt early would mean that she might have early stages of breast cancer and could get it checked immediately.
Her breast was sensitive and painful because she could sense that something wasn't right with her.
So the alien embryo inside of her body was giving her cancer?
No. It wasn't giving her cancer. She probably does a breast-self examination periodically to insure that there's nothing wrong with her breasts.
Plus, it wouldn't make any sense for an alien embryo to give her cancer since after giving birth to an alien hybrid she would immediately die.
Answer: She could feel discomfort in her breast as she moved her hands down to her stomach.
Question: After Laura and Steve leave to go out of town, Nicole calls David to come over. He's in the car with Logan and during this scene, while talking to Nicole, he's rubbing something in his lap, under his arm. What is he rubbing? Is it someone's head or his knee?
Answer: I always thought it was a girl giving him a blow job.
Me too! I've seen it more than once and it's not until I'm watching it just now that it shows up as a dog, I could have sworn it was a girl.
Answer: He is petting a dog that's sitting on his lap.
Question: Why can Liv McKenzie not go to see Tara Carpenter, her co-worker/close friend after her near-murder attack? Her absence is done to draw suspicion on her, but as she is later revealed to not be the killer, the question is left unanswered in the film. (00:15:45)
Answer: To try to throw them off the scent and add suspicion to make us think maybe possibly they're the killer(s).
This answer is literally part of the question. The question mentions that this was done to make the character seem suspicious. The question was asking why, in the context of the film, can't Liv go to see Tara. Not why in a behind-the-scenes sense.
Answer: It's never explained in the film, so any answer would be pure speculation. As you said, it was obviously done to draw suspicion onto her by the filmmakers, but there's any number of reasons she might not be able to, so really it's a case of picking your poison. (Perhaps she had a previous appointment she couldn't miss, perhaps she has a family matter to attend to, etc).
Question: If the waterfall prevents the creatures hearing them, why not live there?
Question: There was a "Friday the 13th" TV series that ran from 1987-1990 and had about 70 episodes; does anybody know where I can see these episodes online?
Chosen answer: No, not all of them. The first three episodes are on Youtube. Direct TV new horror-movie channel - Chiller TV - is airing all the episodes currently, but you have to subscribe to the TV station (check out ChillerTV.com.) They are not officially on DVD, but are also sold on ebay. The series has no affiliation to the Friday The 13th Jason films.
Answer: The entire series is now on DVD. You can most likely find them on Amazon or a video store.
Question: When John is telling Lawrence about the argument with Ben, John says that Ben would have taken Gwen away from him. Does this mean that John was secretly in love with Gwen?
Answer: Of course, probably not real love, but he wanted to possess her.
Chosen answer: The idea wasn't entirely Hollywood's. The antichrist is sometimes said to be "born of a jackal. " Jackals are mentioned in the Bible, and some interpretations consider them a symbol of something that is "not of God." In the movie, it means that the kid was scary as hell, literally.
Hobbes