Best thriller movie questions of 1988

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Child's Play picture

Question: When Chucky confronts John, he say he "prepared" for it, meaning he made the voodoo doll himself, but then he says John shouldn't tell people where he hides them. Was this a mistake during production?

JohnShel91

Chosen answer: This isn't a mistake. John made the voodoo doll himself. When Chucky said he was "prepared" for it, he meant that he was prepared to do whatever it takes to get information from John about his being wounded. Even killing him as we see.

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Young Guns picture

Question: Chavez calls Billy "Chivato". What does this mean?

Answer: Chivato in northern Mexico chihuahua area a Chivato is a male kid goat but also can be used as a young person full of energy, also an endearing term for a young boy. Lincoln Country is 2.5 hours from El paso TX and Chihuahua Juarez to be exact where many a cowboy spent their pay so the term would have the same meaning in Lincoln Ruidoso, Capitán where I grew up.

Answer: According to Lou Dimond Phillips himself in a tweet in response to the word, he said "'Chivato.' I'm told it means little kid, as in goats and as in Billy the Kid."

Bishop73

Answer: Chavez means Chivato as a young man not a traitor as some speculate.

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Mississippi Burning picture

Question: Who was the man who hung himself in the end?

Answer: The Mayor (played by R Lee Ermey) who had been told the story of Homer Wilkes and threatened with castration earlier on.

Chimera

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Hellbound: Hellraiser II picture

Question: When Elliot Spenser is being transformed into Pinhead, who was cutting lines into his face and head and driving nails into him?

Answer: All we can see (in abstract closeup) is serpent-like tendrils cutting him and driving the pins into his head. As someone else said, it's likely another cenobite, although alternately it could also be the same "contraption" that turns Channard into a cenobite late in the film, given the tendrils are similar to the ones he sprouts.

Answer: Presumably another cenobite/cenobites. The choice not to show them makes for a better scene, as that moment is all about him, becoming the iconic Pinhead; the cenobites who made him that way are of no consequence to the story, and their own grotesque appearance would have distracted from his transformation.

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The Blob picture

Question: For the original, the sequel and the remake, what materials did the crew use to create the blob and how did they get it to move?

Answer: In both the the 50's original and 70s sequel, the majority of the Blob effects were created using a thick silicone gel colored with red vegetable dye; its movement was essentially controlled by gravity, just letting the goop run downhill and angling the camera to provide the illusion that it was moving horizontally, vertically, or straight at the audience. The original film also employed a large barrage balloon (or weather balloon) covered in the colored silicone goop for shots where people are actually consumed by the Blob. The 1972 sequel additionally used a preposterous rotating spit covered in red plastic, mounted in front of the camera, to provide the Blob's point-of-view as it steamrolled toward its victims. The 1988 remake used much more sophisticated practical effects such as robotics, latex prosthetics, pneumatic tentacles, et cetera, which were directly inspired by John Carpenter's 1982 special-effects-heavy horror flick, "The Thing." For the last couple of decades, there has also been talk of a major CGI reboot of "The Blob," but it has yet to materialize.

Charles Austin Miller

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Die Hard picture

Question: On the some versions (TV), when Al walks in the lobby to check it out, right before he gets to the elevators and then leaves, the camera pans to the left and you see a terrorist with a machine gun waiting for him. On other versions (VHS) you don't see this terrorist. Why? NOTE: I've seen both on the same TV set.

Answer: The most likely reason is that the two versions have been "panned and scanned" differently. In the original theater version, both things are on screen at the same time at opposite sides of the screen. In one version, the person who did the TV P&S (not someone associated with the making of the film) chose to move the view from one side of the original picture to the other, showing the terrorist, while the person who did the VHS P&S stayed focused on one side of the frame, only showing Al.

Myridon

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Answer: Thank you.

Rob245

Answer: It's tricky to say, as the films have contradictory explanations, and there are different "timelines/universes" in the series. But in the context of this film, Michael is for some reason compelled to kill his family for reasons unknown. Presumably he's just finishing the job he started by killing his sister Judith decades earlier. (They try to give a more concrete explanation in the movie "The Curse of Michael Myers," but it's... flimsy at best. And is contradicted by the following film).

TedStixon

Answer: Because he's a psychopath. And purely and simply evil.

ChristmasJonesfan

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They Live picture

Question: Was Holly already aware that the aliens existed prior to Nada (Piper) abducting her and when did she decide to join the aliens' quest?

Answer: Yes, she was one of them all along, she was playing dumb, even when she showed up at the underground meeting, a double agent.

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Akira picture

Question: Can anyone explain the significance of Tetsuo's transformation towards the end of the film? I've been told it supposed to symbolise something but I can't figure out what.

Answer: In effect, it should symbolize (just as the other psionics say) that humanity is not yet ready to control such power; we are mentally not 'mature' enough. And since we are mere 'children', we tend to play with that power without any real sense of responsibility, and before we know it, it goes out of control. In effect, it mirrors the lack of sense that we demonstrate in our real world, with our technical and political power.

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Poltergeist III picture

Question: Whatever happened to Scott, Donna's boyfriend? Donna and everybody else returned after Tangina left with Kane, but did he?

Answer: At the end of the movie, it was a different actress who played Carol Ann as the actress had already died by that point. Rumor has it that the actor who played Scott was so distraught over her death that he couldn't come back to film the scene.

lartaker1975

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A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 picture

Question: Why does Freddy use Alice to gain access to new victims?

Answer: As Kristin was being burned to death in the boiler, she passed her ability to pull other people into her dreams to Alice. This enabled Freddy to get new victims.

Answer: He'd killed her friends in the previous movie, remember? When he came back she'd had time to recover and make new friends.

Rob245

That was Kristen, not Alice. Alice gives the answer to this question herself, while talking to Dan in the diner. She says that Kristen was the last of the children of the people who killed Freddy, and "maybe Freddy can't get to the new kids unless there's someone to bring them to him."

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The Dead Pool picture

Question: Liam Neeson says he needed Johnny Squares as "a video tie-in." What does he mean by this? How does a music video help a film or vice versa?

The_Iceman

Chosen answer: MTV was extremely popular in 1988, especially with the young demographic his film was intended for. Having a music video tie-in would increase the film's exposure as well as its potential box office performance.

zendaddy621

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Tequila Sunrise picture

Question: When Nick goes to the restaurant when it is closed for the day and night, and Nick has tried to explain everything to Joanna, then she has to answer the phone, why does the camera zoom in on a pair of sunglasses at the far end of the bar?

kh1616

Chosen answer: It's not the sunglasses. It's the matches. Nick is acting as though he is coming closer to Joanna to get a pack of matches, which she then notices he already has. She realises that he is trying to eavesdrop on her conversation, and although she was previously buying his apology her demeanor changes drastically once she is finished with the phone call.

Oh my gosh, thank you! One of my favourite movies, yet I didn't get this scene.

Answer: They are zooming in on the lighter not the sunglasses. He approaches her to pretend he needs matches in order to overhear who she is speaking with, she notices the lighter and that he didn't need to move from his seat, he already had a way to light his cigarette.

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