Day 25: Cursed Films...

There have actually been many films that have a supposed "curse" on them that has affected the production, and even the cast and crew. The most famous are probably the Poltergeist series, The Exorcist, and The Omen. It is rumored that cast members have died because of the curses. Supposedly, there is something out there that did not want these movies to be made...

Poltergeist

In 1982, Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper released the horror hit Poltergeist, which spawned two sequels and even a television series. The trilogy comprises of Poltergeist (1982), Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986), and Poltergeist III (1988). Each film recounts an episode in the lives of the Freelings, a family who unfortunately moves into a house filled with evil spirits.

But beneath the ghosts on screen, there is something even more chilling. An unusually large amount of deaths have occurred among the former cast of the movies. These deaths have risen the rumor that the productions were cursed due to the stories of the films. It was as if the monsters of the movie world were claiming victims of our world where monsters don't exist. Although coincidence would be a much more common response, four of the cast members have died from this trilogy, two were expected, the other two were not.

22-year-old Dominique Dunne died on November 4th, 1982 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. It was four days after her boyfriend choked her into a coma from which she never awoke. A few weeks earlier, Dunne had ended her abusive relationship with Los Angeles chef John Sweeney. On the night of October 30th, 1982, he dropped by their former shared residence to plead with her to take him back. The visit did not go as he had hoped, and with what he thought was going to be a quiet conversation, ended with him strangling her for what was later determined to be 4 to 6 minutes, then leaving her for dead in her driveway.

Sweeney was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, sentenced in November, 1983, and released in 1986 after serving only 3 years, 8 months of a 6 and a half year sentence. His sentence is controversial to this day.

Poltergeist, the film in which Dunne appeared, had been released earlier that year, in June.

12-year-old Heather O'Rourke (Carol Anne Freeling) died of septic shock in on February 1, 1988 at the Children's Hospital in San Diego. What had been thought to be a bout of ordinary flu launched her into cardiac arrest during the drive to the hospital as bacterial toxins set loose by a bowel obstruction made their way into her bloodstream. Her heart was successfully restarted and she was flown by helicopter to the larger Children's Hospital where she underwent an operation to remove the obstruction. The toxins destroying her system proved too much, and she died on the operating table.

The circumstances surrounding her passing rendered her death even more of a shock than it otherwise would have been. She went overnight from a little girl who had the flu to a dead little girl who expired during an operation to save her life. Of course such an unexpected death would fuel rumors, especially when considered in conjunction with Dominique Dunne's murder only six years earlier.

O'Rourke appeared in all three Poltergeist movies. Poltergeist III had been completed at the time of her death although it had yet to be released, which lead to rumors that she had expired during shooting and a double had to be used to complete the picture. Gary Sherman eventually decided to use a double and shoot the alternate ended. In an interview he said that the worst time of his life was carrying that little girl out of the church in a casket.

The other two deaths were of seasoned actors well into their careers, both suffering from serious illnesses that would in time take their lives. Because their deaths were not unexpected, only rarely is either one mentioned in connection with the Poltergeist "curse."

60-year-old Julian Beck died of stomach cancer on September 14, 1985 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Beck died during the end of filming and the release. Unlike O'Rourke, his death was not unexpected; he had been battling the cancer for 18 months.

53-year-old Will Sampson died on 3 June 1987 in a Houston hospital after receiving a heart-lung transplant 6 weeks earlier. The cause of his death was ascribed to severe pre-operative malnutrition and post-operative kidney failure and fungal infection. It has been said he knew his chances for survival were small due to his weakened condition prior to surgery.

The Exorcist

Considered the scariest movie of all time, "The Exorcist" won two Academy Awards after it's release in 1973. One for Best Adapted Screenplay, and the second for Best Sound. Most people would think that the book (written by William Peter Blatty) is a made up story. Well it's not. A similar incident occurred in New England with a 13-year-old boy; but this is not what we're discussing today. Today, we are talking about The Exorcist curse.

Due to the accidental deaths and fires on set, and even supposed mental breakdowns from the young Linda Blair (Regan), some would say that an actual demon was trying to stop the filming of this movie. Some rumors state that four to nine people died during the fifteen month filming period. Jack McGowen had just wrapped up filming his small part for the film when he died of a heart attack. Another rumor states that the man who Regan said would die up there was accidentally killed while filming. There were other deaths too. One was that of Max Von Sydow's brother and Linda Blair's grandfather. A night watchman for the set, a crew member that refrigerated the bedroom for the exorcism scenes, and a cameraman's newborn baby were also part of the unexplained deaths.

There was also strange behavior and panic by the cast and crew reported by while filming. Future interviews from the makers of the film have them saying that the filming was a very creepy experience. Another big rumor was that the set caught on fire on night when no one was there. It still remains a mystery to what caused the fire.

There were also strange happenings at screenings for the film. They were filled with people vomiting, fainting, and breaking into hysterics. The Exorcist has proven to have some of the strangest audience reactions of all time. For some reason, the death tolls rose in the areas surrounding Georgetown after the movie was released. Heart attacks were recorded all over the world during premiers. There was even a lightning strike that destroyed a 400-year-old cross during the Italian premiere at the Metropolitan Theater in Rome. Some of these rumors have been confirmed false, but many still believe that something was trying to stop the film. Although there were no incidents on the film's sequels, the original director for the prequel Exorcist: The Beginning, John Frankenheimer, died before filming began.

The Omen

In 1976, The Omen was released which was a hit. It follows the story of an American ambassador who learns that his son is actually the Antichrist.

On the first day of filming, a crew member was in a car accident which destroyed a company car. Harvey Bernhard was driving Richard Donner to his apartment, as Donner was getting out of the car, another came round the corner, tore the door off of the car and trapped Donner between the two. The crew shot a scene at Windsor Safari Park including lions, that was eventually cut. The day they finished shooting with lions, a guard was killed by two of them.

A flight from LA to London with Gregory Peck on it was hit by lightning, and an engine was knocked out. Then eight hours later, a plane with the screenwriter, David Seltzer, on board was also hit by lightning. The crew had hired a private jet, which they would use to some ground scenes. However, the charter company had become booked, and so the Omen's crew flight was canceled. It took off with business men on board.

The jet crashed onto a road, crashing into another car, which crashed into another car, killing all which included the wife and child of the jet's pilot who were in the second car.

Then, after The Omen, the special effects director John Richardson, went to Holland to make A Bridge Too Far, with his girlfriend. He was involved in a car crash, and his girlfriend was beheaded, just like David Warner was

In Damien Omen II, the curse continued. The best friend of William Holden was stabbed while they were on holiday. Also, the entire cast came down with a rare form of influenza, even though no outbreaks had been reported.