Question: Why was Carl laundering $4 million into the account? Was he in debt when he says to Willie "I'm dead if the account closes", which it does?
Question: Who did the demonic voice that told the priest blessing the house to get out?
Answer: George Lutz.
How was it accomplished?
Question: Maybe I missed something, but how was Esther able to fool everyone practically all her life and hide the fact that she's a 33-year old sociopath? When Kate finally learns the truth by getting the phone call, they show a photo of the "real" Esther, so at least those records of her exist somewhere. How could the boarding school not have known her true identity?
Answer: The boarding school was going by the falsified records that Esther had with her. They did not suspect anything, so they had no reason to dig any further at the time.
Answer: High quality makeup was an important part of her disguise as the alternative ending make apparent. Her fake freckles were the master's touch.
Question: In the scene right before the big bank heist, a detective comes into the situation room informing the team that a CI Hugh Benny had a tip about Neil McCauley looking at Far East National Bank. How the heck did Waingro (working for Benny and VanZandt) even know about this score? McCauley hadn't even discussed it with Kelso when Waingro took down the armored car.
Answer: Waingro helped Van Zandt track down Trejo. Waingro then tortured Trejo and threatened his family if he didn't give up McCauley. With his back to the wall, Trejo gave Waingro and Hugh Benny the details of the bank heist, but Waingro killed Trejo's family anyway and beat Trejo almost to death. Benny then gives the tip to the police on Van Zandt's order.
I wonder how Trejo was tracked, I don't remember his name being revealed during Waingro's time with the crew, or any other information.
Well, we never see the crew prior to their first heist. Trejo could have given Waingro his name during the planning of that heist.
Waingro met this crew only once. How would he know who Trejo is or where he lives? Right before the heist, Trejo is asked to mislead police away from the heist.
Question: When does Rachel realise if she shows the film to someone else she won't die? And if she knew, is that why she showed it to Noah, to kill him on purpose?
Answer: At the end of the movie, she is crying about why she wasn't killed and Noah was. She vocalizes "What did I do, that he didn't?" That's when she sees the copy she made. It wasn't that she just showed it to someone else. She made a copy and Aiden watched that copy. Aiden is why it skipped her.
Almost right. It's just the copy. Copying the video makes it skip you. That's why she has Aiden make a copy as well.
You have to show the copy to someone else as well. That's why Aiden asks Rachel at the very end "What about the person we show it to? What happens to them?"
But doesn't he have less than a day left by then? Hardly a time to relax, they need to make a terrible decision, quickly. I always had the idea making a copy was enough because of that.
He watched the tape the morning of either Rachel's 4th or 5th day, so he should have at least 3 days left by this point. Though it appears the film was being inconsistent with the markings that Samara leaves on the tape's viewers, since Rachel noticed Samara's hand print on Aiden's arm and then his nose started bleeding. For Rachel, she got her nosebleed before receiving the mark on her arm.
Actually, you need to do both: make a copy and show it to someone else. This is further explained in The Ring 2. At the beginning, the guy had made a copy but since the girl covered her eyes and didn't watch the whole thing, he was still killed by Samara. So making a copy is not enough in itself to be spared if no-one else watches it. The same goes for Rachel. She made a copy on the 2nd day, but Becca tells her she only has 4 days left when she visits the psych ward indicating she hadn't been spared yet. It's only after Aidan watches the copy she made that death skips her for good.
Answer: No, it's wrong. Just making a copy won't save you; you need to show it to someone else, and then this someone else is cursed instead of you. The Japanese movie explains it well. Plus, in the official second movie, a man dies from Samara after making the copy because nobody watched it. Also, at the end of the 1st movie, Aiden asks from the copy, "What will happen to the one who will watch it?"
Question: Why, near the end of the film, does Caleb start writing numbers which are supposed to be predictions of future events, when the world is going to end?
Answer: Great question. Probably writing predictions for the "new" world.
So did someone decode the list? Just for s* and giggles :).
Answer: I think Caleb started writing the numbers so he could tell his father the coordinates of the location he needed to take the children in a last ditch effort, since the girl whom originally wrote the numbers didn't complete them. He un-"knowing"-ly made the same mistake and interrupted him again.
Question: In the last scene of the film the ship appeared to me to be sailing in a westerly direction (sun sets in the west). Wouldn't the ship need to go east from USA to sail to Sierra Leone?
Chosen answer: It's likely that the scene was set in the morning, meaning they would be going east.
Question: Why did the Warden slap Mr. Sir in the face with her rattle snake venom?
Question: Was the ghostwriter murdered? Why? The book had already been published, and he only discovered the truth about Ruth minutes before, so who would have wanted him dead?
Answer: Who would want him dead? Ruth, for one, as well as Professor Emmett (her CIA recruiter) and others involved in the conspiracy. Yes, the book had been published, but the secret message only comes across if one is in possession of all the knowledge that the writer had acquired, which the casual reader would not have. And minutes is plenty of time for Ruth, Emmett, or anyone else to make a phone call and arrange the hit.
The published book was a rewrite and would not have the secret message in the chapter beginnings.
The published book was a rewrite of the original manuscript. He gives her the original manuscript that he was working off, not a final draft.
We know the beginning of the book was rewritten as he didn't like it. Almost certainly, the clue is not in the published version of the book. Ruth was shocked to read the note and is delivering her speech so is unlikely to be complicit in the murder of the Ghostwriter. The ending suggests that Ruth, too, is little more than a pawn in the whole conspiracy.
Makes no sense, he was run down 2 minutes after she read it.
Question: Who was the man who hung himself in the end?
Answer: The Mayor (played by R Lee Ermey) who had been told the story of Homer Wilkes and threatened with castration earlier on.
Question: Are there any clues throughout the movie hinting that the old woman is the devil?
Answer: Yes, there are many clues actually. The old woman's reflection throughout the film always had black eyes. In one scene, they're backed against the wall, the elevator buttons look like devil horns on her head. When she goes to push the floor button, the color is red, rather than the green it is for others. The other two answers just don't pay attention.
Answer: There weren't any clues. It comes off as a total surprise during the reveal. But watching it for the second time, I did notice that she spoke very less compared to others and no one was suspecting her. Usually, that kind of character ends up being the bad guy.
Answer: No. The devil is a deceiver and a trickster who can easily manipulate anyone so everybody in the elevator would not even think to suspect an old lady.
Question: Technically, these people would not die from the neurotoxin directly, so do you think it could have eventually worn off? That is, of course, if the people didn't kill themselves first. The government could have sent in troops with gas masks and everyone put in straight jackets and padded rooms so not to get hurt until the toxin wore off. That could have worked; what do you think?
Chosen answer: If it would/could wear off would be debatable. As far as sending troops in wearing gas masks: The masks are simply filters that block molecules of certain sizes. If the neurotoxin molecular structure was small enough, it could pass through the filters. And then there is, if you really wanted to die, you will find a way regardless of the situation.
Question: Isn't it common knowledge that Nicole found Tom's mask and put it on his pillow? I always wondered why Tom freaked out so much when he finds it. Is he afraid that Nicole knows where the mask is used? Or that someone else placed it there? And unless I missed something, how come this was never discussed between the two? You'd think Nicole would be asking why he left this in his safe?
Chosen answer: I think someone from the freaky orgy broke in and put the mask on the pillow to warn Cruise's character to keep his mouth shut. That's why Cruise's character is so upset-they got into his home and his safe.
I always assumed that she was a member of the orgy party. She was letting him know that she was there.
No, she wasn't.
Question: Me and my friend have debated this each time we have watched the movie and I finally decided to ask the question here to see who is right. When they are discussing their plan and saying they need the plane for it, Saito says "I bought the airline... It seemed neater." My interpretation of this is that he bought out all the tickets on that particular flight so the plane would be empty and weed out risk of interruption from other passengers, as doing that made it so there are no other passengers. But my friend thinks he means he bought the entire brand of the airline, so that he now owns the company that has that plane. Like buying out SouthWest Airlines as a company or something. So who is right? What did Saito mean? Did he buy out all the tickets for that flight, or did he buy the whole airline company?
Chosen answer: He bought out the actual airline company. If he'd bought out all the tickets for that specific journey he'd have said "I bought out the flight" or similar. It's a deliberately over the top moment of exuberance to highlight exactly how rich Satio is. I'm afraid that it is your friend who is correct, sorry.
Question: If I understand correctly, Lily Potter's "love" protection no longer keeps Harry safe after the graveyard ritual, due to Voldemort getting some of Harry's blood. Why, then, doesn't Voldemort attack Harry at the Dursleys' house in the summer?
Answer: Voldemort's spell undid the Sacrificial Protection that Lily bestowed on Harry, but the Bond of Blood is a separate protection bestowed if the person sacrificing their lives is a relative. THAT spell is still renewed as long as Harry keeps returning to the Dursleys until age seventeen. Voldemort has removed one protection, but a second is still in place.
Question: Why did Erle try to kill himself?
Answer: He hated the way they were living. Acting human, hiding who they truly were, integrating into "normal" society. He wanted to be wild and free. When they were feared and worshiped.
Question: On the back of the PAL DVD there is a picture of Alex holding back Clear from a car during the day. It looks to be at the place where Terry was killed. Does anyone know if this is a deleted scene not on the DVD? Also, on the commentary the makers of the film said that they shot the bus hit from inside the bus, as well as from the side. Does anyone know where these scenes are now?
Answer: The scene where Terry was killed was most likely shot during the day. It is quite common for film makers to film a scene during the day to get the right lighting effects and then later CGI the night sky and the proper shadowing. This is most effective when you have an area that would otherwise be too dark or have environment that wont allow for the proper lighting for a night shoot. As for the bus, your guess is as good as mine.
Question: Several times in the movie one character is able to ascertain in which hotel room another character is staying simply by asking the front desk for the room number. Was this realistic at the time the movie was made? Today, a hotel would never divulge a guest's room number to a stranger, since such information could potentially be used by burglars and/or predators to gain access to hotel rooms. Was security really that lax in the 1950s?
Answer: Not really. You could (and at some hotels are still able to) keep your room number private or you could not - i.e. you could ask the hotel staff to keep your number secret from strangers, or you could ask them to tell anyone who might ask. Not having seen this movie, I don't know how likely it would be in the situations you speak of that the hotel guest would choose the latter option- it might be a mistake.
Answer: Yes, security was that lax in the 1950s and beyond. People could acquire all kinds of information about individuals from various types of businesses. Not all were so careless, but many were or they naively didn't see a concern. In the late 1980s, I was a student at a university where a non-university person obtained his ex-girlfriend's class schedule simply by requesting it in-person from the registrar's office. Using that information, he was able to locate and fatally shoot her on campus.
Question: During jury selection, Kevin decides to have one of the jury dismissed, I believe, because of the shoes the jury member wore. What exactly do the guy's shoes have to do with anything?
Answer: The shoes showed him this man polishes them every day, also his clothes are custom made. That all means the look he has of a black thug is deceiving, instead he's a cautious, proud person they can't use in the jury. Just to add, Kevin knows all this because the devil (his father, spoiler alert) is giving him the talent to do it, not a logical explanation can be given why he dismisses these people.
Answer: Carl is laundering money for drug dealers. If the account is closed and he can't get the money back then it would be lost. The drug dealers would then most assuredly murder him in retribution.
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