Shudder Original Series: Cursed Films 103: Poltergeist
Shudder Original Series: Cursed Films 103: Poltergeist asks:
Did a popular series of horror films doom its cast to death?
Or was the real reason far more sinister because it can happen to any of us: the medical and law enforcement systems failed?
Photo credit: Shudder
Episode 103: Poltergeist=Real Tragedy
While the possession of Regan in The Exorcist was not real, nor was the danger(intentionally, anyway), actual young lives associated with this film series were lost.
The Mishaps, the Tragedies
Oliver Robins(Robbie Freeling) claimed that the clown malfunctioned and actually choked him.
JoBeth Williams(Diane Freeling) did scenes in a pool full of skeletons. Unbeknownst to her, the skeletons were real.
Actress Dominique Dunne(Dana Freeling) was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. He subsequently only spent 2 1/2 years in prison, due to judicial mismanagement. He then changed his name and was re-hired and continues his career as a chef.
Heather O’Rourke(Carol Anne Freeling) died from a misdiagnosed congenital intestinal defect that sent her into toxic shock.
Will Sampson(Taylor) died of kidney failure and malnutrition.
Julian Beck(Reverend Kane) died of stomach cancer.
Do Objects Carry Cursed Essences?
Did the skeletons cause the actors of Poltergeist to die because of their unrest?
Matthew Hutson, author of The Seven Laws of Magical Thinking, says that we very much believe they do. Citing the Ortiz jersey incident, he states that we believe because we are wired to believe.
Michael Shermer, founder of The Skeptics Society gives an example: No one wants to try on Hitler’s coat, because of the evil it must surely hold(Of course, in this day and age of cameras everywhere and cancel culture, a pic of someone wearing the coat, even for an experiment, could come back to haunt them in a very un-supernatural way). On the subject of horror props, he says we just assume.
There is a prop fan, Sean Clark, who disagrees with the norm. He has collected screen used props for years, and even though they may frighten visitors to his home, he has had no problems with curses.
Sean not only collects props, he is a member of a small group of fans that go to actual locations. He also brings up that the owner of the Poltergeist house still lives there with no problems.
Remembering Heather
Gary Sherman, Poltergeist 3’s director, shares anecdotes about Heather O’Rourke. It is a fitting tribute by a man that still cares for her deeply. He cared so much for her that he was a pall bearer at her funeral. Gary reveals that the studio forced him to finish the film, using a double for Heather’s part. He was attacked daily by the tabloids about the “curse,” so much so that he moved and changed his number. To this day, Poltergeist still leaves a bad taste in his mouth, and he rightfully calls the movie “stupid”.
As for the claims of the curse, while he says that people have a fascination of the unknown, there was no curse.
SFX Expert Weighs In
Craig Reardon, the Special Make-up Effects Artist that worked on Poltergeist is a little more blunt. He finds it offensive that the movie’s actual skeleton props caused the deaths, especially of Heather and Dominique.
Real skeletons aren’t exclusive to Poltergeist. They are very inexpensive compared to hiring sculptors, and gives examples of 1931’s Frankenstein and Vincent Price’s House on Haunted Hill as movies that used real skeletons with no otherworldly repurcussions.
He calls it conceptually pernicious and that it insults the memory of Heather, and even worse to Dominique Dunn, “who was strangled to death by her boyfriend, which had fuck all to do with a skeleton.”
I like this guy.
Why the Belief in The Curse After All These Years?
Film critic April Wolfe maybe puts it best. If the fragility and loss of young lives can be explained away by a curse, it makes it bearable, puts it in a skewed sense of reasoning.
If the film was so cursed, why didn’t the prop master, who bought the skeletons, and JoBeth, the actress in closest contact with them feel the brunt of their wrath?
This episode is definitely worth a watch, not just for the details, but for the tributes to two lovely young girls who were taken away before their time.
Have you watched Shudder’s Cursed Films 103: Poltergeist? What do you believe?
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