Continuity mistake: Cotton is talking in traffic using his car phone. Notice the way he holds it in the very first shot; his pinky finger is behind the receiver, but it's on a different position after the cut. (00:00:35)
Factual error: In the beginning of the movie, the killer calls Cotton on his cell phone. When the killer hangs up on him, you hear a dial tone. When someone cuts you off on a cell phone, you don't get a dial tone. (00:02:40)
Continuity mistake: In the opening scene Christine is completely dry when she steps out of the shower. (00:03:05)
Revealing mistake: Cotton is trying to reach his girlfriend using his phone. He shouts "Pick up the phone!" then curses because he has to quickly sverve. In the last shot of his maneuver at that crossing, two other cars have to zigzag to avoid a collision. Skidmarks which match their motions are already present on the asphalt, very likely from a previous take. (00:03:25)
Continuity mistake: When Christine gets out of the shower at Cotton's apartment she has dried off, stood and walked on the carpet, and put on a nightie. When the stereo starts blasting and she walks down the hardwood floored hallway her feet leave very wet footprints which she slips in later when the killer chases her back up the hallway. (00:03:40)
Continuity mistake: Christine gets out of the shower. In the next scene of her putting her nightie on, she has make up on. (00:04:15)
Continuity mistake: Christine turns off the stereo. Look at her hair, and keep looking as she walks along the corridor. The hair keeps changing position over her shoulders between takes. (00:04:50)
Continuity mistake: In the first killing scene, the study which both Cotton and his girlfriend end up in has a white ceiling with a skylight. But when Cotton is stabbed and looks up at his killer the ceiling is light orange with beams across it. (00:05:35 - 00:09:15)
Continuity mistake: Cotton arrives at his apartment; seen from behind, he leans into the door putting his right hand on the frame. Side view and he's leading with the left. Very similar mistake a handful of seconds later; look when he moves up the stairs. He gets one foot on the last step and it's the right foot, then it happens again, but it's the left foot that leads. (00:06:20)
Continuity mistake: At the start of the movie when Cotton's girlfriend is being stalked by the killer, he stabs his knife through her bedroom door making a few large holes, especially with the first stab mark. Later, when Cotton finally gets to the house and is lookng for his girlfriend, he goes up to her door and there are now far smaller holes in the door, all in a nice pattern. When he smashes through the door, from the other side we can see there's no damage at all, then when his girlfriend emerges the stab marks are back, but in a different configuration. (00:07:35)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning when the killer is trying to kill Cotton, he pulls a book case on the killer, but if you look carefully you see that the killer slides to the side, despite the fact that the book case is meant to have hit him. (00:08:55)
Continuity mistake: In the action sequence where Cotton pushes Ghostface against the bookcase, the killer faces the wall, then at the cut he is facing Cotton before the case falls on him. (00:08:55)
Other mistake: Ghostface has a strength that rivals a superhero. He's trapped under a bookshelf but not only gets free in a second; the mere gesture of freeing himself sends a grown, bigger man flying and tumbling over a desk. Seriously, from the angle it appears that the case hit Cotton in the side of the head, but that would never propel him over furniture as shown. His body also twists counterclockwise when bumped and clockwise on the desk. (00:09:00)
Continuity mistake: For a moment, Cotton seems to have the upper hand against Ghostface as he pushes a bookcase on him. He eyes the golf club trying to take it back; in two consecutive shots though, you can see a Vance Bourjaily book (it should be "Now Playing at Canterbury" but you can only see the back cover) that faces opposite directions. (00:09:00)
Continuity mistake: Cotton agonizes on the floor with his right arm raised, but for the views with the camera pointed at the killer, his arm is lowered. (00:09:10)
Continuity mistake: Gale Weathers just finished her speech, and David Arquette's brother in the audience asks her a question. Of course, they are out of time, and he's silenced with applause. People start leaving their seats, but the people standing don't match in the reverse shot. (00:11:55)
Continuity mistake: Detective Kinkaid tells Gale "I'm here because Cotton Weary's been murdered." Behind him in the corridor, a girl that was at the conference, in overals and a loud pink top. Reaction shot on Gale, and in the background, in a different corridor, the familiar denim-and-pink-girl. (00:12:20)
Continuity mistake: The detective gives Gale the picture that she identifies; her thumb is in a different spot in each shot. (00:12:30)
Continuity mistake: When Gale stumbles into Dewey for the first time, the camera is behind her and as he mutters "Gale" you can see her shoulder, which is clear from any hair. Next view, and her shoulder is a big messy wig salad. (00:16:40)
Continuity mistake: When fake-Gale mentions "your private self-loathing", an extra exits the frame to the left side. Over five seconds pass before the extra walks into another shot of the dialogue. And there she is again, but this time redoing her walk from the beginning, when Dewey embarrassed repeats "Little girl inside." (00:17:05)
