Best horror movie deliberate mistakes of all time

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Nightmare Radio: The Night Stalker picture

Deliberate mistake: Candy tells her radio listeners, "Our phone number is 201-5137." Assuming the radio station's reception extends beyond more than a small geographic area, an area code is needed for callers outside of the immediate area. On Ellie's cell phone, Mary's number shows up with an area code. (00:05:55 - 00:07:20)

KeyZOid

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From Dusk Till Dawn picture

Deliberate mistake: The disco ball doesn't start reflecting the sunrise until after the lead characters get out, even though it should have began to reflect light right when the door opened.

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Psycho IV: The Beginning picture

Deliberate mistake: In the whole of the 'Psycho' series, there has never been a closet door next to the dress cabinet in Mother's room, but for this movie there is suddenly a closet.

Clerk13

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Knock at the Cabin picture

Deliberate mistake: When they're watching the footage of the tsunami hitting Cannon Beach, Sabrina turns the TV off as the shot pulls backwards. Suddenly, the glare on the TV appears out of nowhere.

manthabeat

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Scanners picture

Deliberate mistake: When the scanners escape the apartment in the van and the assassins are in pursuit there is a street view shot of the assassins driving up next to the scanners' van. If you watch the street on the right side of the screen you can see people stood watching the filming in groups, out of harms way. (00:50:28)

Jack Vaughan

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Spawn picture

Deliberate mistake: The legion of hellspawns during the film's climax are merely copied and pasted throughout the screen, as evidenced by the fact that many of them perform the exact same distinguishable body movements, such as pacing right and left from a crouched position.

Phaneron

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From Hell picture

Deliberate mistake: Frequently during the movie, British surgeons are referred to as "Doctor". In Britain, surgeons are always referred to as "Mister"; this is a hold-over from the surgeon's non-medical past (barbers, etc). This would likely be confusing to American audiences.

Gibbsdoc

More From Hell deliberate mistakes
Seed of Chucky picture

Deliberate mistake: When Tiffany is reading the self-help book for recovering addicts, there's a closeup of a page. While the headline for the chapter makes sense, the body text is completely unrelated and is about corporate work culture. (Likely just some generic free text the prop department copy/pasted into the book prop.)

TedStixon

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World War Z picture

Deliberate mistake: After the AN-12 launches from the carrier, you see U.S. Navy near the nose of the craft, and MG on the tail code (MG=McGuire Air Force Base). Also, during the flight shots, the plane transforms between a C-130 and AN-12 multiple times.

Movie Medic

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A Town Full of Ghosts picture

Deliberate mistake: There is one vertical board missing between the other parallel boards, but the upper half of the gap is wider and forms a "V" when Mark is videotaping Jenna (who is on the other side of the fence). The missing board, between two parallel boards, has a uniform width from top to bottom. (00:08:40)

KeyZOid

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The Toll picture

Deliberate mistake: The images of Spencer's face in the driver's side mirror are not realistic for someone in the driver's seat. The driver's side mirror is angled outward (perhaps 60° beyond a typical angle), but his face is perfectly reflected. When Spencer starts smoking, the viewer gets a glimpse of a figure behind his car. Spencer senses something and his face is shown backwards in the mirror, as if he were crouching outside a few feet from his car. Spencer does not use the more practical rearview mirror. (00:19:11 - 00:19:47)

KeyZOid

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Bad Blood picture

Deliberate mistake: The doctor appears to write just three numbers or a short wavy line on the back of his business card for the phone number he told Marjorie to call (to get a second opinion about Nathan). (00:42:35)

KeyZOid

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The Unborn picture

Deliberate mistake: In the link between the movie reel and nightclub scenes a train goes past. While the sound effect is convincing, the video has been reversed. The headlights on the train give it away, but cars under the bridge are also seen in reverse. (00:27:55)

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Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers picture

Deliberate mistake: The photographs that Angela takes off the boys that show the girls naked obviously were not taken outside the cabin, they are far too clear. The fly netting and window would have obscured them. Also, judging by the position of the beds in the photographs it seems like they were taken inside the cabin. (00:32:02)

Jack Vaughan

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Kids vs. Aliens picture

Deliberate mistake: After Sam freed Gary from being tied up by the aliens, Gary pulled off the cast he got earlier that day and was able to use his left arm as though it had never been broken. (00:45:43)

KeyZOid

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Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III picture

Deliberate mistake: After Ryan and Michelle finish changing the flat tire and are surprised by Leatherface, he chases Ryan around the back of the car and smashes the windshield. At the moment the camera is in the backseat shooting out, we see the chainsaw with the chain popped off and hanging. My best guess is that it was done intentionally (for safety reasons) because the saw was close to Ryan. The crew must've been too lazy to completely remove the chain and just popped it off the track instead. (00:25:25)

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Curse of Chucky picture

Deliberate mistake: The video feed from Jill's laptop doesn't match the angle we see her laptop in. The image should be a weird, low-angle shot with lots of space above her head given her laptop is down on her lap, but the image we see is a pristine parallel shot. Additionally, the video footage is way too high quality for a 2013 laptop webcam. (Heck, it's too high quality for a 2024 laptop webcam.)

TedStixon

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Hellraiser picture

Deliberate mistake: When Larry and the two moving men are first bringing the mattress through the doorway and it gets "stuck," the camera placement makes it pretty obvious that the mattress isn't really stuck. There's far too much wiggle room on either end for it to be "stuck." (Obviously it needs to be stuck for the scene to work... but still a weird inconsistency).

TedStixon

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The Darkest Hour picture

Deliberate mistake: This mistake was admitted to in the DVD commentary by the director. When at the embassy, once they open the window, the camera pans up to show a destroyed helicopter on top of the building. This is a mistake as in Moscow, it is restricted airspace for helicopters, with none at all for any purpose to be allowed to fly over the city, not even to land on the American Embassy. However, the director really wanted the visual of a destroyed helicopter on top of the building so added it anyway. (00:41:49)

Quantom X

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