Factual error: The film supposedly took place in the Coastal Carolina region. This is a geographically flat area, called a coastal plain. In the beginning of the film, the kids were driving along ocean cliffs, which are not present in the Carolinas. Obviously, this was filmed in California. (00:01:15)
Factual error: Another indication that this was filmed on the west coast is that in the opening shot you can see the sun. If this was North Carolina at sunset then the sun would not be visible across the ocean. (00:01:20)
Continuity mistake: When Barry tells Ray to go check if the fisherman is alive, Barry's flashlight keeps changing position from his right hand to his left hand. (00:15:58)
Continuity mistake: After Barry has jumped into the water reclaim the crown, he comes out of the water with a perfectly clean shirt, but in the next shot the blood is back on his shirt as expected. (00:22:50)
Visible crew/equipment: When Julie comes home at her mother's house, she looks at her diplomas on the wall. When her mother comes in the room, you can see a reflection of a boom mike in the frame behind Julie. (00:27:10)
Other mistake: After Barry (Ryan Phillippe) is put in the hospital, the four of them are talking about the murder and who tried to kill Barry. If you look at the door to Barry's room it is open - didn't anybody hear them talking about murders and a man with a slicker? (00:43:45)
Other mistake: David Egan's obituary mentions that he was 28 when he died. When they go to see David's sister Missy, she says that he was Class of '92 at the high school. So that would make him 23 when he graduated, meaning he was born in 1969 instead of 1974. (00:45:00)
Factual error: David Egan's obituary says he died on 'Wednesday July 5th 1997'. In 1997, July 5th was a Saturday. (00:45:30)
Factual error: When Helen and Julie are researching David Egan on her computer, the browser shows the URL as '//http:cnty457.lib.org'. It should of course be 'http://cnty457.lib.org'. (00:45:30)
Continuity mistake: When Helen finds the word 'SOON' written on her mirror she smashes it. There are two shots of the mirror being broken - in the first the center of the cracks is between the O's and in the second it is in the middle of the first O. (00:57:50)
Continuity mistake: When Helen sees in the mirror that her hair has been cut, she's holding her head with one hand but in the close-up she's holding her head with both hands. (00:57:52)
Continuity mistake: Max lies dead in Julie's car covered in crabs. He was hooked very deep under his chin, yet when we see him, the wound is gone. (00:59:15)
Continuity mistake: In the iconic scene where Julie screams "what are you waiting for?", she at first faces Barry and Helen then she turns around. In the next shot, she's still facing them and has to turn around again. (01:00:44)
Revealing mistake: When the killer is dragging the girl's body with the meat hook, you can easily see that it is a doll. (01:18:45)
Other mistake: When Julie goes onto the boat to call the police, she sees a collection of newspaper articles and photos stuck to the wall. The photos, however, were taken earlier that same day. Unless they were printed from a colour printer on gloss paper the killer owned in between chasing all of them, there was not enough time to develop them and stick them up. (01:25:15)
Factual error: Near the end, Julie James is crouching down by the front tip of the boat with a flare gun in her hand. Now, she is crouching so she is looking straight at the rest of the boat, instead of looking over the front of the boat. Then Ben Willis starts the boat with a big push and she falls back against the tip of the boat and the gun flies out of her hands. Now when you do that with a car, you normally fly backwards, but since Julie is turned around the other way, she should fall onto the piece of boat in front of her. (01:26:45)
Plot hole: Barry gets killed violently at the pageant. So obviously there should be blood everywhere. When the police go up to the crime scene, they find nothing. There's no way the killer had time to clean up anything, let alone drag away Barry's body without someone seeing him. And blood starts dripping after the police leave the scene.
Visible crew/equipment: When Helen is being chased by Ben, she runs to "Shivers" and up to the glass door, screaming "Elsa!" In this shot you can see a crewmember reflected in the glass door.
Factual error: Portion of the film were shot at an old farm house. The trees were bare, without leaves. Obviously filmed in the winter.
Factual error: In the scene where all four people get together after Jennifer Love Hewitt finds a body in her truck, Barry hits Ray with his right hand, which is in a cast. This would cause him a lot of pain, but despite using his injured arm more than once there's no sign of any discomfort.
Suggested correction: I'm an x-ray tech. Casts are made so the limb can bang into things without causing more injury. If he was angry with adrenaline flowing the cast could take all the force. He may not even feel it.
