HUGE plotholes


I'm amazed no-one has spotted these ones yet. About halfway through the movie, there's a scene where Thomas shows his mother the video footage of her doing the MARON scribbling. All well and good, but it pinpoints a serious logic problem earlier in the movie. The footage from the living room and the bedrooms of Samantha and her mother prior to the scribbling moment clearly shows the ghost doing strange things - knocking the crucifix off the wall, turning the TV on etc. Yet our heroes clearly had an agreement between themselves not to watch *that* footage, because they spend ages bickering over whether the crucifix fell off the wall by chance. A look at the tape would have answered that question instantly and definitively, but...they didn't even think "Hey, we've got video of that happening!", let alone actually watch it. There is no evidence that they did so at any point. So, we are faced with a situation where someone takes great pains to set up elaborate audio-visual surveillance of a very specific area, but when faced with an occurrence precisely in said area whose cause/origin can be determined by viewing said surveillance...decides not to view it. That makes NO BLOODY SENSE.

Also, on two occasions, the 'demon' rings the house's phone in the middle of the night. Two problems here - the phone is very loud, and rings for ages in an environment that is in otherwise total silence, yet none of the three hear it or are woken by it. And secondly, yet again, Thomas doesn't watch the footage he has taken such great pains to create, as he expresses puzzlement at the demon's answerphone message when he plays it back the next morning. Ah, but maybe he hadn't checked the footage at that point, you might say. Sure, but given that he never mentions the living room's TV remote moving by itself and then turning the TV on at *any* point after the events, it's clear he HASN'T LOOKED AT ANY OF THE FOOTAGE UP TIL THAT POINT.

The main logic problem is why Thomas never told the cops after the killings that he had hours of tape showing truly extraordinary paranormal events; events, moreover, that would tend to exonerate him at least in part. But everyone's spotted THAT one.




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k

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I wondered about some of those too. I figured maybe they'd turned off the phones upstairs at night (some people I know do this).
That not-watching thing makes no sense I agree, but then they did some of the same in "Paranormal Activity" as well. No one seems to view the video there of when the Ouija board bursts into flame. So maybe that was an ode to that film too.

I wondered why they never seemed to go anywhere with that "Maron" thing. Why put that in the film if it doesn't mean anything?? Is it a play on the name "Merrin" from The Exorcist? Its written in some literature that spirits are lousy spellers.
I don't know if that applies to demons naturally, but maybe it was just another game it was playing with them.
Either way, it did seem like a game.

As for why he didn't show them the tapes, its likely either he had a breakdown totally or he figured the cops would not believe it was real. They might think he just set up a camera, rigged up some strings, called the phone, remoted on the T.V, made phony footprints etc. And likely they would not believe him, many do not believe in the supernatural.
Plus, it would suggest (based on the video he took) that it was HE that killed his sister. There was no other person visible, plus the video clearly shows him near her and seconds later you hear her being strangled.
It would likely incriminate him MORE than help him, weirdly enough. Faith is hard to come by.




"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

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The main logic problem is why Thomas never told the cops after the killings that he had hours of tape showing truly extraordinary paranormal events


Replace the word "truly" with "made up".

Nobody would have believed it because the 'haunting' could have been an elaborate smokescreen to excuse a real murder.

...on two occasions, the 'demon' rings the house's phone


It's always puzzled me how a ghost can dial numbers and operate remote controls.


...it's just another dumb film, get over it.

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A demon is not a ghost. A demon is said to be a Fallen angel, a creature that was never ever human.

A ghost is the spirit of a dead human being.

That said, I don't think either of us know what EITHER ONE can do.





I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

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My bad. Don't know why I wrote "ghost". Anyhow, the answer is that neither could have done it because neither exist. I would book the lot for murder. The defense hasn't a cat in hell's chance of being believed!


...it's just another dumb film, get over it.

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Well, it depends on what you believe. I believe both ghosts & demons exist, but of course everyone needn't think so.

But in the realm of the film, I agree with you. Despite what we the viewer see Thomas record, its nearly-impossible that the police would even remotely believe him.
The police would likely think Thomas literally *created* a horror movie to exonerate himself.




I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

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The police would likely think Thomas literally *created* a horror movie to exonerate himself.
Which was a valid point ably made elsewhere. I mean, the film itself proves just that point. Hoisted by it's own petard, a dog eating it's own tail, etc, etc...


...it's just another dumb film, get over it.

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Um, I know it was made elsewhere.

Hence why I said 'I agree'.




I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush.

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its nearly-impossible that the police would even remotely believe him.

His job was not to convince the cops. His job was to plant "reasonable doubt" in the mind of a single courtroom juror in order to get a not-guilty verdict at trial.

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