The Cell

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The Cell Goofs/Mistakes

Movie Goof (revealing mistake): Stargher's victim moves too much to appear dead while floating in the cell. Her eyes can also be seen following Carl around the room.
Movie Goof (revealing mistake): Carl's first victim clearly breathes when she is lying on the table, and the dead girl in the bathtub has a neck pulse.
Movie Goof (incorrectly regarded as a mistake): The gemstone on Julia Hickson's engagement ring is tucked under her hand when she is looking for loose fits, thus making it appear to be a wedding band (though she isn't married yet). The stone is visible when she yanks on the pipe.
Movie Goof (continuity error): Carl's first victim is sitting up with her breasts partially covered by bloody water; in subsequent shots, the water is higher on her body.
Movie Goof (continuity error): When Catherine is at home, the TV in the background is playing La planète sauvage (1973). Scenes from the movie are shown out of order and the soundtrack does not match what is being shown.
Movie Goof (revealing mistake): While Carl was "hooking himself up" on his first victim, she could be seen breathing as her diaphragm was moving up and down.
Movie Goof (incorrectly regarded as a mistake): When Julia gets into her car in the parking garage, she backs up and is tricked by Valentine's ploy to lure her out of the car. She has to back up, because there is a barrier in front of her car.
Movie Goof (incorrectly regarded as a mistake): The cell contains a toilet that would ordinarily act as a drain, but presumably Carl has arranged for it to close when the cell is filling with water.
Movie Goof (continuity error): After Peter revives from entering into the subconscious, he takes the cloth off his face and places it at his left side. In the next shot, the cloth is moved to right under his chin.
Movie Goof (audio/visual unsynchronized): When the girl is kidnapped in the parking garage and after she and Stargher have hit the ground, the dog is heard barking at the struggle. However, we can clearly see the dog in the shot and he is simply lying there calmly, not barking.
Movie Goof (errors made by characters, possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Though "Whalen's Infraction," a brain disorder which is said to have accelerated Stargher's schizophrenia was made up for the movie, an infraction actually refers to an incomplete bone fraction and affects bony tissues, not the brain. Cerebral infarction ("infarct" instead of "infract"), or tissue death due to lack of blood flow, does occur in the brain, but this is said to cause schizophrenia-like symptoms and would not cause or affect schizophrenia itself.
Movie Goof (continuity error): The amount of intestine on the spit when Novack is being tortured.
Movie Goof (crew or equipment visible): During the second filling of the cell the cameraman, and possibly the director (another person is seen next to the cameraman), can be seen in a reflection on the inside of the cell. When the camera pans to the left as Julia pounds on the glass walls and curses out her captor, you can see two figures (one with a camera) reflected in the glass.
Movie Goof (continuity error): Just before water pours on Julie, the monitors around the room show her eating (at least, holding food). But when the camera cuts straight to her, she isn't holding anything (error caused by deleted material).
Movie Goof (continuity error): When Julie is kidnapped, as she walks toward her car we see where the brick would have to be placed for her to back into it, but there is no brick there.
Movie Goof (incorrectly regarded as a mistake): The plane they take to the city where the killer lives is a jet (with jet engines). A plane with propellers is visible when they get off, but this is a different plane.
Movie Goof (incorrectly regarded as a mistake): Any goofs occurring in the "subconscious" world which the characters enter, do not have to be consistent or conform to realistic physics, as the subconscious is arbitrary, and can create whatever rules it wants.
Movie Goof (revealing mistake): SPOILER: Carl Stargher's pulse in his neck is visible when Catherine looks at him while he is supposed to be dead.