It is all fun and games watching a horror movie until you get the information that the sets of a few of these movies were actually cursed.
In every movie production set, it is a given that a strange incident or two is expected to happen. Maybe an on-set accident, technical difficulties, an older cast member's sad demise just before the movie hits the theater. But sometimes, when these weird incidents pile up during a particular production, it gets you thinking that perhaps there’s something a little more sinister at work. The idea of a cursed movie theater has somewhat become cultural folklore and it seems the scarier the movie, the more likely its cast and crew are to experience some unusual goings-on. A lot of horror movies have dabbled with the dark arts and have allegedly become a host of its own curse. We have prepared a list of such movies whose sets were actually cursed.
This movie is allegedly so cursed that the bad vibes from the movie stretched to the entire trilogy. Regarded as one of the most notoriously unlucky movie franchises in history, and for good reason too. Maybe the reason this movie had such bad luck is because Speilberg decided to use actual human skeletons as props without telling actors. Considered to be one of the best horror movies of all time, there were serious issues with this film. The sheer number of untimely deaths of people is completely staggering. Heather O'Rourke, the child actress who appeared in Poltergeist and Poltergeist 2, died at 12 years old suddenly because of an undiagnosed illness. A mechanical clown that was used on set malfunctioned and tried to strangle actor Oliver Robins. Dominique Dunne, the actress who played Dana Freeman, died at 23 when she was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend. These are only a few instances and the list goes on.
This movie is about the birth of the Antichrist and unlike a lot of other cursed horror movies, the body count was seriously high for this one. One of the movie's screenwriters, David Seltzer, and actor Gregory Peck were both on a plane to the shoot when it was struck by lightning and a producer of the movie was also struck by lightning. Peck's son killed himself before filming started, and Peck himself almost ended up in a plane that would end up being crashed. Special effects director John Richardson and his assistant, Liz Moore were the victims of a horrific car injury that left Moore decapitated in the car.
The devil that was shown in Roman Polanski's movie was rumored to be played by the father of the occult himself, Anton LaVey. LaVey was friends with one of the members of Charles Manson's cult, Susan Atkins, who was responsible for the death of his wife. Producer William Castle received threatening letters following the film’s release that read, "Bastard. Believer of Witchcraft. Worshipper at the Shrine of Satanism. My prediction is you will slowly rot during a long and painful illness which you have brought upon yourself.”
This movie was filmed at the haunted hotel the Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington, Connecticut. The director of the movie was skeptical of the strange occurrences, but the scary stories from the sets of the movie became the focal point of the press. With an interview with Indiewire, West said, "I’m a skeptic so I don’t really buy it. But I’ve definitely seen doors close by themselves; I’ve seen a TV turn off and on by itself; lights would always burn out in my room. Everyone on the crew has very vivid dreams every night, which is really strange."
As you might know by now, this bone-chilling movie is actually based on a true story. Most of the people on the set felt uneasy or jittery, and many others have said that they had a feeling of being watched. One staff member's dog started to behave strangely, regularly growling at thin air. One actress on the set fell ill after she felt a strange gust of wind and headed to the hospital. Vera Farmiga did not feel comfortable with the movie at all, so much so that she refused to bring the script along with her at home. She even claimed to have found claw marks on the cover of her laptop after returning from shooting. But the scariest part is when a random fire broke out in the set without any reason. The cause was never ever discovered, but it's safe to say a spirit wanted to show it didn't approve
The movie in itself was extremely scary and bone-chilling. It was based on a true exorcism story that occurred in the 1970s. The actress who played the character of Emily Rose said that there were multiple occasions where the stereo used to start playing on its own at night and often turning itself on and off without being touched.
This is one of the few horror movies that legitimately had the scenery and ominous signs to prove that it was indeed cursed. During the screening of the movie, a 16th-century church across from the theater's street got struck by lightning, but this was just the beginning of the tragedy. The set was caught on fire during filming, but Regan's room was absolutely untouched. The shoot was delayed but managed to continue, as the tragedies did. This movie saw eight deaths and a lot of them happened during the production. Actors Vasiliki Maliaros and Jack MacGowran, died shortly after post-production and several relatives of the people associated with the movie also passed away. Ellen Burstyn, who plays Regan's mother, was seriously injured during filming. The spine chilling scream that you hear during the movie from her is actually real and at one point, the actress who played the character of Regan was thrown off of the bed by an unseen force. Mercedes McCambridge, the voice actress who played the demonic entity, was the tragic victim of a domestic violence-related killing shortly after the film was brought to theaters.
There are some people who have a strong interest in the occult and they might know something about a Dybbuk box. It is a box that is said to hold a demonic entity and has been sealed by a practitioner witch. 'The Possession' is a movie that was based on the story of a real-life couple who found themselves as owners of a Dybbuk box. Even though the movie had a fake box on the set, the lead actor Jeffery Dean Morgan said that there was something very very wrong with the set. According to Horror media, he was quoted saying, "I'm a skeptic, look I'm not going to lie. That being said, there were some weird goings-on on set. Lots of light bulbs exploding. Just overall kind of creepiness... "Don't mock the box," was sort of the mantra that we lived by while we were filming this." It was reported by a number of people that prop boxes used to catch fire on their own, and at one point, the real owners of a Dybbuk box offered to give them the box for shooting, but everyone politely declined the offer.
A lot of movies where the set was cursed saw a lot of success in the box office, but this was not the case with 'The Crow'. Everything about the movie was wrapped with doom and gloom. The script of the movie was written after the tragic death of one of the writer's wives and once the production was set into motion, the film endured tragedy after tragedy. Crew members reported being electrocuted accidentally, some got stabbed in the hand by screwdrivers, and trucks were being set on fire. Upon investigation, they came up with zero explanation. But the most tragic victim of this movie was Bruce Lee's son, Brandon Lee. He was tragically killed at the age of 28 when a pistol that was meant to carry a blank had a real bullet inside it. He was shot to death while filming the final scene and whether his death was because of the 'Lee curse' or because of the cursed movie set still remains unknown.
Similar to the original movie, the sequel to this movie was also plagued with different problems despite the fact that a priest came in and blessed the set. The soundstage of the movie was a haunted one in the Warner Brothers’ Burbank Studios, and the crew reported that curtains used to move randomly by themselves while the sounds of disembodied drilling and hammering could be heard coming from underneath the stage.
Share on Facebook
