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Fridge Brilliance
- A minor one: Police Constable (later Sergeant) Nicholas Angel has "777" as his badge number; unsurprisingly, this number has a variety of significances in Judeo-Christian mythology, making it a fitting callsign for a procedurally fastidious policeman who acts as the Big Good of the film.
- In a similar way Joyce Cooper's first lines is 'It would appear the heavens have opened.' which is a subtle reference to Nick's surname and could imply Heaven sent Nick to Sandford. It's also the first real interaction he has with the Sandford people.
- Why is Skinner so blatantly villainous to Angel? "I'm a slasher...of prices!" smirking and driving past "accident" scenes he has no reason to be driving nearby, constantly making murderous innuendos, when there really are murders happening which he shouldn't be drawing attention to? The NWA nominated him to be the obvious suspect and deflect all suspicion onto himself, so they could then bewilder Angel through the use of multiple killers as they did at Leslie's shop, while Skinner has an ironclad alibi. It would have worked, too, had Angel not dejectedly agreed to stop for ice cream and one of them blown their cover by saying, "No luck catching them killers, then?"
- Moreover, knowing that police officers like Angel are being intentionally gaslit by the NWA, they clearly intend to make him look like a deranged Javert trying to destroy a totally innocent pillar of the community.
- The song at the end of the "tribute" to William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet ("Lovefool"), along with the gun thing, is a reference to William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet.
- In Shakespeare’s heyday, tragic plays were often finished with a jig and happy singing from the cast so that the audience wouldn’t leave on a dour note. While this is jarring for their modern audience of Sandford citizens, it would have been perfectly acceptable when the tragedy was first performed. For how messy this tribute was, there was (perhaps accidentally) accurate historical recreation!
- Where did the NWA got all their guns and ammunition from? American viewers might be unaware that it's actually quite difficult for people in the UK to get hold of the sort of weapons the NWA are armed with.note
- With the exception of an occasional handgun or shotgun, all the weapons are pretty old, many of Second World War vintage. Even the FN rifle that Nick Angel uses for all too brief a time has been out of British Army service for about 30 years.
- Ironically, Joyce— who yells "Fascist!" at Angel— is wielding a Maschinenpistole 35: a standard-issue submachine gun used by the German police before and during the Second World War. She might be accusing Angel of fascism, but she's the one literally waving a fascist gun around.
- The simplest explanation is that these weapons were all collected during firearms amnesties, of which there have been several in the UK during recent years. Such amnesties usually scoop up quantities of wartime souvenirs as well as a small amount of unlicensed modern weapons.
- Although they are then meant to be melted down for scrap, this is clearly not what was happening in Sandford. Instead, with the connivance of the Chief Inspector, the choicest items were being siphoned off and handed out to the NWA's members, should they ever become necessary, with a strategic reserve being stored in Arthur Webley's barn.
- Sandford being located out in Gloucestershire helps this even more: they're in the country and largely unmonitored by London. Indeed, the officers out in London seem to take Sandford's, "peaceful West Country village where Nothing Exciting Ever Happens (and certainly not anything like crime or what have you)" façade at face value, so they'd be unlikely to actually look into anything, if they thought they had reason to suspect that something was rotten in the town of Sandford with regard to gun control—hence the Andys' early-on insistence that there are more guns in the country than there are in the city, and that "Everybody and their mums is packin' 'round here."
- Even better, the real-world timeline would put this as having happened for about twenty years at the time of the film (i.e., starting c. 1987), which means that, when the NWA started their crusade, it was before the real crackdown on firearms in the UK (the two main laws of which were passed in 1988 and 1997). When every other police force got tough on guns, the NWA just stockpiled them out of sight. No wonder they can get hold of the types of guns they have.
- Taken to its logical conclusion, the activities of the NWA result in a small-scale version of an Inferred Holocaust. During the few weeks Nicholas was in the town, they killed not only four of the inhabitants, but also a shoplifter, an elderly farmer, a human statue guy and a bunch of teenagers whose only crime was doing teenager stuff (like underage drinking or spraycanning). Considering that the cult was active for two decades at that point, it borders on a miracle that there are any children left in Sandford in the first place.
- Danny stabs Angel with considerable force, something that should easily have pierced his notebook and done real damage to Angel. But earlier in the movie, Angel establishes - in front of Danny - that he always wears his stab vest.
- Angel only starts chewing on the toothpick in the evidence locker for one reason: to spit it out in the the town square. The town, obsessed with neatness as it is, now has a little tiny piece of litter on the ground, just another part of Angel's giant 'Fuck You!' to the NWA.
- At the end, the first officer to believe him is Walker ("Oi r'ck'n e's gut summat thar"). We know that Sandford has been living the lie for approximately twenty years, at least since Danny was a young child. Since most of the officers on the force are about Danny's age, they would have been children when the NWA first started as well. Walker is the only one who is older, and is definitely old enough to remember a time before the NWA were in charge, and thus the most likely to be able to realise that Angel might be telling the truth. It's likely his thick accent probably played a part — Frank probably didn't talk to him all that much, he kept him around more as the translator for residents like Arthur Webley who have similarly-incomprehensible accents.
- Nick recruiting the kids to spraypaint the cameras. At first it seems like he's just getting them with the promise of mischief. But considering the town's obsession with being perfect, the kids must have been really prevented from being able to do anything that would disrupt its image. And what's more, the NWA has shown it will kill minors who might lessen the town's chances of winning the contest. The kids were acting with Nick in self defence. This also ties in with an abandoned subplot. Originally, the leader of the hoodies was revealed to be the grandson of Tom Weaver, the man behind the cameras and civilian liaison between the NWA and the Sandford Police Service. Nick would discover this but wouldn't reveal it to Weaver, thereby gaining the hoodies' trust. Another bonus: the boy would've been called Gabriel, after one of the archangels.
- Despite being armed to the teeth, Angel only got hit twice: once after exposing himself from cover and then by Rev Shooter, from relatively close range by handguns. Why couldn't the NWA members hit Angel more than that?
- The NWA had most likely never used their guns before. It would be one thing to practice with them. Loud as they are, the countryside around Sandford is big enough to minimise disturbance and sport shooting is common in the British countryside, but their ammo is probably limited (see above explanation about firearms in the UK). It's also harder to make an 'accident' out of a fatal gunshot wound. A high suicide rate would reflect very badly on Sandford, and noise doesn't fit with their modus operandi In short, Possession Implies Mastery is being subverted here. At the same time, Frank is the only NWA member to accurately hit anything of a smaller size category than "the broadside of a barn" (the chandelier at the pub without looking). He's probably the only one with any kind of firearms training at all. The other officers provide indirect cover fire. We only ever see them shooting at the vastly underarmed supermarket staff, so there's less justification for them to shoot to kill. That, and they certainly know everyone involved.
- The NWA's victims are almost all defenseless people who they killed in the dark. While they may be tough shit in their neck of the woods, the ghouls would be outclassed by trained police officers who could definitely put up a better fight than civilians killed in sneak attacks.
- Which could also explain how Danny survived being shot by Mr. Weaver. If he didn't know how to properly load a blunderbuss, which is a much more involved affair than loading a bullet into a modern firearm, it could have greatly reduced the effectiveness of the shot. Danny's a fairly heavy man, so the improperly loaded pellets only dug into the fatty tissue and didn't actually hit anything vital.
- The reason the other officers are so good at armed response is that Frank has been setting their training so that, with their skill sets, there's no way for them to transfer or be replaced. Thus, their actual aptitude in standard police work is kept to such a level that they're only useful as pawns under his control, keeping any other station from wanting them besides the obvious benefit to the NWA. And as the outside chance that they would ever leave Sandford is reduced, the chance that any replacements would come in from outside is also low, as what training they do have also makes them hard to replace. Ex: from what we can see of him, Sgt. Fisher might be described on paper as "highly trained in SWAT tactics and media relations"—who could replace that, and then all the way out in Gloucestershire? More obviously, that lack of standard policing knowledge also keeps them from believing Angel (or any officer not raised under Frank) for far too long, and ensures an impressive level of frustration for the newbie, which can create a handy and convenient excuse for quietly removing him from the picture (and making sure no one will really miss him), should he start to make too much trouble.
- It's ironic that Frank manipulates them into being incompetent at basic police work. In the climax, when they turn on him, then he calls them "incompetent". Which is wrong two ways. One, they just stopped being incompetent. Two, any incompetence is his fault. Like any abuser, he's mad at them for breaking his control.
- It's entirely possible Sgt. Popwell actually had his breakdown, and was then killed for the petty reason of being a public nuisance, not because he discovered anything sinister. Outside of Frank with his "GREAT BIG BUSHY BEARD!!" moment, Det. Wainwright mentions Sgt. Popwell during the Sandford Police Service's first lunch out together after Nicholas gets made Sergeant himself. However, the way in which Wainwright brings him up by saying "I bet you can't wait to jump into Sgt. Popwell's grave" lends credence to this idea. While it's unlikely that Danny, Doris, the Andys, Fisher, and Walker actually know that Popwell is dead, given that his corpse is down in the catacombs with Shoplifting Pete, the Human Statue, the young kids from the pub, the family of Travellers and their dog, etc., they've probably been led to believe that he had to leave Sandford or be sent away because rural policing made him go a bit 'round the twist and he became a nuisance and/or a danger to himself or others.
- Except that Frank admits that Popwell knew (he says "Sergeant Popwell felt much the same as you.") But that wouldn't change much because you could argue Popwell had his breakdown because he found out the truth about the "accident" rate.
- When breaking up with Janine at the beginning of the film, Angel mentions that "guilty people often make the first move." The "guilty" people of Sandford (i.e., those working for the Greater Good) all initiate conversation first when meet Angel, thus making the first move with him themselves.
- Adding to that, they also all make the first move in the final firefight. Mr. Treacher at least, Angel makes the second move by diving behind cover.
- Murdering everyone who's a nuisance to the town is a fairly obvious way of telling that Sandford's residents are very much keen on staying clean and pure but taking a look at the names of the members of the NWA can also net you a hint. Shooter, Treacher, Skinner, Weaver. These are all last names that originate from the time where last names started to become popular and getting a last name based on your profession was fairly common.
- Frank Butterman never once outright lies about the murder-rate in Sandford. Every time murder is brought up he says, "There hasn't been a recorded murder in over twenty years." There were murders, dozens most likely, but the were never reported/recorded as such and wound up on the record as disappearances or nasty accidents.
- We constantly see Angel with a radio over his right shoulder. So when he went to buy Danny a rubber plant (Japanese peace lily), why didn't he use it from inside the shop? That was the one time he was out in uniform but not in regulation vest and equipment, because he simply grabbed his jacket at the station and legged it to go buy Danny a gift.
- When Angel turns away from the florist's counter to go and use the radio in his cruiser, the robed, hooded NWA member behind him would have been in plain sight to Leslie Tiller. Why didn't she scream, or try to defend herself? Because she was one of them. She thought the hooded member was there to give her the call to action, or perhaps to wish her farewell on her trip.
- When you first see the "Splat the Rat" booth at the fête, you might be thinking that this is purely foreshadowing Tim Messenger's death as he gets splattered rather gruesomely. But when you examine the motives for killing him, you realise that this doesn't add up. He hasn't betrayed the town or the NWA in any way, meaning that he isn't a "rat" in any sense of the word. But then you realise who Messenger is speaking to at the time. Who gets murdered later on, for planning to take her gardening talents to another town, an act that would be very easy to see as a betrayal? Leslie Tiller. The "Splat the Rat" Booth isn't just foreshadowing Messenger's death, it's foreshadowing Tiller's as well.
- When Angel's chasing the figure in the black hood, it's eventually revealed that it was multiple people, including one that was positioned properly to give the illusion that he was too far away for Angel to chase down (while the actual hooded figure was much closer). That seems really, really well-coordinated but the NWA has cameras everywhere, are really good at communicating (and many members carry radios with them everywhere), and likely had the route scouted out ahead of time for just that kind of getaway. They may have set up the whole situation just so they could make Angel look crazy.
- During Angel's conversation about why he became a police officer, he mentions "arresting kids twice (his) size for littering and spitting" and often getting beat up for it. This is similar to his later failed attempt to arrest the NWA conspirators while unarmed and with no backup, but on a much smaller scale.
- Also, this foreshadows Angel's fight with Michael, who's a literally Psychotic Manchild twice his size.
- At first, Nicholas finding out that his housing "wasn't ready" seems like an innocent way for a cheap laugh but by the climax and reveal it makes more sense. Of course it wasn't ready. They needed to see if the out-of-towner would be easy to manipulate, or if they had another Sgt. Popwell on their hands.
- During the standoff in the pub, when the other officers are about to arrest Angel, they subsequently raise their face shields as he argues his case. It can easily be interpreted as the wool that was pulled over their eyes concerning the "accidents" is being removed by Angel's reasonings. Even Danny pulls off his sunglasses when he finally admits the truth that he ignored about the town. One by one they turn to Nick and Danny's side and the face shields are never pulled down again. Not even during the shootout in the store.
- When Angel returns to Sandford to wreck up the place, he stops off at the police station to get the guns and body armour he'd need for such a confrontation but Danny doesn't. Yet he's still wearing his body armour in the car when Angel shows up on horseback in the village square. Why would Danny be wearing his body armour if he didn't know he was going to need it? Because earlier in the pub, Wainwright asks Angel why he's wearing body armour in the pub during the daytime, and Angel replies it's standard protocol that should be followed. We see that Danny idolises Angel all throughout the film, seeing him as some kind of super-cop who deals with danger every day of his life, like a film action hero come to life. He listens to everything Angel says and attempts to take it all in. The day after their argument at the fête, Danny is seen reading a police vocabulary book, the one that Angel references several times, in order to know the proper language he should be using while working. So why was Danny wearing his body armour? Because Angel would have worn his body armour, and Danny wants to be like Angel, so he did what Angel would do which is to obey the rules strictly. Therefore he wore his body armour on a day he didn't think he'd actually need it, because the rules said he had to.
- Weaver is the only member of the NWA to die. And in a gruesome accident, which is their go-to for covering up the murders.
- Skinner of the NWA gets a similar fate. In that although he does not die, he is one of the most wounded members of the organization in the end, although of his own doing - by stepping on a miniature truck and tripping, another 'accident.'
- As pointed out by The Nostalgia Critic
, the lack of deaths is probably because of how seriously Angel takes his job and wants as few casualties as possible.
- The very first scene, where Nicholas is being told by his superiors at the Met that he's getting transferred out to Sandford, foreshadows the reveal behind Sandford. The cozy, 'moral' establishment make Nicholas disappear from their organisation for "the greater good" of their careers and reputations. Much like the NWA get rid of anyone who threatens to damage the reputation of the village.
- At first, the evidence room being empty seems like a joke, that Sandford has no crimes, ergo no investigations, thus no evidence. But after the reveal comes out, we see that that thought process was almost right. There's no evidence... because there's no investigations. They just kill anyone they suspect of criminal activity and bury them where nobody will find them. Any evidence left behind would mean a thread someone like Angel would go tugging at
- If Angel had waited even a few hours before going back to Sandford, the village might have won its 'Village Of The Year' award again before he arrived. By turning up as early as he did, he ensured the place would be total chaos by the time the judges arrived. Even if Angel got killed and covered up like the others, Sandford wouldn't be the 'Village Of The Year' this time around.
- The sign pointing to the Model Village that Angel sees during his cab ride from the railway station to the hotel has a double meaning. It's obviously a road sign pointing to the actual small-scale model of the village, but it's indicating that Sandford is a model village, as in "it's perfect." (Also, Sandford comes from the example town name that actual police theory exams use)
- Also, a model village isn't a real community. It's hollow, fake, and primarily designed for people to come and look at and go ooh and ahh over. Sandford puts up the front of being a charming perfect rustic community to hide the fact that the NWA are a conspiracy of murderers controlling the town.
- A careful listener will notice that Martin Freeman is narrating the exposition on Angel's backstory. Seeing as this segues then into the scene where Angel gets the news of the transfer, it's likely that this narration is actually him reviewing Angel's file before Angel comes in to get the news of his reassignment.
- As noted by Cinema Wins, for British audiences, the whole escalation of the matter up the chain of command becomes one as each step up in seniority is also a step up in actor fame level. Martin Freeman was mainly known for his role as Tim in The Office (UK) and, outside of Love Actually and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), didn't really have as much wider recognition; Steve Coogan was already well-established as Alan Partridge and had begun to frequently appear in films like 24-Hour Party People and Night at the Museum; and Bill Nighy was well-known for his roles as Billy Mack, Phillip, Slartibartfast, and Davy Jones.
- In the scenes in which Angel and Danny are brainstorming their theory of the crime, for each of the victims they unwittingly hit on the actual reasons they were murdered — Tim Messenger's terrible spelling and editing, George Merchant's ugly property developments, Martin Blower's bad acting and Eve Draper's annoying laugh — but brush past them because they're focused on the big picture (and, of course, find it hard to believe that anyone would murder people over such petty reasons).
- When they're shipping Angel off to Sandford, his London superiors sneer that Angel "can't be the Sheriff of London." This foreshadows the ultimate reveal of who Angel will enter into conflict with — a man who actually believes himself to be the Sheriff of Sandford, above the law.
- When fighting Michael, Angel asks him if he is certain he wants to do this. Lurch hesitates before saying "Yarp." This wasn't him being evil per se, but simply because of revenge. The last time Michael saw him, Angel knocked him out with a potted plant to the head and elbowed him in the stomach to escape. If Angel hadn't already beaten him, Michael might have given up willingly because Angel asked nicely enough.
- Throughout the film, notice how despite his joviality and friendliness, Frank Butterman always somehow manages to stick Angel with any demeaning, tedious and shitty job just guaranteed to tick him off, while the other officers get the easy stuff, the day off to enjoy the fete, ice cream, etc. In light of Frank's role as one of the NWA ringleaders, it's actually a clever ploy; he not only dulls the other officers' instincts and makes them resent Nick when he actually makes them do some work, he isolates Nick from the other officers, increases his resentment of and annoyance with them and either dulls his instincts or drives him out of his mind with boredom, thus making him seem increasingly irrational and diminishing his credibility. He also ensures that Nick will get so sick of the job that it would be entirely credible if he just up and 'disappeared' one day.
- The ability of the NWA to sweep so many murders under the rug seems nonsensical. But the key way to determine a crime is to find a motive for that crime. And the motive of the NWA, winning a "Village of the Year" award, is so nuts that no sane person would ever deduce it. Even Nicholas, the most successful cop in London, couldn't deduce the motive until the NWA said it to his face. Sandford's police force believing the murders were accidents isn't ignorance, it's because they also can't imagine their community descending into an orgy of slaughter over a dumb contest.
- The Sandford NWA having a massive camera surveillance system is a subtle reflection of their true nature. In a subtle allusion to the idea that the worst tyrannies are created by those seeking a utopua, their "model village" can only exist through obsessive policing of the population, in order to root out and destroy anybody they deem "undesirable." Like in a certain George Orwell novel.
- Reverend Shooter's profession is ironic, considering he commits the sin of Thou Shalt Not Kill countless times. But Shooter also indulges in several of the Seven Deadly Sins, which makes him much worse than the typical religious hypocrite.
- Pride: Shooter believes he has a right to kill people. And when Nicholas calls him out, he replies "Fuck Off, Grasshopper", denying his actions are bad and insisting in the belief of his own superiority.
- Lust: Wanting an award so bad he'll kill for it.
- Wrath: Committing numerous violent murders definitely qualifies as "wrathful".
- Danny refusing to shoot his murderous father isn't just about upholding the law: he saw his father descend into madness by not letting go of his grief. Despite having more reasons to be grief-ridden, Danny refuses to let it consume him, knowing where that could lead.
- If the NWA are happy to murder anyone in their path, including Nicholas Angel, why go with the overly theatrical black hood and cloak? Surely it'd be far more suspicious if anyone saw that than if they saw the local green-grocer or police chief walking around the street... but the theatrical outfit has a very good reason to exist: it means that if anyone tries to corroborate Angel's story, it'll sound even stranger. Saying you saw someone running around in broad daylight in a hood and cloak sounds like something out of 'Scooby-Doo', so even if any witnesses come forwards, they'd just be laughed at by the already skeptical police-force. Plus, if Angel described it to anyone, it'd only convince them further of how crazy he sounds.
- While the motives that Angel gives for suspecting that Skinner committed the crime aren't the actual reasons the crime was done, and Skinner didn't personally do it, the facts mentioned still exist. Skinner *is* now free to build his new supermarket. Nearly every death caused by NWA seemed to have a secondary benefit attached to it for the town, which makes it more likely for people to sign up for and stay loyal to the NWA in the first place.
- Nick knocks out "Lurch" by a Tap on the Head...with a potted peace lily. Angel's ex (and the film) used the plant as evidence of how he's Married to the Job and doesn't really care about anyone else, and Angel destroys it with a one-liner. Because he became friends with Danny, and watched a lot of action movies with him, and Danny loves those movies. But first, Angel distracts Lurch with a plush monkey...which he won for Danny. It's another symbol of how he's opening up.
Fridge Horror
- While the ending is mostly comical, Sandford as a community is screwed for various reasons.
- Most of Sandford's important citizens (the police chief, supermarket manager, priest, etc) were members of the NWA and it's unlikely that they'll be released from jail anytime soon. Also, the NWA are guilty of killing several prominent figures; a retail magnate, a solicitor, a famed gardener and a journalist fell. The town is short of a lot of people to run it, and its not likely anybody will be moving to Sandford to fill the void.
- Sandford's public image is going to suffer when the world learns a borderline-fascist cult running the town for twenty years. And wait 'til it gets out that all these murders by the NWA were done merely to win "Best Village in Britain," which is both a ridiculous and horrifying reason for all these people to go freaking bonkers and kill every single "nuisance." Pretty sure the contest judges won't welcome that revelation with a smile. They might just get traumatized at the idea that their contest was the reason for an incredibly large number of murders. Let's just say that village will never be "Best Village in Britain" ever again, and all of its previous winnings of the title might also be stripped.
- Related to this, the Sandford police officers (with the possible exception of Danny) should probably be a little worried as well, as their passive obliviousness towards what was essentially a cult of serial killers operating right under their very noses doesn't reflect incredibly well on them. While their conduct in the climax probably rules out questions of possible collusion with Frank and the NWA, at the very least they have some very serious questions about gross incompetence to answer for. Danny may be innocent, but being the son of a murderous cop will be a painful cross to bear.
- Imagine being one of the residents of Sandford finding out about the murders, discovering that several of your pleasant, seemingly-ordinary neighbors, people you probably like and trust, have been part of an insane murder cult that's been offing dozens of people over absurdly petty reasons for decades. Even worse if you were close to one of the victims - those underage drinkers probably had parents. Imagine finding out that your kid who went missing hadn't run away from home, but was actually murdered just for being a minor nuisance and the killer was your kindly old neighbor who helped console you, or your trusted Reverend who helped you find solace in your faith. A lot of people in that town are probably going to have trust issues for the rest of their lives once they realize that the "tragic accident" their rowdy friend had was probably orchestrated by people they thought were kind, friendly people. And that's if said residents even want to remain living in Sandford after this discovery.
- Tying into the above, a few non-NWA citizens could be briefly glimpsed going about their business before the shootout and then running for cover once it begins. Imagine how terrifying the whole situation must have been from their point of view; one moment, everything is fine and dandy, the village is calm, waiting for the judges to come along. Then the new police sergeant rides up the high street on the back of a horse, armed to the teeth with guns, and after a few moments of confused tension all hell breaks loose as ordinary, friendly, peaceful villagers pull guns out of nowhere and start shooting at him. They must have terrified out of their minds thinking the world had gone completely mad.
- Nicholas didn't seem that shocked for seeing Tim Messenger being brutally killed right in front of him. Did he encounter even worse murders in the metropolis?
- The underage drinkers that Nicholas arrests at the beginning later show up dead at the hands of the NWA. Without realizing it, Nicholas accidentally sent them to their deaths. It's also possible he was dangerously close to getting Danny killed, too. Even with his familial connection. The Sgt. Turner on duty that night possibly saved Danny's life by letting him sleep it off in the holding cell. The kids were processed with the paper trail, Danny was not.
- When Angel falls into a crypt filled with the corpses of people who pissed off the NWA, the camera focuses on a few notable individuals who have been seen or mentioned (Sgt. Popwell, The Living Statue, etc.) throughout the film. However, if you observe from where the camera is focusing, you’ll see that there are actually a lot more skeletal remains down there, dozens in fact. The Fridge Horror sinks in when you realise how many people have been murdered by the NWA in the past, and their state of decomposition will make you wonder just how long this has been happening for.
- Alternatively, it is a crypt hidden away in the catacombs of a fairly old castle. While the NWA have likely made some more recent contributions, some of those skeletons might simply be historical remains.
- Which is still fridge horror when you think about how horrific the murders in medieval times were and that the NWA is similarly petty and homicidal.
- At a meeting of the NWA, it's mentioned that a townswoman has given birth to twin boys. Everyone seems happy, but Dr. Hatcher is one of the NWA. He brought many Sandford citizens into the world, and also killed many of them. If Angel had given up, then the boys could possibly have been killed by the NWA someday. Maybe even by the doctor who delivered them.
- At one point when discussing Leslie Tiller's death, Sgt. Fisher tries to argue that she could have tripped and fallen on her own shears by remarking, "Ben Fletcher fell on his pitchfork the other week!" This was expanded into a running gag in the screenplay, with members of the Sandford Police citing recent events (for example, Gary Butcher drowning in his own septic tank) as proof that "accidents happen every day." It's only after finding out about the cult, that you realise these probably were not accidents.
- Reverend Shooter says, "Tim, your number's up!" during the church fete's raffle. Watching it a second time, you know how Tim Messenger is about to be killed in less than a minute, and the reasons why. And the Reverend, along with many of the people in the crowd, knows exactly what's about to happen. And they're LAUGHING about it.
- From the very moment he appears, Skinner proves to be one sick individual. He chants to Nicholas about being a "slasher...of prices". He is so sociopathic and bloodthirsty, that he'll gloat to a goddamn officer about his murders.
- In the movie, Danny discovers his father is a Serial Killer; that same father held him hostage, and he was nearly killed by a brutal gunshot wound. While the ending is optimistic, Danny will probably need therapy for a long time to deal with it all.
- The NWA's hatred doesn't just extend to petty nuisances. One of them openly hates Gypsys. If a Black or Asian person had the misfortune to move to Stanford, one imagines what the NWA could put them through.
- Though Nicholas choosing to stay in Sandford at the end is sweet for him, it's terrible for London. One can only imagine how bad crimes have gotten over there in his absence that the police chief has to personally come begging for him back.
- Imagine what the Sandford Police were thinking when they heard that Sgt. Angel had gone postal and went on a mass shooting in the village.
