swordfish

24th May 2015

Chopping Mall (1986)

Continuity mistake: Just before the second technician is killed by the robot's pincer stabbing him through the magazine he is reading, if you look closely you can see the holes in the magazine made by the pincer in previous takes of the scene.

swordfish

24th May 2015

Chopping Mall (1986)

Factual error: Petrol cans sold in shops are always empty. They would never contain petrol when bought. There would be nowhere in a shopping center to get petrol exactly for health and safety reasons.

swordfish

24th May 2015

Chopping Mall (1986)

Continuity mistake: When the robots are chasing the girls, the girls are all carrying make-shift Molotov cocktails made out of petrol cans with a rag in the neck. Suzie is hit in the leg by a robot and falls to the ground. The robot then fires a laser at the petrol can by her, causing it to burst into flames, which cover her too and burn her to death. However, when the camera pulls back, we see that her petrol can is mysteriously intact and untouched by the flames.

swordfish

Trivia: In the MI5 safe house, in the kitchen we see a large parrot flying around. This was the exact same parrot as the one at the end of "For Your Eyes Only", which speaks to Margaret Thatcher as Bond.

swordfish

Continuity mistake: In the very last scene, Hoskins opens the back left hand passenger door. He gets in, and is seated right on the edge of the seat (as far left as he can go) when the car takes off, and Brosnan pops up and aims a gun at Hoskins. Hoskins does not move. However, from the camera angle, Brosnan is pointing a gun at the middle of the row of seats, whereas Hoskins is sitting on the far left.

swordfish

9th Apr 2015

Slaughter High (1986)

Continuity mistake: In the scene when Carol is running from Marty, she hides in the gym. Marty runs into the gym. Carol runs out and goes down two flights of stairs. She then goes into a room by the stairs and goes to the window...the window that overlooks the gym. Somehow having gone down two flights of stairs Carol has ended up above the gym.

swordfish

9th Apr 2015

Slaughter High (1986)

Plot hole: In the opening scene, the bullies all go into the girls' toilets with loads of camera equipment, including high tech ones used for proper films and boom mics. This equipment is way too expensive (even more so in the 80s when the film is set) for any high school kid to have.

swordfish

9th Apr 2015

Slaughter High (1986)

Trivia: The lead actor, Simon Scuddamore, committed suicide a few weeks after finishing filming.

swordfish

9th Apr 2015

Slaughter High (1986)

Plot hole: When the bullies take revenge on Marty, they doctor the chemicals he is preparing so that they explode. The bullies were punished some time in the afternoon, judging by the sun in the very first shot. Their detention is at 4:30 in the afternoon. Somehow, they manage to acquire the necessary chemicals for the explosion within a couple of hours, even though they are stuck at school. In addition to this, they have no way of knowing what chemicals Marty is preparing, so even if they were able to get chemicals, they would not know which ones to get to destroy his experiment.

swordfish

9th Apr 2015

Slaughter High (1986)

Audio problem: Although the protagonists are all American, the actors are all English. This is why several characters mysteriously switch accents part of the way through the film - Marty speaks with a solid English accent after his first few lines.

swordfish

8th Apr 2015

Sherlock (2010)

The Empty Hearse - S3-E2

Factual error: The entire reason Sherlock takes up the case is because he is intrigued how a man managed to disappear from a tube carriage in between stations - it appears to be impossible to do. However, any Londoner will tell you that it is perfectly simple to do: all tube carriages have doors between them linking them. So if the man wanted to leave the carriage between stations, he'd just use the door at the end of the carriage. The train employee would not be puzzled by this, nor would Sherlock consider the case worthy of his time.

swordfish

Trivia: Several of the England players and coaching staff in the film are based on real life English footballers and managers. Mike Bassett is based on England manager Graham Taylor. Both paced up and down the touchline yelling at players, and both wear the exact same style of glasses. The film is a mockumentary about England qualifying for the world cup: in real life Graham Taylor participated in a documentary just like this ("An Impossible Job"), only unlike Bassett's team, England did not qualify for the world cup in 1994. Like Bassett, Taylor had unusual mannerisms, including "Do I not like that" Kevin Tonkinson - England's star player. Extremely gifted but an alcoholic and a party animal. He is based on Paul Gascoigne, one of England's best players whose career ended due to alcoholism. The goalkeeper is never named nor does he have a speaking part in the film. However, he wears his hair in a distinctive long ponytail - exactly the same unusual style that England goalkeeper David Seaman had. Steve Harper - a midfielder, extremely good looking and often focused more on his social life and girlfriends than on the football game. This playboy is based on England midfielder David Beckham. Gary Wackett - a violent and aggressive defender. Based on England defenders Stuart Pearce and Vinnie Jones (who was English, although he played for Wales).

swordfish

Trivia: In the opening scene of the film, the country representatives discuss potential premier league managers who could be England manager. For reasons of libel, they can't mention them by name but it's clear to football fans who the managers really are: "Ally MacTavish" is the most successful manager in the Premier League, having won the premier league 5 times, the FA cup 3 times and the Champion's league. The only problem is that he is Scottish, so will not want to manage England. This man is based on Sir Alex Ferguson, the Scottish manager of Manchester United, and the most successful manager in the premier league. "Young Jackson" the manager who has worked wonders managing Liverpool and is a superb formed player himself, but is turned down by the FA for being "a bit mouthy" is Brian Clough. He was one of the English league's top goalscorers, and hailed by many to have been "the best manager England never had." Despite being willing to do the job, Clough was turned down by the FA on three occasions because his abrasive, confrontational personality was disapproved of.

swordfish

18th Mar 2015

Slaughter High (1986)

Question: The bullies think there is a real high school reunion going on. Yet having sat outside the boarded up and abandoned school for 3 hours, they do not seem in the least surprised and begin to doubt a reunion is taking place. They are not suspicious even when they have to break a window to get in to the school.Surely they would be suspicious by then and not go in?

swordfish

Answer: Some people are not the brightest button in the box. If wanting something enough they will overlook the obvious.

Ssiscool

22nd Jan 2015

Student Bodies (1981)

Trivia: The film, although achieving barely any box office success, was frequently shown on late night cable TV because of its lack of sex and violence.

swordfish

22nd Jan 2015

Chopping Mall (1986)

Plot hole: In the whole film, between the robots and the teens an incredible amount of damage is done to the shopping centre, including smoke, fires and explosions. These things would all easily trigger fire alarms and a sprinkler system...yet the fire alarms never go off.

swordfish

22nd Jan 2015

Chopping Mall (1986)

Plot hole: In the introductory scene, the scientists are telling the shop owners that the robots are equipped with tazers and sleep darts to tackle intruders. However, when the robots begin to kill people, they are now armed with pincer "arms" and with C4 explosives.

swordfish

22nd Jan 2015

Chopping Mall (1986)

Factual error: When the first robot is trapped in the lift, the teenagers shoot the propane tanks on top of the lift in order to get them to catch fire and explode, killing the robot. However the teens are firing pistols or shotguns, and these do not contain incendiary ammunition, which is what is required to make the propane to catch fire.

swordfish

22nd Jan 2015

Chopping Mall (1986)

Other mistake: Walter Paisley is cleaning the floor and encounters the first robot. The whole reason the robots are patrolling at this point is that the shopping centre is supposedly closed to customers, as it is nighttime. However in this scene you can see quite a few people shopping on the upper tier of the mall above Paisley.

swordfish

10th Jan 2015

Chopping Mall (1986)

Robot: [After killing anyone] Thank you...have a nice day.

swordfish

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