Best mystery movie mistakes of 1997

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Cube picture

Deliberate mistake: Leaven spends too much time thinking about if 645 and 372 are prime numbers to be believable. But she knows the factors of 649 and the result of 26 to the power of 3 almost immediately. Plus anyone with any maths knowledge whatsoever would know that any even number (or one divisible by 5) can't be prime, so 645 and 372 could be dismissed without even thinking about it.

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Kiss the Girls picture

Plot hole: In the scene where Ashley Judd runs away from her attacker and falls into her aquarium he has moved to the bottom of the stairs - there is no way he would have been able to move that full fish tank. It looked to be about a 30 gallon tank - it would weigh about 400 pounds with the stand and even if he slid it with some superhuman strength, glass tanks are notorious for shattering when you move them full. Plus it would've made enough noise to wake the dead - no way she wouldn't have heard it.

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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

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Amistad picture

Other mistake: When the slaves are getting into the Portuguese ship (the "Tecora"), the crew shouts in clear Spanish (some Spaniard and some Mexican accent) rather than the expected Portuguese. (01:18:10)

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I Know What You Did Last Summer picture

Continuity mistake: After Barry has jumped into the water reclaim the crown, he comes out of the water with a perfectly clean shirt, but in the next shot the blood is back on his shirt as expected. (00:22:50)

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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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The Game picture

Plot hole: When Nick confronts the P.I. and yells "Why are you following me?", he looks inside the car and see the file with his picture on the front seat. The P.I. notices this and turns the file over. After Nick grabs his gun, the P.I. jumps out on the other side, raises his hands in the air and tells him someone hired him and runs off. As the P.I. runs off, Nick yells "Who hired you?" as he stands alone next to the car. He then waits a minute and walks off. If he really wanted to know more information, he could have taken the file that was right in front of him on the carseat. It makes no sense that he is desperate for information about the strange events that are going on, sees this file on him, and yet doesn't even pick it up or look at it. (00:59:55)

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La Confidential picture

Revealing mistake: When the body of Miss Lefferts is being viewed, the 'dead' girl blinks slightly. (00:34:35)

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Suggested correction: It's not uncommon for dead bodies to continue moving after death. Many internal parts of the body continue functioning in some fashion for hours after death and nerves and muscles can twitch.

raywest

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That Darn Cat picture

Continuity mistake: In many places in the movie, a cat noise is heard even though the cat's mouth is quite obviously not open or the cat is licking its face.

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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil picture

Continuity mistake: When the Lady Chablis "crashes" the debutante ball - she leaves her purse on the table while she dances, and then forgets to retrieve it before she leaves. (01:44:35 - 02:07:50)

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Murder at 1600 picture

Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the movie, when all three are crawling through the Lincoln Tunnel, they are almost waist deep in water. Yet, the Secret Service lady's jeans change from dry to wet and back again. The same when she is chased back through the tunnel, her and the Secret Service guy's trousers are dry.

Christoph Galuschka

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Conspiracy Theory picture

Continuity mistake: When Jerry is on the bus with Alice, one second he's wearing his hat, he takes it off, then the next second it's back on, then it disappears for the rest of the scene.

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The Devil's Advocate picture

Revealing mistake: As Mary Ann is dying, Kevin is holding her close to him, hugging her. From the behind shot of Mary Ann, you can see, sticking out from behind the right side of her neck/hair, is a tube and the yellow packet that held the blood/pump. (01:53:00)

Luna Negra

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Event Horizon picture

Factual error: When D.J. is attacked by Dr. Weir, he is grabbed by the throat and is squeezed until his windpipe is broken, shown by the way he was breathing (or struggling to). When Weir seizes him again and throws him against a support beam, he screams in a way impossible for someone who just had his windpipe crushed.

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Suggested correction: Dr. Weir doesn't crush DJ's throat at all. The noises he makes are simply choking noises because he is being picked up by his throat, there isn't even anything in the scene to imply his throat is being crushed, which in reality requires considerably more effort than most people believe.

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Switchback picture

Revealing mistake: When the car falls off the cliff it has no engine, clearly visible when the hood flies off. (01:12:10)

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Lost Highway picture

Continuity mistake: When Mr. Eddie goes back to his Mercedes after beating up the "tailgate guy", the left side of the bumper on the Mercedes is damaged. When they drive back into the garage, we see the left side of the bumper is fine.

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Suicide Kings picture

Continuity mistake: In the last scene, Max's bathing suit changes color, from dark blue to light tan, back to dark blue.

Ral0618

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Crowned and Dangerous picture

Continuity mistake: When Danielle is in the evening gown section in the Miss Madison competition, her dress changes from sky blue to sparkly dark blue after the shot cuts to her mother.

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The Spanish Prisoner picture

Continuity mistake: When Joe realises that Jimmy isn't turning up at the park he goes to a pay phone, puts the red notebook down with the spine faceing to the right and starting phoning the FBI. In the next shot the the notebook has rotated 90 degrees with the spine now facing the wall. (01:06:45)

jle

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