MovieChat Forums > Frequency (2000) Discussion > If Killer Was Stopped in 1969...

If Killer Was Stopped in 1969...

posted 8 years ago by kirx
13 replies | jump to latest

Then how did he know to go after John in 1999? In the previous timeline, the killer had gotten away with his crimes and had a full career as a police officer. This obviously would have changed since he'd been exposed in 1969; The cops now knew who he was, so he'd be on the run or eventually be caught. Either way, why would he go after John in 1999? Wouldn't he have tried to go after members of John's family long before then? Why 1999, since John would no longer have had the need to confront him with the knowledge of his crimes, then? I thought once Frank shot his hand off, he would have disappeared from the fight with John in 1999. That would have made more sense.

[–] Doc80 8 years ago

It's one of those things that happens in the movie that doesn't make sense but you have to go with it. Like when the dad writes "I'm still here" on the table with the wood burner. If 99 it should just be there but we see it forming as he's writing it in the past.

[–] kirx 8 years ago

That made sense though, because it wouldn't have been there until he was talking to him on the radio.

[–] JestersDead (485) 7 years ago

@Doco80 - you're forgetting the ripple effect. It does make sense.

[–] Solastine (1104) 3 years ago

Time travel ripples don't make sense. changes don't ripple up to the present, they occur the instant they happen.

[–] JestersDead (485) 3 years ago

Depends what film you're watching :-)

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 3 years ago

Depends what film you're watching :-)

And whether or not Kenneth had the frequency

[–] SarahKSeraSera 8 years ago

I'm thinking that Frank shot the guy in the past, but only got his hand and the guy escaped and since Frank knew when John was going to be attacked in 1999. Because it shows his hand disappearing and then you see him attacking John

[–] kirx 8 years ago

Yes, but why would he have gone after John in 1999 in the first v place? That's my question.

[–] SarahKSeraSera 8 years ago

Because he was talking to his dad as it was happening and he was already investigating the guy by then. Since they never knew where he was until then and unable to catch him in the past, he knew where he'd be in 1999

[–] danlinjer 8 years ago

Because John found and confronted the killer in 1999 in the bar. The killer now knew that John knew his secret so the killer went after John in his house in 1999, where Frank eventually killed him with the shotgun once and for all.

[–] NovakGrey 8 years ago

That is where you're wrong like the OP said, when the killer got his hand blown, he was already a fugitive so he would have never been at that bar in 1999, so he would have never met Jim.

[–] PaladinNJ (21775) 6 years ago

This is one of those weird circumstances that is sort of hinted at in the movie but never explained. The way I interpreted it, any time the timeline changed, John remembered it because he influenced it via the radio. So, for some reason that "time tunnel' partially shielded him from the effects. Both John & Shepherd were present at the radio when the timeline changed so they were shielded as well and actually witnessed the changes to the timeline taking place around them.

[–] CrabgrassWilly (1616) 2 years ago

That is the most logical explanation for it that I've come across.