MovieChat Forums > Nightmare on the 13th Floor (1990) Discussion > Huge plot hole regarding the 13th floor

Huge plot hole regarding the 13th floor

posted 9 years ago by Andy-1981
12 replies | jump to latest

I submitted this to IMDB as a goof, but they never added this. It's amazing that no one else has spotted this, or that the filmmakers didn't think of it (or thought of it and ignored it).

The film's biggest conflict is that the 13th floor remains mysteriously hidden because it is inaccessible via elevator. However, the film entirely ignores the hotel's staircases -- until the end when they are shown to be extremely easy to access on any given floor.

Since the hotel has 16 floors, it would be impossible for the staircases to skip the 13th floor and still accommodate guests on higher floors and comply with fire codes. Contrarily, the staircases would very readily reveal to all the hotel guests that a 13th floor does indeed exist, even if its entrances were sealed off.

[–] FMT 9 years ago

Contrarily, the staircases would very readily reveal to all the hotel guests that a 13th floor does indeed exist, even if its entrances were sealed off.

So would the frieze. Don't forget the original intention wasn't to hide the 13th floor, simply to seal it off. It was never meant to be a secret, as it was all over the news.
Extra walls were probably built around the staircases, to separate them from the 13th floor, meaning people would go up an extra set from the 12th to the 14th. Along the way I imagine there would be a locked service door. How many of those do we usually pass by? Yet we never stop to wonder what's on the other side, do we?

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] FMT 9 years ago

Maybe it was all over the news in 1901 (the year given for its sealing), but throughout the movie, the staff in 1990 denies its existence. So they definitely tried to keep it a secret. The lead character spends the entire movie hunting for it.

They deny its existence to Elaine, after she witnessed a murder, and to the police investigating the case. Duh... On the other hand, Alan mentions that he heard about the 13th floor when he started working at the hotel. Of course they would keep it a secret now, given what they were up to, but that was a recent development.

Maybe you don't, but when a hotel is open for 89 years, the guests are going to wonder at some point why they walk up two floors worth of stairs to go from 12 to 14 when 13 allegedly doesn't exist.

Oh, I... definitely would, after spending my first years in an old peculiar building with a sealed off section of its own... But usually guests don't stay that long at hotels, and they're either in town for business or for pleasure, therefore they won't waste their time paying attention to that sort of details, unless they're obsessive compulsive. Not to mention that, unless there's a fire, they won't take the stairs to the 14th floor. They won't even take the stairs to the 2nd... And even if they do notice that, if they do notice a locked service door between floors, what do you think it's going to happen? At most they will ask the staff about it, only to be told it's a floor that's closed to the public, and used only by the staff. Which, until very recently, was actually true.

Same with the elevator. Isn't it strange that the detective in 1990 is the first to ever acknowledge that it takes twice as long to get from 12 to 14 when there supposedly isn't a 13th floor?

If it wasn't for the indicator light he wouldn't have noticed it. What if only the service elevator has one of those? More importantly, what makes you think he was the first one? The floor may be sealed off for 89 years, but the movie covers only a few days, and a handful of characters. It wasn't a secret at the City Engineer's Office. Thomas Bergen knew about it. Many others probably knew too.

Bottom line: it's a huge plot hole in a pretty cool movie which just doesn't bear close scrutiny.

Isn't that a popular term these days...? It isn't a plot hole. The 13th floor wasn't a secret, technically it was a staff only area, like all hotels have. It was only kept a secret during the 16 murders, which weren't supposed to take that long to begin with. And as you can see, if one started digging one would eventually get to the bottom of it, through the people that knew about it.

[–] mravenez 9 years ago

I'm pretty sure that the staircases would have been modified somehow to make that area a bit more discreet. Also, I've stayed in hotels over the years and I can't ever recall using a staircase. After all, if the hotel was 15 or 16 floors, then nobody who was on those floors would have even bothered using the stairs..

Read this article, it discusses something kind of similar and it's interesting too.

http://www.nknews.org/2011/10/the-fifth-floor-of-the-yanggakdo/

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] FMT 9 years ago

At some point and time, somebody would've noticed.

Uh... yeah, like Elaine did. What makes you think she was the first?

A hotel doesn't exist for 90 years without someone taking the stairs at some point. That was one of my points. And even the staircases were "discreet", they still would've had to be accessible per fire codes. And even if there were a "locked service door" (like the last poster was claiming) or even a blank wall, it would still be obvious to anyone and everyone that the 13th was THERE, because the stairs would still be obviously bypassing another floor.

You seem to be missing the point. So what, if someone noticed? Since when is it illegal for a building to have a closed down floor? Since when would it be any of the guests' business? More importantly, since when does that constitute a plot hole?

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] FMT 9 years ago

Yes, and as I have already said many times, the movie shows us... what, two, three days? The whole reenactment of the Avery Block murders was a recent development, it hadn't been going on for the last 90 years, there was no reason to keep the 13th floor a secret during that time, even though it was just a closed down floor, it really wasn't anybody's business. Anyway, we see the staff claiming there's no 13th floor to Elaine and to the police, over those two or three days, since the 16 murders were still going on, and they were trying to buy time until it was finished. What makes you think no one noticed the 13th floor over the past 90 years, especially considering that at some point it was all over the news, and that some locals like Thomas Bergen still knew about it, 90 years later? The staff claimed to Elaine there was no 13th floor and the next day there she was, outside the hotel counting the floors and noticing the frieze. Tell me again how it would be logical to assume that they've been concealing it with ease...?

[–] Jonny-ironica 9 years ago

You've got to be kidding me. I would think it was fairly obvious that when they tell anyone "there isn't a 13th floor", it would mean that they do not have a 13th floor to accommodate and room guests, not that there was nothing between floors 12 and 14. Anyone with mild curiosity would assume that they just wouldn't use it due to superstition, anyone with active curiosity would learn the history of the floor and probably assume it's been sealed off for respect of the innocent people who were murdered, and anyone with enough curiosity to actively break into the 13th floor was probably murdered.

Heaven forbid a movie doesn't spell it out and let you figure it out for yourself; apparently if you're not smart enough, ITZ A PLOT HOLEZ!!

I swear.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] Jonny-ironica 9 years ago

Hun, I don't need to insult someone obsessing over whether or not there's a plot hole in a TV movie from the early 90s, you've already insulted yourself enough for everyone.

[–] FMT 9 years ago

Andy... The staff says there isn't a 13th floor TO ELAINE, after she witnessed a murder there, and TO THE POLICE. All during the 16 murders. The movie in no way suggests that was the version of events being told during the last ninety years. That wouldn't even make sense! Different times, different staff, and NO MURDERS during that time! Also, it's never suggested no one ever noticed the sealed off floor before Elaine.

I also read Jonny's post, I really don't know what makes you assume he never watched the movie, he didn't say anything contradictory. You, on the other hand, that insistence in failing to comprehend something so simple... Ok, it's never explained in the film, but for a reason, it doesn't take that much common sense to realize the movie only covers a couple of days, and, after it's over... the past ninety years don't even leave that much to imagination. Yet you insist in applying the logic behind the events of those two days to the last ninety years, and when it unsurprisingly doesn't fit, you claim it's a plot hole?! I'm sorry, but either English isn't your first language or you're just incredibly dense. No offense.