
Continuity mistake: When John first meets Raymond, Raymond sticks his business card in the black slot and it is big enough that it hangs over the slot. When the camera pans away from the card to go back to their conversation, it disappears. At the end of the scene it appears again, because they end on a close-up of the card. (00:15:45)
Answer: The figures are spirits who figured out how to contact the living, like Michael Keaton's wife. But where his wife wants him to help others, the three spirits are evil and want to only do bad things.