There's a section for every movie on IMDb where goofs, mistakes, inconsistencies, and plot holes are listed. I stumbled on the ones written for Halloween and saw that many of them were not mistakes at all; the person responsible for writing the "goof" was just remembering it wrongly, or could be easily explained with a different perspective. So I decided to write a blog saga about some of the movies in the series and list why I thought the goofs mentioned were wrong. Some (very few, actually) were sort of accurate but I decided to poke a little fun at it anyway. Here's a link to the original goofs and they are written below in bold italics. My comments are written below each goof, next to the emdashes.
1. (at around 1h) In the barn, Samantha yells, "Son of a bitch!" to Michael with her mouth closed.
— Probably looped or a mistake during editing that didn’t synce with her mouth.
2. (at around 1h 3 mins) When Michael is chasing Jamie and Billy in the car, Tina yells "Jamie!", but we hear "Billy!" come out of her mouth.
— There were at least several mistakes in this scene. This is the one I cared about the least.
3. (at around 1h 6 mins) Tina yells "Jamie!" when Michael crashes into the tree, but her mouth is closed.
—Tina’s mouth was never closed. That’s one thing that made her annoying as hell.
4. (at around 32 mins) When the Man in Black walks around, spurs can be heard jingling, but he's not wearing any.
— Done for sound effects. Nothing more. And so what? I liked it.
5. (at around 11 mins) When Rachel and Tina are giving Jamie the costume gift at the clinic, Rachel giggles & Tina begins to mimic a trumpet. Then suddenly a loud scream is heard, yet neither Tina nor Rachel seem to have made the sound.
— What scream? I just listened and didn’t hear one.
UPDATE: I know what you're referring to, now. It wasn't so much a scream as it was a high pitched exclamation. And that's why I didn't hear it because I was listening out for an actual scream instead. But yeah, I'm not sure who made that noise. Definitely weird.
6. (at around 13 mins) When Loomis and Rachel are standing outside the hospital after the brick was thrown through the window, the boom is reflected in the window beside Loomis.
— Didn’t see it. I’ll have to look again with a clearer video.
7. (6 minutes into the movie) Jaime has the dream about killing her mother in Halloween 4 (The Return of Michael Myers.) Her mother only screams one time in the fourth movie but the mother then screams more than one time in the dream.
— That was an obvious inconsistency but it served its purpose for that scene since it was a only a nightmare. I think that scene was also extended to show that while Jamie's foster mother was severely injured, she didn't die.
8. (at around 21 mins) When Loomis and Meeker are talking down at the station, Loomis recalls the events of the first movie saying "my memory goes back 12 years." Since Halloween 5 is set in 1989 and the events of the first movie were in 1978, he should have said "11 years."
— He was probably just rounding up as we all do in real conversations. No biggie. Plus, by then he was really old. So. . .
9. In the beginning of the movie, Jaime has two blood marks on both sides of her cheek, but in the next shot, it is missing like it wasn't even there.
— Nothing was on her face. What are you talking about? Why would she have blood marks on her face when she’s been in the hospital for a year?
10. When a cop at the clinic radios for Sergeant Meeker, he mistakenly says "Dr. Meeker, what's your 20?
— He did not say Dr. Meeker, he mistakenly said “Sergeant Meeker.” Meeker is obviously a sheriff. See original goof below.
11. (at around 44 mins) When the cop at the pageant radios Meeker, he refers to him as "Sergeant Meeker", when in fact Meeker is the sheriff.
— . . .see above comment.
12. (at around 1h 25 mins) Rachel's body is not sitting in the chair at the top of the attic stairs when Jamie first walks in. Then, Jamie turns around and finds Rachel there. Later, as Michael chases Jamie down the stairs, Rachel's body is missing again.
— Yeah that was an obvious mistake but it has nothing to do with continuity. Continuity refers to the overall plot, not one aspect in a scene. I also think putting Rachel there was an afterthought or the filmmakers didn’t want to remind the audience of Rachel’s death until Jamie saw her.
13. (at around 38 mins) The position of the garden fork Michael stabs in Mike's head.
— There was no mistake there, so what about it?
14. (at around 1h 23 mins) When Jamie climbs into the laundry chute, her right shoe falls off then reappears on her foot.
— I think it was only hanging off her foot. It didn’t fall off. Even if it did, when she fell to the bottom of the chute, she could have slipped it back on.
15. (at around 1h 29 mins) Dr. Loomis shoots tranquilizer darts at Michael from a bolt-action rifle. He makes two shots in a row without reloading.
— Actually it was 3 or 4 shots total. He did reload at first but it wasn’t that obvious. When more than one shot was heard in a row, it could be the result of how that part was edited.
16. (at around 58 mins) Samantha removes her gloves twice when she is with Spitz.
— No, she didn’t.
17. (at around 48 mins) Deputies Tom and Nick take Tina to the Tower Farm party in a Chevrolet Caprice patrol car. While they are on stake-out there, they are suddenly in a Ford LTD-Crown Victoria. After Michael kills them and steals the car, it is a Caprice again.
— Michael never stole their car. He was already using Mike’s car, whom he killed earlier in the film. And do you honestly think people care about the make and model of a patrol car in a horror film, especially an iconic one?
18. (at around 1h 19 mins) A bullet hole appears in the door before Charlie starts shooting.
— That’s wrong. For one thing, the first mark in the door was the stab from Michael’s knife. Then, Charlie started shooting toward’s the door before the frame cut back to Michael. By then, there were the bullet holes that perfectly matched what Charlie was doing. You’re remembering that wrong.
19. (at around 1h 29 mins) When the chain net falls down over Michael, his head slips through one of the holes. But when it shows Michael's POV, the chains are crossing over his face.
— So? That made the scene look more interesting, anyway, considering Michael, the best slasher mass murderer, slowed down by chains. Seeing what that looks like from his point of view would have been better as Loomis was beating him with the 2x4.
20. (at around 36 mins) Outside the Quick Food Mart where Spitz works, Mikey, who is wearing round sunglasses, is polishing his black Camero. Tina attempts to surprise him by putting a mask over his head. Annoyed, he pulls the mask off and tosses it into the back seat of his car; he is still wearing his sunglasses. There is a jump cut to a POV on the opposite side of the car. Mikey is no longer wearing his sunglasses. As he sits down into the driver's seat he grabs his sunglasses from the backseat near where he tossed the mask and places them on the dashboard of his car.
— Different scene take with both cuts edited for the same scene. But I see what you’re talking about. The attention to detail. . .
21. In the barn just before Spitz and Sam have sex, there is a dark packet near his right hip. It keeps appearing and disappearing depending on the camera angle and his movement. This could be the blood pack, but he is stabbed in the center of his back.
— I’ll have to check when I can find a clearer video. If I have a different take on it, I’ll update this comment.
UPDATE: I still don't see a blood pack so I'm assuming that was something else you might have noticed. Whatevs.
22. (at around 52 mins) When Tina, Sammy, and Spitz enter the barn to see the kittens, Tina's hair is in a high pony-tail. In the next shot, as she climbs under the rails to get to the kittens, her hair is down. Previously, as she was getting ready for the Halloween party, her hair was in a high bun.
— Simple. While preparing for the party she put her hair in a tight bun and during the party it started to loosen, as evident if you watch closely. In the barn is when it either finally fell, or she loosened it completely. The only thing that should have been shown is either/or. And if it was filmed, it was probably edited out.
23. (at around 1h 13 mins) When the police leave the Myers house for the clinic, the two patrol cars beside the SWAT van drive off twice.
— Not necessarily. There were many other patrols cars that surrounded the SWAT van that had to pull off first so it makes it hard to determine which ones pulled off in what order. So, it’s a little farfetched to say two of them pulled off twice. Plus, the one that was slightly ahead of the SWAT van had to wait until a cop got inside before pulling off. I really don’t think any of them pulled off twice. Look again.
24. Rear-view mirror inside Mikey's car during the farm chase.
— What about it?
25. (at around 1h 4 mins) During the car chase where Michael is after Jaimie and Billy, the Camaro switches between it's headlights and fog lights between cuts.
— And it was necessary to mention that because. . . ?
26. At the beginning of the film, we see Jamie realize that Michael Myers is alive. She grabs her chalkboard & writes "He's coming back." on it. Yet a few scenes later, Loomis is demanding that she write what she knows about Michael Myers. Yet the chalkboard & its message are never seen again.
— So what? It didn’t need to make another appearance, nor did the message she wrote on it because it was unimportant (not to mention the fact that the message was probably wiped clean at some point.) Her reason for not writing to Loomis was because of fear. Even if he handed her pencil and paper (which he did,) she still refused to write, anyway, so why worry about a chalkboard? Loomis was certainly not going to waste time thinking about a it; we don’t even know for sure if he knew she had one. His main concern was finding a mass murderer. And what she actually wrote on the chalkboard was “He’s coming for me.”
27. (at around 35 mins) When Mike is parking his car outside the store where Spitz works, we can see lighting equipment hanging over the car reflected in its shiny surface.
— Which part of the car and what portion of the scene? Because I’m looking and I don’t see anything.
UPDATE: I finally noticed it. Yes, there was lighting equipment but it wasn't obvious to point out as an error.
28. (at around 35 mins) Cameraman visible in the car mirror as Mikey is waxing his car.
— Didn’t see that, either.
29. (at around 1h 4 mins) When Michael is chasing Jamie Tina and Billy in the car before he crashes into the tree you can see the camera in the back seat of the car.
— No, you can’t. (I’ll have to check again)
30. In the beginning when the clinic is showed during the day for the first time you will see a tall camera light to the right.
— Nope.
31. As with the previous film, Sheriff Meeker and his men are shown working at the Haddonfield Police Department rather than the (Warren) County Sheriff's Department, which are two separate law enforcement agencies. The station itself, patrol cars and uniforms all incorrectly refer to "police" rather than sheriff. While in reality the town could have both, it is clearly established in the film (and those before it) that Meeker is in sole charge and thus there should only be a sheriff's department.
— Shut up.
32. (at around 43 mins) When Michael is driving with Tina in the car and wants a pack of cigarettes, he slams on the brakes and backs up, revealing there are no back or brake lights on the car.
— Don’t care.
33. We see the police, along with Jamie and Dr. Loomis, set up a stakeout at Michael Myers' house. But a few scenes later, we see that Michael Myers has an attic full of dead bodies. Why didn't the police find these when they searched the attic before the stakeout?
— Listed as a plot hole. This isn’t a plot hole. Why assume they searched the attic or any other place? They most likely didn’t check the place at all, although they should have. With Jamie telepathically linked to him and knowing where he’ll appear, they knew there was no need to search the house because they already knew he wasn’t there. That’s all the incentive they needed to set up a stakeout to wait for him.
34. We hear Tina whisper to her boyfriend Mike to pick her up at 8PM, at Rachel's house. A disguised Michael Myers appears at that time instead, but he had no way of knowing when or where to show up.
— This isn’t a plot hole, either. While it was stretch, it was obvious the scene was set up to indicate he overheard the conversation but I guess you either forgot about that, or wasn’t paying attention to the fact that Michael was standing across the street listening. And she wasn’t whispering. She was heard loud and clear.
35. (at around 1h 6 mins) The knife bends when Michael stabs Tina.
— It didn’t bend but it was obvious that she wasn’t stabbed. The bigger mistake was the obvious stab wound to her shoulder rather than her heart, which I’m guessing, is where she was supposedly stabbed.
36. (at around 42 mins) When Tina is saying to Michael, "Nothing Mike, that's what I get, nothing," her lips are out of sync with what she is saying.
— I was waiting for someone to mention this. I noticed that years ago.
37. (at around 38 mins) When Michael raises his arm to stab Mike with the sickle, his sleeve pulls up revealing the end of his burn scars and dirt makeup.
— So? It wasn’t that obvious. No one was paying attention to that.
38. (at around 59 mins) Spitz's fake chest is very obvious when Michael stabs him with the pitchfork.
— No, it wasn’t.
39. (at around 1h 24 mins) The prosthetic netting used in the eyeholes of the Michael Myers mask is seen as Michael's head enters into the laundry chute during the Jamie chase sequence.
— So? That’s not a mistake, either. Obviously something had to make the eye holes dark, so we wouldn’t see his eyes. A tip these newer filmmakers need to implement with new Halloween films cuz once they started showing his eyes, he became a lot less scary.
40. Although it is supposed to be Halloween it is obvious that it was filmed in the spring/summer because all the trees are in full bloom.
— What’s your point? Most of the Halloween films are filmed in the spring.
41. The body of Max the dog in the attic near the end of the film is very clearly a fake, stuffed animal.
— Because everyone wanted to see a real dog hanging there. *eye roll* We all knew the dog was fake. What else was it supposed to look like? My concern is the dog barking when Jamie bumped into it.
