Fatal Attraction

Fatal Attraction (1987)

82 mistakes

(4 votes)

Continuity mistake: Alex takes the cigarettes out of her bag twice when she and Dan have lunch in the restaurant.

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Michael Douglas is listening to the answering machine look at the towel to the right of the paper towel rack. It is moved the next time you see it. (00:22:15 - 00:23:05)

????

Continuity mistake: When it looks like Alex is dead in Dan's bath, she has a long strand of blood coming out of her mouth, but a second later it's gone, and her eyes, which were white, are no longer white - they are open and look like normal eyes.

kh1616

Continuity mistake: When Michael Douglas is listening to a "deposition" (which is really Glenn Close calling him names, etc.) using his ear phones in his new attic home (just before his wife comes up and finds him), the audio tape is not the same one as he was listening to minutes before in the car! The words are almost the same but the inflections are different.

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

Suggested correction: It is the same tape, although a mistake does remain - the tape when first being played in the attic is a few sentences before where the tape should start (without him rewinding it at all).

Continuity mistake: The water level was almost but not quite overflowing the brim of the tub when Michael Douglas is pushed in, and the faucet was still running, so there should have been more water on the floor. (01:52:25)

????

Visible crew/equipment: In the library, right after Dan breaks into Alex's apartment, a cameraman's reflection is visible in a window as a librarian pushes a cart past it.

Continuity mistake: Dan plays the tape that Alex made in his car. He stops the tape when he gets home, and after he gives his daughter a pet rabbit, he goes to his den and puts the tape in the tape recorder and presses play - that's all; he doesn't rewind it - but what he hears is the same bit he heard in the car, which is wrong; the tape should have started play where it left off in the car.

kh1616

Continuity mistake: Playland, Rye NY in the spring, summer and autumn. Alex and the girl walking to the Dragon Coaster. It's spring with the leaves in bloom. Then in stock footage of a different roller coaster being pulled to the top, it's fall with the leaves a golden yellow. Then in other stock footage, the trees are a lush summery green. (01:36:35)

????

Continuity mistake: In the scene in the tub, Glen Close's feet start out filthy, then they become clean as a whistle when she is flailing from her knees, then by the end of the scene they're disgusting again. (01:52:40)

????

Continuity mistake: At the start of the film we are introduced to Michael Douglas' family life. His wife is in the bathroom getting ready for their night out, Michael is sat on the couch reading and his daughter, Ellen, is sat on the chair watching cartoons. In one shot Ellen is sat on her own, but in the next shot their dog has magically appeared on her lap.

Continuity mistake: The amount of wine in the Michael Douglas' glass changes in the scene where he is talking to his daughter about rabbits. It fills up without being touched. (00:41:30)

????

Plot hole: In the kitchen, when Michael Douglas is preparing the hot water for the tea just before the final bathroom fight, there is a shot of him looking up at the ceiling and noticing the leaking water (obviously from the overflowing bathtub). But, he turns back toward the stove and continues to prepare the tea, instead of having an immediate reaction that something is wrong. It is not until the teapot whistles, and his wife screams, that he realizes something is wrong. He should have run up stairs as soon as he noticed the water leaking from the ceiling.

Continuity mistake: (DVD only) In the new ending, when Alex attacks Beth at the family's home, Beth has bruises and a cast on her arm, obviously a result of the accident she was in a few days ago. In the original ending, presumably taking place within the same time frame, when the cops come to question Dan about Alex's death, Beth is fine - no bruises, no cast, she doesn't even look tired.

More quotes from Fatal Attraction

Trivia: In the cocktail party scene, there is a quick shot of the large crowd attending the party. Look closely at the dark-haired man near the front of the party goers - it's James Eckhouse, who played Mr. Walsh on "Beverly Hills 90210" He also had a similar, uncredited role as an 'extra' in the first bar scene in the movie "Cocktail."

More trivia for Fatal Attraction

Question: Why did Alex kill Ellen's pet bunny and how did she get inside the house to boil it? Didn't Dan and Beth lock the door?

adamtrainman@aol.com

Answer: Because she is insane! And she picked the lock. By murdering the innocent pet bunny rabbit Alex was sending a message. She won't be ignored! She's just letting Dan know that she can get to him, or in this case his family (daughter's pet), anytime she wants to. He's not safe.

Alan Keddie

More questions & answers from Fatal Attraction

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.