Best mystery movie mistakes of all time

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Identity picture

Revealing mistake: When John Cusack is driving the actress, there is a shot looking over his right shoulder at the dashboard. The speedometer reads 0 mph. (00:08:15)

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The Pink Panther picture The Pink Panther mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Clouseau parks in front of the ministry of justice, he breaks the hood of two police cars. A few shots later, when we see him entering the building, only one of the cars is broken.

Dr Wilson

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Unbreakable picture

Factual error: When Bruce Willis is looking at his old high school news clippings you see a professional baseball score on one of the newspaper clippings. The game was Pittsburgh vs. Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks were not a team yet when he was in high school. (00:33:35)

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The Da Vinci Code picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Sophie finds the cross key behind the painting, her hand is holding the painting while the key falls, but in the next shot, her hand isn't touching the painting at all.

MasterChief3624

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Scream 4 picture

Deliberate mistake: In the final shot of the film, Jill's head moves slightly when she's supposed to be dead. In the commentary, Wes Craven confirmed this wasn't strictly intentional, but he decided to leave the take in on purpose in case he decided to bring her back in a future installment. But unless a sequel proves she's still alive, it's technically a mistake, albeit a deliberate one.

THGhost

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Backdraft picture

Continuity mistake: When the firefighters go to the house of the first backdraft "victim" you see that he has gone through the windshield of his car. But when we saw him opening his front door and getting hurled away from the house he didn't land anyway near the car.

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture picture Star Trek: The Motion Picture mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the final scene on the bridge, Spock and McCoy are wearing coloured arm bands which identify their departments: Spock's is orange (for Science) and McCoy's is green (for Medical). In the very last shot, Spock is wearing the green band and McCoy is wearing the orange one (corrected in the 2022 re-release of the Director's Edition).

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Irreversible picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Monica is in bed with her boyfriend and they get up to dance, the whole film crew is mirrored on the glass of the window.

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White Noise picture

Continuity mistake: When John is driving to work and he hears Anna on the radio, he swerves to avoid a car. From inside the car you can see that there are no cars in the rear window, yet when the shot changes to an outside shot, there are 3 cars. (00:33:35)

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Sherlock Holmes picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Watson and Adler are laying out the map, they place two objects on the map to hold it down. In the very next clip where it shows Holmes talking, you see Watson and Adler placing those same objects on the map.

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The Ghost and Mr. Chicken picture The Ghost and Mr. Chicken mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Don Knotts is in the old Simmons mansion, he falls down a chute of some kind. If you watch closely you will see the stunt person looks nothing like Don Knotts. It is a younger man with very straight hair.

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The Negotiator picture

Continuity mistake: At the end, the paramedics are taking Samuel L. Jackson into an ambulance. His head is toward the front of the ambulance but in the next shot, Jackson's head is at the back of the ambulance. (02:08:25)

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American Psycho picture American Psycho mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: In the scene after Patrick Bateman's second encounter with the detective in his office, we see Bateman having sex at Courtney's apartment. After he rolls off her, Bateman approaches the large, stand-up mirror in the bedroom. In the upper right hand corner of the mirror, a boom microphone can clearly be seen moving around to pick up Christian Bale's lines. The next time we get the same long shot, the microphone is gone. (00:52:45)

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The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn picture

Plot hole: In Bagghar, Allan knocks out Haddock by hitting him on the head from behind. Later, Haddock tells Tintin it was Allan who knocked him out - how would he have seen him?

LadyArcher

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Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country picture

Continuity mistake: After the bird of prey first fires on Enterprise, Kirk is thrown right out of his chair to his left and lands on the floor. The camera pans around the bridge briefly, seeing the rest of the crew staggering and holding onto things. In the very next shot Kirk is back in his chair shouting "back off, back off" and the crew back in their positions as if nothing has happened.

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Practical Magic picture

Other mistake: In the end credits, the filmmakers misspell the name of the town they wish to thank. They spell it "Coupville", but it's actually spelled "Coupeville."

padfootrocksmysocks

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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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Holes picture

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Stanley and Zero are digging to find the chest toward the end of the movie, the background behind them is just a dirt wall. In a following shot upon discovering the box, there are stairs that lead to the hole. In the next shot, these stairs are gone again and it's just the hole again. (01:38:05)

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Battle Royale picture

Other mistake: When Sugimura is looking for Kotohiki, he activates his scanner to see if she is nearby. The scanner shows her location, but fails to show either Mitsuko or Kiriyama, who show up quickly after.

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