Continuity mistake: On the ferry, Rachel wears the purple/pink camouflage hoodie over her orange knit sweater with the colorful stripe sleeves, as usual. Now this is where things become strange. In the first shot as the trio come ashore, she is only wearing her orange sweater, she is not wearing the purple/pink hoodie - note the clear lack of fur hood. In the very next shot as they climb a bit more and then rest, Rachel is wearing the purple/pink hoodie - note the hood, but now it's on under her orange sweater. In the underwater shots she is also wearing it under the orange sweater. (This odd mistake has absolutely nothing to do with the very long wool cloak that Rachel wears in the next scene). (01:02:20 - 01:04:40)
Continuity mistake: When the ferry casts off in the wideshot, there are only six people hanging off the outer edge of the ramp as it's being raised. When Robbie and another gentleman help these people over, in the close-up one of them wears tan pants, a long blue coat and knit hat, but this person was not amongst the six in the previous shot. (01:01:55)
Continuity mistake: When Ray and the kids are hiding out in the mom's basement, they take cover in a small utility room that goes pitch black when Ray shuts the door - even though there are windows above the girl's head that emit light before he shuts the door and after he opens it to leave. (00:40:35)
Continuity mistake: When the van is parked at the side of the road, as Rachel heads off Ray shouts, "Every time you guys don't listen to me I'm telling your mother..." In the next shot the van is seen quite a distance away as Rachel reaches the shoreline. After seeing the floating bodies Ray picks her up, turns around and as he begins to run the van is seen, only this time is much, much closer. Ray never moved the van, as shown in the following shots. (00:48:00)
Continuity mistake: In the exterior shot of Mary Ann's house, there are three large windows of the same size over the front door, and large bay widows on both sides of the door. In the interior shot, when Ray remarks, "They're never here," the window over the door is visible and it is one large center window with very small windows on each side. In the dining room there are two windows with wall in between, certainly not a large bay window. (Additionally, in the living room there is a fireplace, where there were two windows in the exterior shot - but some could say that those windows were boarded up and a fireplace was built in front of it.) (00:34:30)
Continuity mistake: In Mary Ann's basement, when Ray and Robbie are looking out the small window, as the aliens begin their attack, Rachel runs over and Robbie hugs her tightly. However, in the next shot of Robbie and Ray, Rachel is gone, yet in the very next close-up Robbie is still hugging Rachel. (The shot of Ray and Robbie without Rachel is cut from a previous shot, before she runs to them.) (00:39:30)
Continuity mistake: When Ray parks the van at the side of the road, the van is about 60-70 ft away from the tall wood post, at the road intersection up ahead. However, in the first shot of the military vehicles approaching, the van is parked directly in front of that wood post at the intersection, and this also occurs in the shot as Ray shouts, "Robbie! You wanna go in that direction?" (00:47:40 - 00:49:00)
Continuity mistake: When they stop so the kids can go to the toilet, in a long shot of Ray trying to persuade Rachel not to go too far, we see him start to open the boot (trunk) of the car. When it cuts to a closeup he's not. (00:47:50)
Continuity mistake: As Ray heads to the 26 strikes spot, while speaking with the two guys, he passes many stalled cars, some of which change entirely between shots. For example: In the close-ups he passes a red car in front of the restaurant, with a grey double parked car, and a white car at the street corner in front of the red, yet in the overhead shot a red car is at the street corner, with a grey car behind, in front of the restaurant. (00:19:30)
Continuity mistake: When Ray runs to catch the ferry, Sheryl loses her grip of him and when the soldier abruptly stops her the green hat falls behind her. Yet as the ramp rises, when Ray shouts, "There's room on the boat," Sheryl's hat is back on her head. (01:01:05)
Continuity mistake: As Ray speeds away when Manny's shop blows up, Robbie shouts, "Holy s**t!!" and ducks. The rearview mirror on the van's windshield, in this close-up, is entirely different to the one seen a few shots later, when they're on the freeway. The mirror changes yet again later. (00:31:30 - 00:32:15)
Continuity mistake: When Ray and Robbie are throwing the ball near the start, check the wall behind Robbie. In closer shots of him there's sunlight on the wall and the shadow of a nearby satellite dish is visible, but in wider shots the whole wall's in shadow. (00:09:00)
Continuity mistake: While in his bed Robbie watches TV, as he leans against the wall behind him. Yet, in the close-up of the TV when Ray clicks it off, Robbie is clearly reflected on the TV screen leaning near the window, which is a good few feet away from where he was in the previous shot. In the next shot he's back to where he was in the first shot. (00:08:30)
Continuity mistake: When Ray steals the van and speeds away there is a registration sticker at the corner of the windshield, on the driver's side. The sticker is gone when Ray starts shouting, "You saw! We're under attack!" when they're on the freeway. (00:30:10 - 00:32:15)
Continuity mistake: In the beginning of the film, when the first tripod began to rise from the earth, there is a cut showing two men standing on top of their scissor lift, which is swaying dangerously back and forth because of the earthquake the tripod is causing. In the very next cut, showing the entire area, the scissor lift is very apparent in the foreground, not only is it not swaying (while everything else in the area is shaking dangerously) , but one of the men is suddenly in a kneeling position, whereas he had just been standing up. (00:22:40)
Continuity mistake: When Ray is outside at the beginning of the movie during the lightning storm, he says to himself that the wind is moving in the direction of the storm. Yet when he calls to Rachel to come outside and take a look, her hair is blowing away from her face, in the opposite direction it should be blowing.
Continuity mistake: When Ray speeds home in his car he passes Manny's shop and directly in front of the left garage door, beside the gas pump, is a large tree surrounded by bricks at the trunk base. Later, when Ray speaks with Manny the tree and surrounding bricks are gone. (00:04:15 - 00:19:00)
Continuity mistake: In the interior shot, the Hudson Ferry captain walks toward and then stands at the doorway (seen clearly when he cast off earlier), as he stares at the growing whirlpool. However, in the next exterior shot he is standing at an open porthole window, staring at the water. (01:02:45)
Continuity mistake: When Ray, Robbie and Rachel arrive at Mary Ann's house, as the kids shout for their mom and Tim, the door to the basement under the stairs, as well as the den further up (beside the kitchen), are all perfectly visible. Later, after the house is destroyed, when Ray walks through the basement doorway, the walls, moldings, and so on are entirely different, and now there is an extra wall (perpendicular to the camera) to the left (viewer's) where there was none before. (00:35:10 - 00:41:40)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Ray, Robbie and Rachel are going outside of the house to find the remains of the airplane, as Ray is putting Rachel in the car, in the right hand side of the shot you see Robbie walking towards the wreckage, and he puts his hands over his head. In the next shot, it's a close up of him and his hands are at his sides, where he then proceeds to put his hands in the position they were in in the previous shot. (00:45:45)
Answer: Since the tripods tended to spray the red fluid shortly after pulling a human into themselves, it seems a good assumption that the red fluid is essentially blood. Given this, it seems likely that the "spore" of the vines is spread in the red fluid.
scwilliam