Poltergeist (1982) is considered by many to be a cursed film, and all because of what happened during the filming and after the release of the tape with the actors. Indeed, this film is much more than just a fictional horror movie. Let's remember some strange cases with the actors of "Poltergeist".
Unexpected deaths
Perhaps the first thing worth mentioning is the unexpected deaths of the actors after the premiere.
The first incident happened with Dominic Dunn, who played the role of Dana Freeling. She was strangled to death by an ex-boyfriend in her own driveway in 1982. Still alive, the girl was taken to the hospital, but it was not possible to save her, and five days later Dominic died. She was 22 years old. Rumor has it that Dominique's friend was at her house when there was an altercation between the actress and her ex-boyfriend, and she listened to the soundtrack from "Poltergeist" to drown out the noise outside.
Another actress, very young Heather O'Rourke, died in 1988 from myocardial infarction caused by septic shock due to intestinal stenosis. The girl was only 12 years old.
And although other members of the film crew of "Poltergeist" also died after a while under different circumstances, these two deaths are especially frightening. Both actresses were very young, both predicted a brilliant future in cinema, but after filming in this film, their lives ended so tragically.
Promotional video:
A case that nearly cost another young actor his life
Before Dunn and O'Rourke passed away one by one, a terrible incident occurred that nearly cost the life of another Freelings child. Actor Oliver Robins, who played the Freelings' middle son Robbie, was nearly strangled by a sinister clown - the doll that pursued his character in the film, right on the set. Robins admits that if it weren't for Steven Spielberg's intervention, he doesn't know what could have happened to him. Most likely nothing good.
Another actor of the film was in a plane crash
Richard Lawson (by the way, he is Beyoncé's stepfather) was in a plane crash in 1992. The plane, flying from New York to Cleveland, took off from the runway and a few minutes later fell into Flushing Bay. The plane collapsed from hitting the water surface. This disaster killed 27 people, and 24 (including Richard Lawson) survived. The actor said that he received a first-class seat for this flight as a gift from his fan, whom he gave an autograph.
This incident can be classified as a terrible coincidence, but many still associate it with the curse of the "Poltergeist".
These skeletons that you saw in the movie were real …
The effect of a realistic picture in Hollywood in the 80s was achieved sometimes in very strange ways. But this one isn't just weird, it's really scary.
You, of course, remember the scene in which the mother of the Freeling family is thrown into a muddy and muddy pool, and all these terrible skeletons float around her. So, in this scene, Spielberg decided to use real human remains to make the picture truly realistic and scary. Well, that might be the source of the Poltergeist curse.
Actress Jobeth Williams talked about how she hated working in this awful pool. But, of course, she thought she was surrounded by simple props. Only after filming did she find out that these were indeed real human remains.
Sometimes ghosts appeared
Jobeth Williams recalls that she lived in a rented apartment during the filming of the first film in the franchise. And there the picture that hung on the wall was constantly moving from its place and as if it did not want to hang straight. Williams did not associate it with something otherworldly then. It seemed to her that the reason was that she simply slammed the door too hard. But who knows, maybe it's ghosts?
Other incidents on the set
Julian Beck, who played the priest, died of cancer a few months before the end of filming for the second film in the franchise. The team had to continue filming with an artificially created double of the actor.
During the filming of the third "Poltergeist" the cast of the film took part in a photo shoot. Zelda Rubinstein's face then turned out to be overexposed in one of the pictures. The photographer was a professional in his field, so it is possible that this was an ominous omen, foreshadowing dire consequences.
Soon, during the filming, a pavilion with props broke out. The fire was very difficult to extinguish, and several technical workers even had to be urgently hospitalized with burns of varying severity.
As you can see, there really were too many terrible things associated with this movie. Perhaps a terrible curse really hung over the "Poltergeist", and all because of those human remains in the terrible scene with the pool …
Irina Andreeva
