Best horror movie factual errors of 1979

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Alien picture

Factual error: When the crew shoots Kane's body out into space, the door opens up and "explosive decompression" causes Kane's body to fly out into space. At the beginning, the body slowly rotates. Then as it moves further away, the body begins flipping much faster. The reason something would increase speed in rotation like that is due to aerodynamics. An object traveling through space would simply keep the same rotational velocity it begins with since there is no air or other influences (gravity, etc.). The explosive decompression may cause it to increase rotation speed, but by the time it begins to flip, any air would have dissipated into space and not work as a column of air/wind to force the body into a flip.

12o

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Zombi 2 picture

Factual error: When Brian fires a rifle at the shark from the boat, he fires the rifle multiple times very quickly. The rifle he is using is a bolt action rifle, which must have a bolt part moved before each fire. He does not touch the bolt.

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Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht picture

Factual error: On the left-hand side of Lucy's front door, you can see a blue and white shield. This is the trademark of the Dutch Heritage organisation, which protects monuments such as old city buildings. These signs did not exist in the 19th Century. (00:48:00)

Vince van Riet

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Murder by Decree picture

Factual error: When Holmes gets rundown by the carriage, he gets taken home and Watson ministers to his head wound. Holmes gets up a short time later and refers to the carriage as a hansom, which is a little two-wheeled cab. The attacker drove a brougham, with four wheels and four-in-hand horses. Even with a slightly bruised head, the master of observation would never make this simple yet telling mistake as he's shown seeing the carriage. The type of carriage is vital to the plot later as it suggests the wealth and status of the murderer and it appears to be used to commit the crimes.

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Phantasm picture

Factual error: Mike attaches a shotgun shell to a hammer to blow a hole in a door. This would be quite likely to kill him - in a shotgun blast, the explosive force, and hence the buckshot, is channelled along the gun barrel. Without a barrel to channel the force, the blast would send buckshot in all directions. (01:00:40)

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