Best mystery movie factual errors of all time

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Enigma picture

Factual error: Reference the rural scenes. In the 40s, barley fields did not exhibit large perpendicular tracks made by crop sprayers.

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An American Haunting picture

Factual error: As the film itself notes, the major action starts in spring 1818 and continues for several weeks if not months. However, many of the trees remain leafless and the weather is nothing like the norm in spring and summertime Tennessee.

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Ace Ventura: Pet Detective picture

Factual error: When Snowflake is being stolen at the beginning, he makes the high-pitched noise that dolphins make even when he is out of the tank; those high peals are made underwater through carrying sound. He wouldn't sound the same out of the water as he did under it.

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The Fog picture

Factual error: It's been established, that the burning of the lepers ship happened in 1871, yet when one of the city's "founders" pulls his gun on Blake, it's an 1873 Colt Single Action Army, a gun that didn't exist 'til two years later.

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From Hell picture

Factual error: Towards the end of the movie, Mary sends a hand-written note to Inspector Abberline. The 'r' in her name is written in a North American style, where she is European.

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Chinatown picture

Factual error: In Jake's office, Evelyn Mulwray stands by the window and a mid twentieth century modern building is outside it to the right. (00:57:20)

????

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City by the Sea picture

Factual error: The boardwalk is twice as wide as the real Long Beach boardwalk. The ramps on the real Long Beach boardwalk run parallel to the boardwalk. The movie's boardwalk ramps run perpendicular to the boardwalk.

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The Bourne Ultimatum picture

Factual error: When Bourne is traveling to London on the Eurostar from Paris, immediately after the 'flashback' where Marie floats away after being killed, there are two helicopter shots of the Eurostar traveling to London. The second (far away) shot shows the train passing over a motorway. The train is actually traveling towards Paris, and therefore away from London. The motorway is the M20 and the bridge is approximately 3 miles west of junction 9 for Ashford (Kent). The train would have been 10 minutes away from entering the Channel Tunnel. (00:13:45)

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A Shot in the Dark picture

Factual error: Inspector Clouseau's watch may be broken but Hercule's doesn't keep very good time either. They synchonise watches at 7:47. 18 seconds later, Hercule says he has 7:47 and 23 seconds. (01:28:14)

jle

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Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow picture

Factual error: After the robots first attack New York City, a series of newspapers is shown. The German one is full of mistakes. It says "Sehr grosse metallic Maschinen stehlen stehlen Reserven." The word 'metallic' would be 'metallisch' in German and they would write robots as 'roboter'. 'Stehlen' (steal) is written twice. (00:15:15)

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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang picture

Factual error: On Day 3, look at The Embrey Star newspaper when it zooms into the headline. Above the headline is the newspaper's web address, hardly appropriate given the paper is from 1980.

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Poltergeist III picture

Factual error: When Bruce and Patricia are in a lift after being chased by the cars in the garage, the lift rapidly descends but the two people in the lift are seen struggling on the floor when they should just about be on the ceiling due to the speed of the lift's descent.

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In the Cut picture

Factual error: In the scene where Meg Ryan and her sister are in the coffee shop, her sister calls to the waitress that they ordered a latte, no foam, very dry - it is impossible to make a dry latte without foam, because dry means "foamy." Not to mention, a very dry latte is technically a cappuccino.

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Death on the Nile picture

Factual error: In the Abu Simbel scene, watch closely when they show a side-view shot of Jackie, accidentally depicting the shores of Lake Nasser in the background. This reservoir was built only in the 1960s and didn't exist at the time the movie is set in (1930s). (In fact, the whole temple had to be cut from the rock and moved to higher ground following the completion of the Aswan Dam, so the "original location" was no more available for the film crew.) (00:51:15)

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Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed picture

Factual error: At one point in the film there is footage on the news of Mystery Inc's embarrassing attempt to stop the ghouls from stealing costumes. In particular, it focuses on Shaggy and Scooby being dragged across the table, etc. But look at the angle it's taken from: no one could have taken that.

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Fletch picture

Factual error: In the culminating scene where Fletch is held at gun point and escapes by turning on the gas valve in the fireplace and then igniting the vapors into a ball of flame, he actually turns the valve into the off position (valve is perpendicular to the pipe). (01:32:00)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: The valve was in closed position (perpendicular). He opened the valve (turned parallel to pipe).

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Final Destination 3 picture

Factual error: A cordless nailgun takes about 2 seconds to recharge and cannot fire consecutive nails nearly as fast as depicted.

logan crews

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Saw VI picture

Factual error: We see Hoffman has to use pliers and force to remove Strahm's hand from the grill. However, since the hand is freshly severed, rigor mortis would not have set in, and he should have been able to remove it with ease. (01:09:30)

Ssiscool

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Spenser Confidential picture

Factual error: The Corvette owned by Bentwood is not a Z06 as shown in the movie. It is a 2014 C7 Stingray and can be identified by the Stingray logo on the side of the car.

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Doubt picture

Factual error: When Meryl Streep is walking outside and talking to Mrs. Miller about the potential abuses of her son, you can see a basketball court in the background and on the court is a 3-point line. The movie is supposed to take place in 1964 and the 3 point line wasn't introduced until 1979/1980. (01:10:20)

steven_frankel

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