Question: Does Cole know for the whole movie that Malcolm is dead? If he does, why isn't he afraid of him like he is of the other dead people in the movie?
Answered questions about specific movies, TV shows and more
These are questions relating to specific titles. General questions for movies and TV shows are here. Members get e-mailed when any of their questions are answered.
Answer: Yes, of course. Remember that Cole tells us that these ghosts only "see what they want to see". To avoid giving away the whole plot twist of the movie, we see Malcolm as he sees himself - no injury, and dressed as would be appropriate for where he sees himself. But we know Cole can see dead people, and he sees them as they truly are. The young blonde boy with the back of his head blown out should make this clear. As for the second part of your question, I think Cole is scared of Malcolm at first. You can see his fear when Malcolm walks past him in the church to sit in the pew in front of where he is playing. His tension slowly eases during their conversation, but he still looks wary as he leaves the church. I get the impression that Cole spends large portions of his time in this building, yet he leaves this time within a few minutes of arriving; he doesn't want to stay near this new ghost. He becomes comfortable with him later of course, and Malcolm eventually wins his trust through honesty about his own problems, but this is not true from the start.
Answer: I think we have to assume, while it is never said, that Cole is not afraid of all ghosts, just some that are angry, upset or creepy. He has talked to them, as evidenced that he knows Latin phrases, or the guy killed in Vietnam in the specific division and province. So while a bit scared of all of them, he is willing to talk or listen a little, but not enough to know they want his help. Then, here comes a child psychologist who knows how to talk to kids and get them to open up a bit, and Cole starts to trust him. But he certainly seems to know he is a ghost. While it is not said, he probably knows the difference between seeing a ghost and a live person always.
Question: Through most of the film Malcolm is dead. All the other ghosts still have scars from how they died but why doesn't Malcolm have his mark which should be a bullet wound?
Answer: Because as Cole tells us in the middle of the movie, "They only see what they want to see." The movie shows us Malcolm as he perceives himself. He can't actually put on an overcoat, or change clothes. He sees what he expects to see. He goes outside in the cold to visit Cole, so he sees himself wearing an overcoat. He doesn't know he is dead - he doesn't see his wound. To preserve this misdirection throughout the movie, we are shown Malcolm as he sees himself.
Actually, we do see Malcolm and Cole sees him. The entry wound in his abdomen is tiny, and the large, obvious exit wound is on Malcolm's back, which we never see.
Question: What happened to Cole in the room that he got locked in at the party? We hear the ghost but as far as we saw during the movie, none of the ghosts actually hurt Cole, physically at least, so what could've happened to him?
Chosen answer: Near the end of the movie, when Cole tells his mother his secret, he is explaining to her about the ghosts, and says "They're the ones that used to hurt me". This informs us that the ghosts are responsible for his injuries in the movie, and that this problem has stopped. In this specific case, however, Lyn removes Cole's unconscious body from the closet. The movie does not specifically answer your question, however it seems reasonable speculation that he was injured by the ghost inside the closet with him, and that he thrashed about violently trying to escape. Since the hospital checked him for signs of seizure, I expect he lost consciousness not from physical trauma, but because the experience was too much for him and he, for want of a medical term, fainted.
Question: Maybe this is just an assumption of mine, but since Malcolm is dead why can't he see the other dead people, ie the three hanging in the school?
Answer: Cole explains this. During the hospital scene when he tells his secret, he describes the dead people he sees as "Walking around like regular people. The don't see each other. They only see what they wanna see. They don't know they're dead". This explains many things in the movie, including why Malcolm can't see the ghosts, why he can't see his blood-stained shirt (till the very end), why he doesn't see the table blocking the basement door, etc. I believe that Cole sees him just how he looked when he died - blue work shirt with the massive blood stain at the back, while we see Malcolm throughout the movie as he perceives himself - no blood, overcoat when he's outside, etc.
Question: If Cole truly knows that Malcolm is a ghost throughout the film, then how do you explain the advice Malcolm gives Cole to "listen to them [the ghosts.]"? Isn't Cole already doing that by listening to Malcolm? How did Malcolm really help Cole deal with his ghosts and fears if the key advice he gave him was something Cole already did the moment he met Malcolm? If Cole already knew to listen to ghosts (e.g. Malcolm), then how did Malcolm really help Cole in reality? (Or was the point of the film more that of Cole helping Malcolm instead?)
Chosen answer: First, be clear that Cole was afraid of Malcolm at first. He is tense when Malcolm first walks into the church. He relaxes with him over time. Remember too that we learn that Cole's grandmother visits him sometimes, and he indicates no fear of her (though I'd guess he was scared at first). More than once in the movie he indicates or infers that not ALL the ghosts he sees are scary. Keeping in mind this is fiction, and not every possibility can be addressed, the flow of events shows that the "solution" is to help the ghosts through listening to their problem(s). The ghosts are lingering due to some issues they wish to see resolved in some manner. It seems Kyra wanted her father to know the truth of her death - indications are this was to protect her little sister who was already being targeted by the step-mother. Things are slightly more complex for Malcolm because his anchor to this life is coincident with helping Cole find the solution to these ghosts. So Malcolm is both persistent and has the training to pierce Cole's resistance and fear; while Cole possibly talks to some ghosts, the ones who aren't scary, he doesn't necessarily "listen" to them in the sense that Malcolm advises later in the movie. Thus, that key conversation leads Cole to the confidence to deal with the ghosts without fear, and also resolves Malcolm's guilt over Vincent.
In a way, it's like Malcolm is getting a do-over, a second chance, with Cole, to do what he failed to do with Vincent, which is to help him deal with having the "gift" of the sixth sense, being able to see, hear, and interact with ghosts, in order to help them to realise the fact of their death and move on.
Answer: At the beginning of the money, as Malcolm reviews his notes, Vincent's name is on top, however, on the next shot when the paper is shown up close, it now has Cole's name. There is a direct connection. Because of this scene, I thought Malcolm was trying to keep his promise to help Vincent. Both Vincent and Cole have the same gray streak in their hair. There is a direct connection.
Question: In the scene where Gatsby is telling Nick his origin story, Nick narrates that Cody (a man he saved and sailed the ocean with) died and he was cheated out of his inheritance by Cody's family and he was once again dirt poor. After this part has been narrated, a clip of spinning newspapers is shown of what happens to Gatsby after this. As this happens, if you listen in the background, you'll notice that there is a song beginning to play. What is this song that is playing? (01:09:40)
Chosen answer: The song is "Back to Black" by Beyoncé (Feat. Andre 3000).
Question: In the scene when John is telling the Terminator all about his mother (just after he finds out about his foster parents) he says she "was with this crazy ex-green beret guy, running guns." Is he talking about Enrique, the guy the three of them go to who gives them the truck? I've always wondered who he was to Sarah.
Chosen answer: It cold have been him or someone else. He did say "She'd shack up with anybody she could learn from so she could teach me how to be this great military leader." Enrique seems to be more interested in having the guns than selling them.
Answer: In one scene that was never filmed, Sarah, Terminator, and John went to see this guy named Gant at his ranch, and that was the Green Beret. It was never filmed, only storyboarded. The T-1000 did catch up and killed Gant posing as his wife with a spike to the gut in a later scene.
Question: I understand what "If you build it, he will come" and "Ease his pain" both mean but what did the voice mean when he said "Go the distance"?
Question: When someone dies in the dome, the body is taken away by a hovercraft. At the end, Katniss' body is taken by what seems the same hovercraft, which can do this because the dome collapsed. If so, how can the hovercraft enter the dome in the earlier scenes?
Answer: It is not the same hovercraft. It is one that was either stolen or otherwise obtained by the growing rebellion faction that had planned Katniss' rescue. For the other hovercraft that have regularly retrieved the dead tributes, it can be assumed that one is already stationed inside the arena for this purpose or there is an entryway into the dome that one can fly in and out of.
Question: How did Ellie get hurt running from the raptor in the powerhouse?
Answer: After confronting a Raptor in the power shed, Ellie, amongst other things, Tries to climb a fence, falls over and kicks a fence with a Raptor on the other side. Ellie could have injured her leg/ankle/foot during any one of these physical activities. In my opinion, a scene where she is specifically seen injuring part of her left leg has been left out.
Question: Tokyo Drift is set after 5 and 6, so why is it that Han is stealing money from D.K in Tokyo Drift, despite the fact that he had $10,000,000 after the end of Fast Five? even factoring in the cars, garage and everything else he had, he would still be loaded.
Chosen answer: He might possibly have money left over, or not. We don't know. He could have lost a fortune betting on races. He could have lost money selling cars (since it is extremely rare to sell a customized car for anything approaching what you put into it), he could have had previous debts he had to pay off. There's no reason to suspect he'd still have a lot of the $10,000,000 left over. Also, to some you can NEVER have enough money. So honestly, it's not all that surprising or far-fetched for a person to want to make more money regardless of whatever way they decide to go about getting it and regardless of how much money they may already have. Just like when millionaires invest in things, despite already having millions. It could be a way to not only make sure they are set and comfortable no matter what could ever happen or come up (legal issues, accidents, just anything that could possibly happen that could end up costing a great deal of money) that could possibly eventually run a person's pocket dry if all they ever relied on was that set amount of 10,000,000 if they never expanded it. As well as, making sure his children, grandchildren, any other family member (s), or even friend (s) are and will always remain comfortable and set for life the way he has done for himself.
Answer: It may have been more personally motivated and not about him needing anything for himself. Maybe his own personal screw you.
Question: When Liz uses her fire, it incinerates everything around her. How does it not burn off her own clothing?
Chosen answer: Her jewelry does not melt either because the fire wraps around her and shoots outward enveloping her and her clothes and jewelry in a safe environment that allows her to breathe without burning the air going into her lungs. Plus if it burned her clothes it would get an R rating.
Question: When Montgomery is giving injections to the beast people, he tells Douglas that the injections prevent them from retrogressing. What would they have retrogressed into?
Answer: The animals they had been before receiving Dr. Moreau's treatments.
Question: Where did that engine comes from which causes Donnie's death? If he had returned the engine to the PU than how could the plane crash when his sister and mother were still in their room? And Just Before Donnie died why did he laugh? Was it because of his awareness of what's gonna happen in the future?
Chosen answer: His mother and sister didn't need to be on the plane for it to crash and the engine traveled back in time regardless of whether Donnie was in his room or not. But by staying in his room to die, Donnie saved his mother's and sister's lives since they cancelled their trip on account of his death, and prevented many other deaths. The one downside seems to be that the child pornographer would remain uncaught, but 10 days after the PU is restored, he commits suicide by shooting himself in the head.
Question: Why did Bilbo decide to leave the Shire?
Answer: It's unknown what happens to Mrs. White but, at the end of the novel, a woman says that her daughter has been showing telekinetic abilities and is actually very accepting of this. This implies that Carrie had been reincarnated and been born into a more loving family.
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.
Answer: Cole knew that Malcolm was dead as early as the first few scenes. When he opens his door to the house he doesn't immediately step out. Almost as if he didn't want to go out that day. After he finally muster up the courage, he waits for Malcolm to look away as he hurriedly makes his exit. He also picks up his pace as Malcolm begins to follow him. He knew from the very first time he saw him, and yes he was just as afraid of Malcolm as he was of the other ghost.