Continuity mistake: In the final bird attack on the house Mitch runs to Lydia and Cathy huddled in the corner by the bookcase. The lighting has been moved and the shadow on the red books in the bookcase disappears in the next shot. (01:42:55)
Continuity mistake: After Mitch closes the shutter, he sits Lydia down in the green chair. She then grabs his arm and leans forward with Cathy's arm around her back. In the next shot she's grabbing at his arm with her back against the chair. (01:43:00)
Continuity mistake: After calming Lydia in the green chair Mitch holds his bloody left hand with his right as he goes to the bathroom to get a bandage. In the next shot with the front door in the background he switches to holding his right hand with his uninjured left hand. (01:43:15)
Continuity mistake: After Mitch bandages his hand he looks at the front door. As the birds peck at it look closely at that top right quarter as a hole appears between shots. (01:43:20)
Continuity mistake: When Mitch puts the mirror up against the front door he hits the chair to the right of the door and knocks it out of place. In the next shot it's been moved back to where it belongs. (01:43:30)
Continuity mistake: When Mitch puts the mirror up against the front door the rug in front of it becomes bunched up. Mitch never touches it but later it's been set straight again. (01:43:30)
Continuity mistake: When Mitch picks up the mirror his right hand grabs one of the umbrellas hanging on the right of the mirror. It in the next shot the umbrella has disappeared. (01:43:30)
Continuity mistake: When Mitch puts the mirror up against the front door the light fixture above his head goes from being perfectly still to swaying wildly between shots and he didn't touch it. (01:43:35)
Continuity mistake: As Mitch runs to get the hammer and nails the shadow underneath the table next to the far wall changes between shots. First it's too dark to see under the table, than as Melanie watches him you can see the shadow of the table's leg against the wall. (01:43:40)
Continuity mistake: As Mitch runs to get the hammer and nails for the front door notice the top leaf of the fern plant to his left. It gets rearranged in the next shot, as Melanie watches him, with one fern sticking out from the middle that wasn't there before. (01:43:45)
Continuity mistake: After Mitch ties the shutter closed both sides of the window look identical with each shudder being seen through the window, but as he walks back into the living room just before the lights go out the left shutter is the same and the right shutter is black. (01:44:05)
Continuity mistake: After Mitch closes the shutters, the chair from the desk pushed further away to the left of where Lydia and Cathy are sitting and they haven't moved it or moved from where they were sitting. (01:44:05)
Continuity mistake: Just before the lights blowout Mitch comes back into living room and there is a red ottoman to the right of the green chair that Lydia and Cathy are sitting in. A few moments before, all three of them just walked through that spot when they were hiding by the bookcase and it wasn't there. (01:44:05)
Continuity mistake: As Mitch returns to the living room before the lights go out, there's much more wood in the pile than before when he was putting it into the fire. (01:44:05)
Continuity mistake: After the final attack they're all in the living room in the dark. As the camera pans from Melanie to Mitch the wick of the kerosene lamp faces it. In the next shot of Mitch alone the lamp has been rotated so that the wick still faces the camera. (01:45:15)
Continuity mistake: When Melanie reaches for the flashlight on the coffee table it's been moved closer to and slightly in front of the kerosene lamp and she hasn't touched it. (01:45:20)
Continuity mistake: When Mitch is first seen sleeping on the couch, after the last attack, the red throw pillow is protruding out from behind his right shoulder. The next time he is seen from the front the pillow is totally behind his back. (01:45:25)
Continuity mistake: After the final attack as Mitch sleeps in the chair the tabletop and the three items on it to his left are lit up. They get much darker the next time we see them. (01:45:25)
Continuity mistake: When we first see Mitch sleeping on the couch after the last attack, the corner of the silver box to the left of him is facing Melanie. After she calls to him the box has been rotated so that one complete side is facing her. (01:45:25)
Continuity mistake: Melanie is sitting and she reaches for the flashlight on the coffee table. In the next shot, as she picks it up, she's standing. (01:45:55)
Answer: The movie takes place in the 1960s, so presumably gas pumps worked a bit differently back then. This is also a small town and probably the gas station had not modernized. There may not have been automatic shut-offs, or if there was, it was faulty.
raywest ★
The automatic shut off is in the handle of the hose. When a person grips the handle they have to lift a levered switch to allow gas flow; the lever is spring loaded so that if it is released the gas will stop flowing. I have looked at older antique gas pumps and they are all the same; even the visible glass gravity flow ones. If that hose was dropped the the gas should have stopped flowing.
michael g