Best mystery movie mistakes of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Flowers in the Attic picture

Continuity mistake: When Corrine takes off her blouse, she shows her children seventeen scars on her back that she got from being whipped by the grandmother. Later in the movie, when Corrine is dancing at a party, she is wearing a strapless dress and there are no scars or any signs that she was struck with a whip.

More Flowers in the Attic mistakes
Scream 2 picture

Revealing mistake: When the killer is attacking Cici on the balcony, you can see blood on Cici's back before she is even stabbed and both times she is stabbed, the knife that comes out of her back has no blood on it. (00:33:20)

Hamster

More Scream 2 mistakes
Monster House picture

Other mistake: When Nebbercracker is on the stretcher and is being wheeled away, the grass pulls off one of the last wheels. When the stretcher is loaded into the ambulance both of the back wheels are intact.

More Monster House mistakes
Scream picture

Visible crew/equipment: As Wes steps out of the shower and is drying his hair, you can just see the reflection of the camera man in the glass on the right side.

TerrenHurley

More Scream mistakes
Atonement picture

Factual error: Near the beginning of the film before James McAvoy heads up to the house for the evening meal, he is seen looking up through a skylight when a Lancaster bomber slowly flies overhead. At the time it was was supposed to be 1935. The Lancaster bomber did not fly until the beginning of 1941. Can't be an Avro Manchester either, they only had two engines and first flew in 1939.

More Atonement mistakes
More The Omen mistakes
Snake Eyes picture

Revealing mistake: After the sniper is shot he falls through the wall. Look at his silencer when he hits the ground - it bends where it attaches to the muzzle. A real metal silencer wouldn't do that. (00:41:25)

More Snake Eyes mistakes
Basic picture

Factual error: When the Ranger trainees first meet Samuel L. Jackson, he's wearing the rank of a Specialist on his collars even though he's a Master Sergeant. Title 18, Chapter 33 of the US code prevents the unauthorized wear of a military uniform (among other things), however this does not automatically correct the mistake since a common misconception is that one slight alteration is sufficient to make the uniform legal. Having the wrong rank on is too obvious of an alteration, especially for anybody who has spent more than a day in or around the Army and would still be punishable by law, if he was dressed in an attempt to fool your average citizen outside of a movie.

More Basic mistakes
Eyes Wide Shut picture

Visible crew/equipment: In a scene not too long after Tom Cruise attempts to revive a hooker who has OD'd, he is speaking with an older gentleman. The three are in a bathroom and the hooker is passed out on a chair. One of the shower or light fixtures toward the left of the screen is shiny, and in a shot during which the camera briefly tracks in reverse, you can see the camera, cameraman and the focus puller reflected. It's pretty clear and not all that fast.

More Eyes Wide Shut mistakes

It (1990)

It picture

Revealing mistake: In the library scene when Richie sees Pennywise the clown, all the balloons filled with blood are popping on people who aren't supposed to be able to see them, but one lands on a lady and you can see her jump as the balloon pops.

More It mistakes
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince picture

Continuity mistake: In the dormitory, when lovestruck Ron is going gaga over Romilda, he is wearing a brown sleeveless tee shirt and its tan trim has many holes. When Harry brings Ron to Slughorn, Ron is still wearing that tee shirt, but now some of the holes are gone and the rest of the holes have changed position. (01:26:50)

Super Grover

More Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince mistakes
The Nun picture

Continuity mistake: When Sister Irene's habit is ripped at the back, you can see a bra strap on her left shoulder which disappears when she is seen at the front and when the camera is closer to her back (when she has the pentagram carved into her).

Andy Benham

More The Nun mistakes
Knowing picture

Character mistake: The newspaper article states that Lucinda was thirty-three at the time of her death in 1988. However, that would make her just four years old when she wrote the time capsule note in 1959 - four years old in the 3rd grade?

More Knowing mistakes
Identity picture

Revealing mistake: When John Cusack is driving the actress, there is a shot looking over his right shoulder at the dashboard. The speedometer reads 0 mph. (00:08:15)

More Identity mistakes
The Pink Panther picture The Pink Panther mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Clouseau parks in front of the ministry of justice, he breaks the hood of two police cars. A few shots later, when we see him entering the building, only one of the cars is broken.

Dr Wilson

More The Pink Panther mistakes
Unbreakable picture

Factual error: When Bruce Willis is looking at his old high school news clippings you see a professional baseball score on one of the newspaper clippings. The game was Pittsburgh vs. Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks were not a team yet when he was in high school. (00:33:35)

More Unbreakable mistakes
The Da Vinci Code picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Sophie finds the cross key behind the painting, her hand is holding the painting while the key falls, but in the next shot, her hand isn't touching the painting at all.

MasterChief3624

More The Da Vinci Code mistakes
Scream 4 picture

Deliberate mistake: In the final shot of the film, Jill's head moves slightly when she's supposed to be dead. In the commentary, Wes Craven confirmed this wasn't strictly intentional, but he decided to leave the take in on purpose in case he decided to bring her back in a future installment. But unless a sequel proves she's still alive, it's technically a mistake, albeit a deliberate one.

THGhost

More Scream 4 mistakes
Backdraft picture

Continuity mistake: When the firefighters go to the house of the first backdraft "victim" you see that he has gone through the windshield of his car. But when we saw him opening his front door and getting hurled away from the house he didn't land anyway near the car.

More Backdraft mistakes
Star Trek: The Motion Picture picture Star Trek: The Motion Picture mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the final scene on the bridge, Spock and McCoy are wearing colored arm bands which identify their departments: Spock's is orange (for Science) and McCoy's is green (for Medical). In the very last shot, Spock is wearing the green band and McCoy is wearing the orange one.

More Star Trek: The Motion Picture mistakes

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.