Best thriller movie questions of all time

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Lakeview Terrace picture

Question: (Spoiler warning) I didn't really understand why the wildfire was put into the story. I know that fires happen in California often and that the scene at the end of the movie looks creepy with all of the smoke and fires in the background, but was there supposed to be any other special meaning or symbolism?

Answer: As far as symbolism, from a film student's perspective (mine), it's like destruction or division, two common themes in the film. The two characters are split in values and the fire is raging between them. As the fire gets closer to the houses, it increases in intensity, as does the fighting between neighbors. I think in this film, fire was used not only as a plot device, but a metaphor for the story as well.

manthabeat

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Chosen answer: Jake and Neytiri were holding hands and Neytiri had her hair unbraided. It is also possible that when Na'vi mate, their appearance changes slightly in a way that only other Na'vi could see.

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Resident Evil: Retribution picture

Question: How can they use the elevator to get to the surface if the Red Queen shut the power down?

Answer: She must have had trouble in keeping control of the elevator's power as the impact of the explosion blew out some of the windows and the sea came rushing in.

Bunch Son

Answer: The force of the water moved the elevator up the shaft, hence why it did not go all the way up.

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The Conjuring picture

Question: What did Lorraine Warren see during the footage where they participated in an exorcism of a farmer? She stared into his eyes and screamed, then they mentioned that she locked herself in her room for several days, and that it affected her badly. Has that ever been explained?

dewinela

Answer: It is explained in The Conjuring 2 that Lorraine has a premonition of Ed being impaled.

Answer: Ed's death.

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The Sixth Sense picture

Question: Through most of the film Malcolm is dead. All the other ghosts still have scars from how they died but why doesn't Malcolm have his mark which should be a bullet wound?

Answer: Because as Cole tells us in the middle of the movie, "They only see what they want to see." The movie shows us Malcolm as he perceives himself. He can't actually put on an overcoat, or change clothes. He sees what he expects to see. He goes outside in the cold to visit Cole, so he sees himself wearing an overcoat. He doesn't know he is dead - he doesn't see his wound. To preserve this misdirection throughout the movie, we are shown Malcolm as he sees himself.

Actually, we do see Malcolm and Cole sees him. The entry wound in his abdomen is tiny, and the large, obvious exit wound is on Malcolm's back, which we never see.

C Classic

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Chosen answer: It means you need to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. Originally, terms like "tying your shoe" or "pulling your socks up" meant ducking to avoid flying bullets. In a more generic sense though, it needn't be about gun violence per se. Just that you don't want to be on the receiving end of violence meant for someone else. In the movie, this was a way of telling Edward that if he could not defuse the situation, then others would be forced to harm the professor. Here, they weren't actually going to put Edward in harm's way. But if he failed to change the professor, then violence against the professor was forthcoming.

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In the Line of Fire picture

Question: After they search Leary's hotel room, they find a piece of paper that says "SW SKELLUM LA." We learn that the SW stands for Southwest (a bank he was using) and SKELLUM is a phone number. What does the LA mean?

Paul Pepiton

Chosen answer: LA is short for Los Angeles, which refers to the city Leary attempts to assassinate the president in.

Jason Riley

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Jurassic Park III picture

Question: How does Ben Hildebrand die? Only his skeleton is shown in while Billie removes the parasail. He would not have been killed and eaten by a dinosaur because his skeletal remains are still there, and he wouldn't have been strangulated as he was talking to Eric as per the video.

Answer: While the movie doesn't explain this, it most certainly wasn't a dinosaur (since a carnivorous dinosaur would eat him). However, in Jurassic Park Adventures: Survivor, he dies from internal injuries due to the rough "landing".

Bishop73

I have a theory that it was a dinosaur that spits acid.

Answer: Raptors.

Answer: Compisigthus or compies would have done the trick.

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Saw V picture

Question: I was wondering why the man and woman in the last trap didn't use the woman from the bathtub to give the pints of blood? They could have carried her into the room because the door stayed open for about forty seconds.

Michelle Ferris

Chosen answer: Assuming the woman in the bathtub was able to be moved safely the amount of blood gained from her, while still being helpful, would probably not be enough to save the final two survivors from self harm. Without the heart pumping blood you would only get the blood that was in her arm at the moment. You would have to lift her or raise her so gravity would get other blood moving to get enough. Which the final two possibly could have done, but stress of the situation clouded their judgement.

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Daredevil picture

Question: What is the name of the song that comes on when Ben Affleck wakes up and turns on the radio?

Answer: Hang on, by Seether.

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Rosemary's Baby picture

Question: When Rosemary gets into the Castavets right at the end, she walks past a man, and then the man says something. She then replies "Be quiet, you're still in [some location]" What was that about...?

Hamster

Chosen answer: Roman Castavet is trying to get Rosemary's attention, and she says "Be quiet, you're in Dubrovnik, I can't hear you". That was in reference to the fact that Roman and Minnie were supposed to have gone to Majorca or Dubrovnik after she found out that Roman was supposedly dying (which was just a lie Rosemary was told so she wouldn't suspect them when her baby was taken). Roman and Minnie got in a cab and pretended to go to the airport, but never left town.

LuMaria 1

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The Score picture

Question: Why does Norton lie and say that he "has company" and then make De Niro wait longer during the robbery? Sure, Norton double crosses him later, but wouldn't making his partner wait put both of them in danger of getting caught since it delays them and increases their chances of getting caught?

Answer: Norton already has an advance plan to prevent himself from getting caught. The delay is both to fluster DeNiro, and to prevent him from having enough time at the moment of the double-cross to come up with an alternate to handing over the prize without getting caught himself.

Rooster of Doom

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Road House picture

Question: In the scene just before the party at Brad Wesley's house, Dalton is reading a book by the window in his room. What is the name of the book he's reading?

Joe Hiles

Chosen answer: Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison.

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Under Siege picture

Question: If the ship's artillery is only equipped with 5-inch starburst rounds (as stated more than once), how do they use the much larger guns to sink the submarine?

Answer: The smaller guns were only equipped with the Starburst rounds. The 16 Inch Cannons were still supplied with live ammo. None of the characters left to fight had experience with the 16 inch guns except for the Gunner's Mate, therefore none of them thought to use one of the 16 inch guns.

dablues7

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Goldeneye picture

Question: If the opening scene was staged to get 007 to surrender, then it seems it was a terrible plan. Look how many Russians got killed by Bond and 006. It seems very awkward that the whole thing was staged. Why did Bond need to surrender? Why couldn't 006 just shoot him (besides the usual reason that 007 must be executed through an overly involved and escape-riddled plan) What would they do with him once he was captured? Too many questions and a weird scenario.

Answer: The plan was not to capture 007, it was to stage 006's death. Trevelyan's long-term goal was to steal money from the Bank of England and cover it up using the GoldenEye satellite - he presumably did not have time to run the Janus Syndicate and implement this very elaborate plan whilst serving as a full-time MI6 officer. In fact, it was probably the intention that Bond should escape and tell the British government that 006 had died a hero's death.

Sierra1

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Midnight Express picture

Question: What has ended up with Max? Billy promised to go back and release him, but we never see that happen, and no explanation is given for that in the Epilogue. Is Max a real figure? If he is, what has happened to him? Did he manage to escape, or did he die in prison?

Answer: Max WAS a real character, and a Dutchman in real life, rather than an English one as portrayed in the movie. He eventually got paroled and later treatment for a severe drug addiction he had too.

Answer: It's never stated what happened to Max. The film was a heavily fictionalized version of Billy Hayes' book, and the Max character appears to be fictional as well or at least a composite of other real-life imprisoned Westerners that Hayes met while in a Turkish prison.

raywest

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Sleepy Hollow picture

Question: When going to kill the Killians, how did the Horseman know that Thomas was hiding under the floor? Thomas stayed completely still and didn't make a sound.

Answer: It would seem the Horseman possesses a supernatural instinct.

Phaneron

Answer: The horseman saw that the mother was close to where he was hiding.

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The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement picture

Question: Why wasn't Anne Hathaway used in the beginning scenes of the movies when we see Princess Mia at her graduation but only the back of her, a headless shot on the airplane and only her cat gets out of the limo when they arrive at the castle? We don't actually see her until she appears on the balcony in the red strapless gown for her 21st birthday celebration ball.

Sheri Hartman

Chosen answer: This makes it more dramatic when they finally show her face and the audience sees how much Mia has grown up since the last movie.

Phixius

Answer: I wonder about this too. It could be for dramatic purposes before the balcony scene. But graduation scene is definitely not Anne. The girl's hair looked thicker than of Anne's.

Answer: I had the very same question it wasn't until the third scene that they show her face.

Answer: You actually DO see her face at the college graduation. After the ceremony, she is holding her diploma and talking to her two friends. She tells one "Thank your mom for all the cookies", and then Joe tells her that they need to leave to get on the plane.

Answer: But they never show her face until she is on the plane.

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Gattaca picture

Question: In the scene where Vincent is just about to launch, the doctor testing him mentions his son. My brother seems to think that the doctor knows Vincent is not who he pretends to be because he is Jerome Morrow's father. Is there any evidence for this?

Answer: None whatsoever. The doctor seems to have worked out that Vincent is not who he seems to be from simple observational evidence. It's because of his son that he feels sympathy for Vincent and hasn't revealed that he's tricking the system.

Tailkinker

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The Grudge picture

Question: How exactly does the father kill the wife? I noticed when she comes down the stairs she comes out of a bloody bag. So how is she killed?

Answer: Well, in the Japanese original (Ju-On: The Grudge), it shows that Takeo, the father, killed his wife by shoving a knife down her throat or something similar to that. When he was killing her, she tried to scream, except her scream came out all messed up (because the knife hit the vocal chords), which explains the horrible croaking noise. There's no doubt about it that it's the way she was killed in this version.

Answer: Another website states that after pushing her down, Kayako sprained her ankle and crawled down the stairs, only to realise Takeo was slowly following her from behind watching her suffer. He then snapped her neck, but she was still alive and could only make the croaking noise. It is also implied that he stabbed her multiple times afterwards, which could explain the bloody corpse.

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