Best thriller movie factual errors of all time

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Don't Breathe picture

Factual error: In the basement scene where the blind man is shooting at the home invaders with the M9 Beretta, the weapon should lock with the chamber open once the last round is fired. Instead the slide goes forwards, allowing the blind man to continue pulling the trigger.

Duane Zook

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Knives Out picture

Factual error: Opening the blank envelope, Marta finds the fragment of the toxicology report. It is signed "Office of the chief medical examiner, Norfolk County, Massachusetts." But then it writes also the address of said office, which is in Marlborough. Marlborough is also the city when Marta resides, and where the lawyers' letters we see come from. But Marlborough is also a city in the Middlesex county, not Norfolk. (01:28:25)

Sammo

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Frequency picture

Factual error: A ham radio requires the person to hold down the button while talking. Numerous times in the movie they are talking without pushing the button.

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Suggested correction: This is actually subtly addressed in the film. The magic which allows the radio to work across time also allows the two men to speak without pressing the button. There is a moment where Frank wonders what is going on with the radio and presses the button a few times to talk but then notices that he doesn't have to press the button to be heard.

BaconIsMyBFF

If that was true, then it wouldn't make sense for them to continue to show Frank and John hitting the squawk bar throughout the film.

Bishop73

That is a separate issue. The mistake entry states that you need to hold the button to talk on a ham radio, which is true, but the magic ham radio in the film doesn't require it. If the actors continue to occasionally press the button that could be considered a character mistake but it could also simply be a force of habit by the characters.

BaconIsMyBFF

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes picture

Factual error: When Koba steals an Armored Security Vehicle class M1117A Guardian, he kills the gunner from the turret and then somehow manages to use the 240B attached to the turret. First, it takes three men/apes to operate the ASV, and second, the ASV cannot be operated from the turret. In that scene, it is assumed that Koba is operating the entire vehicle, something most humans cannot do or do not know how to do. Let alone a 240B, MK19, or .50 Cal M2 Browning. The ASV turned in the direction of the wall, which was the only way that the Apes were able to breach the city walls. This is also kind of an important plot hole blunder too because if it were not for the breach from the ASV, the Apes would not have won. The other blunder from this is that the gunner would not have been exposed from the hatch, since the ASV was using .50Cal and MK19. No need to use the 240B.

Bradley Holmes

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Suggested correction: Nonsense. Not all can be put out with water, some can.

If you did research on fires you will see that putting water on chemical fires makes it spread. Gasoline and oil float to the surface of the water and continue to burn.

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Cliffhanger picture

Factual error: How is it that when Sly comes out of the freezing, icy water, his hair and clothes are bone dry? I don't know too much about hypothermia, but I would imagine that his fairly thin sweater isn't wind proof. I'm sure by the time the movie ended, he would be suffering from more symptoms of hypothermia other than chattering teeth.

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Airport 1975 picture

Factual error: The scene in which the Beechcraft Baron hits the Boeing 747 in flight plumbs new depths in cinematic absurdity. Assuming both aircraft are at their normal cruising speeds - they appear to be - and the Beechcraft has half a fuel load left, it will hit with the same energy as 7,700 kgs of TNT. The Beechcraft Baron weighed 3,200 kg and the two aircraft would have a closing speed of something like 700 kmh. Even a glancing blow would tear the entire front half of the 747 to bits - there would be virtually nothing of the fuselage left intact all the way back to the wings, and the film shows the two aircraft on course for a head on collision.

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Suggested correction: What matters is how much of the small plane's kinetic energy was deposited in the 747's structure. A glancing blow would deliver less energy than a head-on collision, because it lessens the total time interval of the impact. Another important thing is if the small plane shattered or stayed largely in one piece during the collision. If it promptly shredded on impact, then each little fragment carried away its portion of the total energy. Smaller pieces of something as light as that plane would immediately get caught in the powerful airflow and be diverted around the 747.

Absolute rubbish. Airliners do not survive mid air collisions.

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Mission: Impossible 2 picture

Factual error: In the scene at the race track where they show the virus infecting and destroying cells in the blood stream, they clearly show that it is red blood cells being infected. Viruses, in order to replicate, require the cell's DNA replication machinery. However, mature red blood cells in the circulation no longer possess this machinery since they no longer have a nucleus or DNA. It would therefore be impossible for this virus to replicate.

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Clockstoppers picture

Factual error: In the DJ spin-off scene, Zach and Francessca help make Meeker cool by going into hypertime and giving him a dance lesson. At one point, we see Zach and Francessca in hypertime making Meeker do flips. Then, in real time, we see that Meeker is doing the flips at the same speed that he was doing in hypertime. Wouldn't he be going a lot faster in real time, not the same speed as he was in hypertime?

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Dirty Harry picture

Factual error: When Harry is confronting the bank robber and the robber says he has to know if Harry had any shots left, Harry cocks the hammer which rotates the cylinder. If you watch closely when he pulls the trigger the cylinder rotates again. This can happen only when the trigger is pulled in double action mode (hammer down). (00:14:00)

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Alien Vs. Predator picture

Factual error: When they're first entering the whaling camp, a penguin startles Miller. That penguin was a black-footed penguin, which is a bird native to much warmer climates. If that little guy had actually been in Antarctica, he would have died within minutes. (00:20:40)

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A Quiet Place picture

Factual error: Grain engulfment is not depicted in a scientific manner. It is not possible for engulfment to happen without a valve being opened at the base - which has not been shown in the movie when the boy falls in the grain storage. It is very unlikely that two engulfments will happen so close by in the same storage - if so, they will converge quickly. But, the movie shows both victims help each other one by one. They succeed in 5-10 seconds. Engulfment become entrapment in less than 20 seconds and require more than thrice the body weight to pull some one out (unlike one kid being able to pull other one out while both are on the grain). Finally, they both sit on the door and avoid entrapment.

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Suggested correction: It's possible for grain to look sturdy but not be underneath so the engulfment could have possible. But you're right about them not being able to pull each other out.

Well observed. It's a factual error.

I jumped into grain hundreds of times. It is not possible without the grain moving underneath.

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The Net picture

Factual error: Angela Bennett finds the Praetorian's IP while using the PC in the Cathedral's bank: it's 23.75.345.200 - they want us to believe that this is an IP, but no IP can contain numbers greater than 255. [Common practice, like fake phone numbers, but still worth noticing].

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Jeepers Creepers picture

Factual error: When the kids are getting hit from behind by the truck, cut to a side shot of them in the car, the boy's body moves forward, while the girl's body is more properly propelled in a backward motion relative to the car. This happens several times.

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The Thing picture

Factual error: Winter in Antarctica would not have a night and day as portrayed, with the amount of light changing so much during the course of 24 hours.

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Contact picture

Factual error: The geography around the VLA in New Mexico is actually relatively flat - in fact one of the reasons why the array complex is there is because the land is flat. The canyon in the film was actually Canyon de Chelly, in Arizona, more than 170 miles (270 km) away. But in the film, when Ellie goes to the canyon, the radio antennas seem to be right there, insinuating that the canyon is part of the VLA's magical desert scenery.

solarpilot

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Sherlock Holmes picture

Factual error: In the scene depicting life on Baker Street (after the "Sherlock Holmes" title), a horse-drawn carriage races through the streets of London. The only problem is, the carriage is driving on the right side of the road with others passing on the left. In England, carriages would be driving on the left. (00:07:05)

mphe

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The Blair Witch Project picture

Factual error: A girl is playing with a Tamagotchi virtual pet in the scene set in 1994, but the toy was not released in Japan until 1996 (it wasn't officially available in the USA until May 1997).

Rev.Erebus

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Gone Girl picture

Factual error: SPOILER: Amy Dunne returns covered with blood. After being at the hospital, and in the interview/questioning, she is still covered with blood. After being medically examined, she would have been washed clean, not just dressed over all the mess. But it gets worse; when returning to Nick in their house, she has a crisp hospital garment, but is still covered in blood! And it gets even worse; when they are in the shower, the blood on her body, which by now would have been at least a day old, would have been dried, caked and brownish color, but what she washes off is very fresh.

Michael Ebner

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Paycheck picture

Factual error: When Shorty is removing Jennings' memories in the beginning, the pictures shown are from a third person viewpoint. If they are his memories, shouldn't these be from Jennings' viewpoint? (00:06:40)

Phoenix

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