The Poltergeist curse

Poltergeist is an American horror film, directed by Tobe Hooper and released on June 4, 1982. It is the first and most successful of the Poltergeist film trilogy and was nominated for three Academy Awards. The film was co-produced, and co-written, by Steven Spielberg along with Michael Grais and Mark Victor—his first major success as a producer. The plot revolves around the haunting of a suburban family home that is suspected to be the work of poltergeists.

The franchise is often said to be cursed.

The rumor is superstition largely derived from the fact that four cast members died in a relatively short span of time (six years) between the release of the first film and the release of the third, with one dying during production of the second film. Two of them died at young ages, 12 and 22. It is not clear that these particular films are atypical in the number or nature of the deaths of their actors, and at least two of the supposed victims had serious health problems before becoming attached to the film series.

The actors who are supposed victims of the curse include:

Dominique Dunne, 22-year-old actress who played the oldest sibling Dana in the first movie, died after being choked by a jealous boyfriend in 1982. The boyfriend, John Thomas Sweeney, was later convicted and sentenced to six years in prison, though he only served three and a half years.

Julian Beck, 60-year-old actor who played Kane in Poltergeist II: The Other Side, died in 1985 of stomach cancer, with which he was diagnosed before he had accepted the role.

Will Sampson, 53 years old, who played Taylor the Medicine Man in Poltergeist II, died of post-operative kidney failure and pre-operative malnutrition problems in 1987.

Heather O'Rourke, actress who played Carol Anne in all three Poltergeist movies, died in 1988 at the age of 12 after what doctors initially described as an acute form of influenza but later changed to septic shock after bacterial toxins invaded her bloodstream. At the time, she had suffered acute bowel obstruction, initially diagnosed as Crohn's disease, which may have been the cause of death.

Other occurrences that have been attributed to the curse include:

The house in Simi Valley, California used for exterior shots of the Freeling home was damaged by the Northridge earthquake of 1994.

JoBeth Williams, who played mother Diane Freeling, claims she returned home from the set each day to find pictures on her wall askew. She would straighten them, only to find them crooked again the next day.

Actor Will Sampson, a Creek Indian and shaman, performed an exorcism on the set of Poltergeist II to rid it of "alien spirits". A year after Poltergeist II was released, he died.

During a photography session for Poltergeist III, it was discovered that one shot of co-star Zelda Rubenstein had shining light obstructing the view of her face. Rubenstein claims the photo was taken at the moment the actress's mother died.

During the making of Poltergeist III, a movie set of a parking garage was destroyed by fire during shooting of a fire scene, injuring all but one of the crew.

Brian Gibson, director of Poltergeist II, died of bone cancer at the age of 59 in 2004.

Heather O'Rourke once starred in a Rainbow Brite commercial with Judith Barsi. Judith died at age 10, five months and 24 days after Heather died. She was murdered along with her mother by her father.

Comments

Add New Search

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge
Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.26

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."