Best thriller movie mistakes of all time

Please vote as you browse around to help the best rise to the top.

Robocop picture

Continuity mistake: Dick Jones brags (admits?) to Robocop, "I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now, it's time to erase that mistake" while Robocop is crouched on the ground, not only looking away from him from across the room, but also Robocop's eyes are in a vertical position. In the playback, Jones is facing the camera as though it were videotaped or filmed in a studio. (01:10:50 - 01:35:10)

More Robocop mistakes
Don't Breathe picture

Continuity mistake: He cuts a hole in her pants for insemination. When in the car moments before fighting the dog there is no hole.

More Don't Breathe mistakes
Alien picture

Continuity mistake: In the shot of the alien's tail wrapping around the back of Lambert's legs right before it kills her, the floor is different to what it was before, there is water suddenly falling from the ceiling when there wasn't before and her trousers have changed from white to blue. This is because that shot was originally intended to be used when Brett was killed.

THGhost

More Alien mistakes
Halloween picture

Continuity mistake: When Annie and Laurie leave the hardware store to go to their babysitting jobs it is broad daylight. When they reach the houses apparently just a few blocks away, it is already dark.

More Halloween mistakes
Evil Under the Sun picture

Plot hole: Patrick Redfern needs someone to be in the boat with him to corroborate his and his wife's deception and be his alibi. That is whole point of his wife lying on beach - he gets this when taking Myra for a ride - but it was portrayed as a random ride she got, he did not intend or plan giving her a ride, he did not see her loitering near the boat, or even in view of him untying the boat. Even if that was intention in the story for him to be seen ready to cast off, the movie viewers did not see her viewing him, only her appearing just before he was set to cast off. Without someone with him the whole deception would not work, he would have no alibi, he could have killed Arlena unseen.

More Evil Under the Sun mistakes
Body Heat picture

Factual error: Under US law neither Peter Lowenstein nor Oscar Grace would be allowed any level of participation in the investigation, arrest and prosecution of Ned Racine. Both have a highly visible social relationship with him, which disqualifies them from having anything to do with a criminal case against him. In fact as soon as he became a suspect in Edmund Walker's murder they would both be officially 'warned off' - told not to contact him again for any reason.

More Body Heat mistakes
Flightplan picture

Plot hole: The whole concept of a kidnapper 'pretending' his victim didn't get on the plane in the first place is utterly laughable. Even if nobody saw her in her seat, why didn't they see her walking down the aisle to her seat, or waiting to board the plane, or in the boarding tunnel itself? Why isn't she listed on the passenger manifest, or on her mother's travel documents or airline ticket? And there would have been security cameras all over the airport.

More Flightplan mistakes
The Fast and the Furious picture The Fast and the Furious mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Jesse is going to race Johnny Tran at Race Wars for pink slips, and Johnny Tran pulls up in his Honda S2000, Tran has on a black long-sleeved shirt. When the camera goes from side to front view, Tran has on a black tank top. (01:12:41)

More The Fast and the Furious mistakes
Assault on Precinct 13 picture Assault on Precinct 13 mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Portnow meets with Bishop at the church, in the first closeup of Bishop's crossword puzzle the word "MUD" is the second word across at the top, and at the center of the puzzle the 4-letter word "GEAR" is written in the 5-letter answer - with the fist space left empty. However, in the next closeup of the puzzle, now the word "ETA" is the second word at the top and "MUD" is the third, and the word "GEARS" has the "S" added, with the letter "G" started properly in the first space of the answer. (00:10:15)

Super Grover

More Assault on Precinct 13 mistakes
Jurassic Park picture Jurassic Park mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Tim and Lex first arrive, Lex is wearing a purple tank top with a colorful design, and in the following scenes or even between consecutive shots her tank top changes to completely different designs, though it's the same style of tank top.

Super Grover

More Jurassic Park mistakes
Star Trek: Nemesis picture

Continuity mistake: In the latter half of the movie, Picard looks at a picture of himself from his days as a Starfleet Academy cadet while Beverly looks on too. This picture is actually the actor Tom Hardy (Shinzon, Picard's clone) and he appears with a completely bald/shaved head. Showing Picard bald as a cadet completely contradicts the TNG series. In the TNG episode 'Tapestry', a flashback set in 2327 (the year Picard graduated from the Academy), Picard is shown with a full head of hair. Also, in the TNG episode 'Violations', a flashback set in 2354 shows Picard with a partial head of hair when he takes Beverly to see her dead husband Jack's body. (00:46:25)

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

Suggested correction: It's entirely reasonable that he might have shaved his head for a time. People don't necessarily keep the same hairstyle their entire life.

More Star Trek: Nemesis mistakes
The Recruit picture

Continuity mistake: When Layla is hooked up to the lie detector that tracks the movement of her eye, she is looking around the room and blinking repeatedly, but the eye on the screen (which is supposed to be hers) never moves or blinks, even though the camera is still on her.

More The Recruit mistakes
The Sum of All Fears picture

Factual error: A force of Russian Tu-22 Backfire bombers attacks the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) by sneaking in under the ship's radar. This is all well and good except that carriers usually don't use their own radar, they have Airborne Early Warning aircraft (E-2 Hawkeye's) that can see much further and not give away the carrier's position (let alone the F-14s which would be patrolling too) not to mention the fleet of destroyers other ships guarding the carrier. The whole point is, the US Navy practiced and planned for such a "carrier versus Backfire" battle for years. I guess in the interest of furthering the plot Hollywood has to ignore the immense measures the USN takes to protect those multi-billion dollar assets, not to mention the 5000+ sailors that man them.

More The Sum of All Fears mistakes
Presumed Innocent picture

Plot hole: They found seminal fluid left in Caroline Polhemus. Why didn't they subject it to DNA testing, which would have been a powerful indicator of Sabich's guilt? Fertility (or otherwise) has nothing to do with it - as well as non-motile sperm (which contain DNA anyway) the seminal fluid would contain discarded skin and blood calls in abundance. DNA testing was first used in a criminal case in 1985 and was in fairly common use by 1988.

More Presumed Innocent mistakes
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials picture

Continuity mistake: There are missing boys in the movie. At the end of The Maze Runner, there are 8 boys that get out of the maze besides Teresa. At the beginning of Scorch Trials, only 7 get in the compound. When Thomas shows the stolen card to the others, there are 6 of them and they all escape with Teresa and Aris. When they get out the mall and enter the city, there are 5 of them besides Aris and Teresa. The last boy (called 'Jack' by cast and crew) dies in a deleted scene, the other two boys simply vanish without a trace or explanation.

More Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials mistakes
Jumping Jack Flash picture

Continuity mistake: When Terri is at the party, her blonde wig changes shape and size many times.

More Jumping Jack Flash mistakes
Time Bandits picture

Factual error: When the Titanic sinks all six dwarves and Kevin end up in the sea clutching a lifebelt. The water in which the Titanic sank was freezing - that is how most of the casualties died, by freezing, not drowning. In water like that you'd be lucky to stay conscious for more than a few minutes. Despite this none of them show the slightest effect of the cold. Maybe the dwarves have some 'magical' ability to withstand lethal cold, but Kevin doesn't even react to being plunged into freezing cold water. He'd be screaming in pain, but he doesn't even show the slightest sign of discomfort.

More Time Bandits mistakes
Nightcrawler picture

Visible crew/equipment: As Jake approaches the house after the van drives off, it looks like a crew member got caught at the side of the house and moves back as Jake is taking camera footage. (01:03:25)

More Nightcrawler mistakes
Goldfinger picture

Continuity mistake: In the first shots of the golf course, you see Goldfinger's Rolls parked to the far left of the main building, with Bond's car in the lot in the background. When the scene changes to the inside of the clubhouse store, the Rolls is now very close to the front of the store. At the end of the golf game, the Rolls is back to the left of the main building, and as the camera pans back, you can see that the store is to the far right of the main building.

demodon

More Goldfinger mistakes
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre picture

Factual error: This movie states that it is during the year 1973, yet in the beginning of the movie when they are driving in the van they are listening to "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. This song was not released publicly until 1974. (00:03:10)

juiicyyxo

More The Texas Chainsaw Massacre mistakes

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.