MovieChat Forums > Prisoners (2013) Discussion > Spoiler-ish questions...

Spoiler-ish questions...

posted 8 years ago by Layback
19 replies | jump to latest

1. How did Alex get a driver's license? You have to pass a written test and the stress of a road test. Was he really mentally capable of this?

2. Could Alex really drive? People on the board assume that he drove the RV when the girls were in it but the one time we see him actually attempt to drive, he did a really poor, George-of-the-Jungle, job of it.

3. Why didn't the police do a more thorough job of searching Alex/Holly's property originally? They thought he may have taken the girls, and spent many man hours searching the woods, but apparently little time on Holly's land. Although the car looked barely capable of driving, there may have been a track in the dirt from it being driven back and forth over the cover of the hole. Also, what would Holly have done with Keller if the car didn't start?

4. Did Alex really have the mind of a 10 year old? Wasn't Holly the one who said that? I mean, was he ever diagnosed? Did he go to any type of school? Was it actually true?

5. Why was there absolutely NO sign that either girl had been in the RV? I understand that the forensics guy said that it would have been more likely if there had been a struggle, but does that explain why there wasn't even one strand of hair or fiber? Okay, maybe I've been spoiled by the CSI shows. ,-)

6. Do police detectives really get away with telling their superior officers to 'eff' off?

7. Bob Taylor? So he was kidnapped as a child, and found after 3 weeks. Did he have any involvement with Holly and her husband after that? He seemed to be duplicating what Mr. 'Holly' had done to the children he murdered, but didn't most of these murders happen after he was originally abducted? What was really going on in Bob's messed up mind?

8. Was there any significance to the maze, other than the fact that the child killer wore a maze pendant? I forget if the book by the discredited FBI agent had any references to a maze, other than what Bob Taylor had written in it himself.

9. Anyone else think that there is a good prequel to be made about the FBI guy and the 'invisible' killer, or whatever that book was called? Why was he discredited? Are the victims in that book the same ones that Holly and her husband killed?

10. How much did the priest actually know, based on Holly's husband confession? Also, does this confession mean that the child killer was finally feeling some remorse?

Whew! That's enough for me, now. Although I ended up with a lot of questions after the movie, I still thought it was very good and intriguing.

There are no stupid questions, just questions asked by stupid people.

[–] nkavy71488 8 years ago

All great questions of which I'm curious if anyone can answer because I can't. Despite that I still loved the movie.

[–] baj2 8 years ago

Very astute and relevant questions!

I'd like to add another question to your excellent list --

Alex's real mother was interviewed early on ( if I recall right...not sure but I think it was at the time when he first went missing ) and one of the things she mentioned was that her young son was playing a lot outside near a parked RV when he disappeared. Also, when Keller first talked to Holly ( the old woman), she mentioned that during happier times ( before her child died and before she lost her faith in God), their family would travel around that summer in an RV.

Why was this clue not pursued, especially with a more thorough background check on Holly and her family as well as of their property? Also, what happened to the disappearance of other children kidnapped by that family? Were the authorities completely clueless? Holly and her husband did not seem to be very affluent and had likely stayed in that particular house and property for some time. Yet, nothing was unearthed in that property after Holly has been killed by Loki. What happened to the bodies of the other kidnapped/killed kids? Were they all thrown into the well? I don't remember Keller seeing any of tell-tale evidence except for the red whistle which belonged to Anna.

I think I should rewatch the movie again...and maybe pick up more clues that I might have missed or even answers to some of the questions that I have posed above 

[–] nkavy71488 8 years ago

I agree. I'm surprised that Loki didn't see the parallel between Alex's real mother telling him about how her child disappeared right near an RV, and the girls' disappearance also being correlated to the RV. Since Alex (Barry) was the first child to go missing, 25 years ago (long before he was able to drive), Loki should have presumed that Holly or her husband had been driving that RV around.

[–] showgirl_katy 8 years ago

I thought the woman Loki spoke to was the mother of the little boy that got taken from that house that was up for sale, the same spot as where the RV was parked when the girls went missing? It wasn't Alex, it was another boy, wasn't it?

It was always my belief that everyone, including Alex, remained convinced that his parents had died when he was young, but perhaps I missed something!

Definitely a "watch again" kinda film!

[–] linda60639 8 years ago

No, I believe it was Alex that was taken and the lady Loki spoke with was his mother. That house the van was parked in front of was the house that Alex was taken from as a child. This seemed to be confirmed by the newspaper article at the end.

[–] karine23 8 years ago

1 and 2 - The fact that he has a DL or not isn't really relevant. That wouldn't be the 1st person to drive without it. Even thought he might not be the smartess kid, he was more psychologically damages than stupid. Also, in rural area, a lot of children learn to drive VTT, moto-cross, etc at a young age, so yes he could probably drive, even trying to escape in an RV must be challenging.

[–] linda60639 8 years ago

But it is relevant. There is no way someone with an IQ of a ten year old could get a valid DL from a government agency. The question of whether or not he could drive may be debatable because we saw his attempt to drive the RV resulted in his crashing it. In contrast, the newspaper article said that Alex drove the girls in the RV to his "aunt's" house. We can assume the reporter got this information from the girls.

But at the time his having a valid DL should have made Loki realize that either the license was fake or Alex was not the legitimate owner. Loki should have investigated this obvious discrepancy.

[–] karine23 8 years ago

3- Well, the car did start, so I don't think the film maker has to provide a "what if" answer. They thought the girls had been taken by Alex, into is RV, that is why they concentrated on it and not on the property. Searching the property would have mean that Holly was his accomplice, which at 1st, doesn't seem likely

[–] karine23 8 years ago

4- answered in 1
5- Because they never were in the RV. Holly took them, not Alex

[–] karine23 8 years ago

6- Probably. I mean, it is a strongly unionised profession. They may have slap on the hand but that's all.

[–] karine23 8 years ago

7- No one knows what was going on on Bob mind, but apparently, what happen to him has lent him traumatised and he was felling the need to reenacte what had happen to him. He also knew he wasn't right to do it, since he comitted suicide over his guilt

[–] karine23 8 years ago

8 - The maze is where the children that were abducted were taken to die...or...for a few of them...escape