The Horror Curse

by Kemal Yildirim

Flickering celluloid, smokey atmosphere and the silent death that fills the auditorium of any great horror film, we delve into the orange soaked screen as our favourite horror films warm our hearts - but what lies beneath the lens? The Excorcist, Omen, Poltergeist and Amityville are some of the highest grossing horror films of all time, what makes them so popular? Is it the fact that each film has a curse attached?

The Excorcist hit cinemas in 1973, it was one of the highest grossing films and walked away with two Oscars sealing its fate as one of the genre’s classics. Now I know there are some people who think the film is over-rated and there are some who think that it is an outright classic, I myself fit into the latter of the two. There is no denying the power of film with reports of people fainting, vomiting and having panic attacks during it’s initial release. However, is it really the power of the film or the stories of malevolent spirits cursing the film?

On 14th August 1972 filming began on The Excorcist and from the start the set was rumoured to be plagued with an eerie atmosphere that the cast and crew felt. One weekend when no-one was on set the set burned down and there were twelve unexplicable deaths connected to the film (some of these deaths are questionable where one was someone’s Uncle twice removed, a night watchman and a gaffer losing a toe!).

I remember as a young bareley legal adult sitting down to watch this masterpiece, already scared to death by the horror stories connected with the film. A favourite story passed down to me by my elder cousins was that within the film there were flashes of the devil, and if you caught a glimpse of his face he would haunt you! That was enough to scare me for life but it was more than the adolescent male being scared by this film. The curse even went as far as the BBFC who banned it for 25 years in the UK who claimed that the film was “too good”, no-one can accuse the BBFC as making sense now can they?!

With reports of people feeling posessed after watching The Exorcist and cast and crew saying they have been forever affected by the curse one can only speculate, but isn’t that the mysticism of a curse? The rumours, the ghost stories around the campfire, the cold sweat as you look behind you expecting to see your worst horror movie come alive. No one will ever know whether the curse of The Excorcist is real or Hollywood hype but I don’t care. I think the real curse is with us because what The Excorcist achieved was to question our existence, test our faith in ourselves and our own mortality.

The Omen was released 1976, hot on the heels of The Excorcist and received crtitical and commercial success however, it was not the reviews that were making the headlines… On the first day of principal photography the curse began, with reports of car accidents and Director Richard Donner being pinned between two cars. Some of the cast and crew were due to board a flight which subsequently was over booked, they booked another flight and it was revealed later that the original plane that they were scheduled to take crash landed leaving no survivors. Was this a strange coincidence or was it the ongoing curse?

The Omen dealt with a biblical story of the Devil’s son the Antichrist born into a rich political family, thus starting events that will eventually lead to armageddon where the forces of good and evil will battle for our souls. With such mythology already seaped into the film and the fact that it deals with religious themes it lends itself to the curses.

Some people believe that the events that led to there being so many accidents attached to this film was the work of the Devil trying to stop the film from being made. The story of the curse in my view has helped to create the myth and not diminish the quality of the film. I remember watching this as a kid and the moment when the first nanny hangs herself saying “It’s all for you Damien”, the electricity powered down in my house and I was left in total darkness… God damn those 50 pence electricy meters!

Elsewhere in the winter of 1975 George and Kathleen Lutz and family moved into the Amityville house in Long Island, New York. 28 days later they fled fearing for their lives, there were stories such as green ooze seeping from the walls, sensations of being embraced by an unseen force

and even the hideous transformation of Kathleen Lutz taking on the appearance of an old woman. Whether or not we believe in the Lutzs’ account of the supernatural it had a massive effect on movie history.

In fact the story does not start with the Lutzs’, it actually started 13 months before they moved into that house in Amityville. Where the Defoe family were victims of a mass murder served by the hands of their eldest son Ronald Defoe Jr., killing six members of his family while they were sleeping. In the court case for the murders Ronald Defoe claimed he heard voices who told him to do it and claimed he was possessed by one of the spirits who dwelled in the house, I know it’s a bit of a convenient story.

The Amityville film was released in 1979 to a massive box office return and spawned a franchise of eight further films and a remake of the original Amityville in 2005. There were stories of supernatural forces on set of the original film and the cast and crew reported experiences of eerie feelings whilst on set. Believing in the stories of the curse relies on your belief in the paranormal and although the curse attached to Amityville linked to actual events rather than the film, it does not really affect the final piece which is now considered a classic of the genre.

The power of the original Amityville film lies in the reality of the events and the central performances from James Brolin and Margot Kidder. However, James Brolin’s career was so much so affected by the film that he did not get another acting role for two years. The curse did not end there, during the making of the remake in 2005 the cast and crew reported feelings of eerie sensations on set.There were reports that actor Ryan Reynolds who played the character George Lutz would wake up at 3:15am, the exact time George claimed to be plagued by demonic spirits. The final nail in the coffin as it were was when a decomposing body of a fisherman washed upon the shore of the set!

“They’re here”, an infamous line from The Poltergeist, quite a fitting line that strikes a cord. Did a portal to another world really open on that production? When looking at the facts it looks that way. During the making of the trilogy of Poltergeist films four key cast members died, actor Oliver Robins who played Robbie Freeling was nearly choked by the mechanical clown that attacks him in the film and prop skeletons in the swimming pool scene turned out to be the bones of real people. There was also a picture taken of Zelda Rubenstein who played Tangina who had a mysterious light emitting from her face, it was claimed to be the spirit of her dead mother who died at the exact moment the picture was taken!!

Let us take a look at the facts on the four actors that died during the course of these three films and over a period of six years. Julian Beck was diagnosed with stomach Cancer before accepting the role of Kane so the fact that he died was not really a surprise. Again, Will Sampson who played Taylor was diagnosed with kidney failure so his death was not the biggest surprise and highly unlikely to be connected to any curse.

However, if we look at the tragic death of Dominique Dunne, she played the character Donna Freeling and on October 30th Dominique arrived home to find her abusive ex-boyfriend waiting for her. An arguement ensued and resulted in dominique being choked to death for a reported six minutes who then fell into a coma and died four days later on 4th November 1982. With events like this surrounding the films it is no wonder a curse story was linked.

The most shocking news was yet to come when in 1988 Heather O’Rourke, playing the character Carol-Anne Freeling, went into septic shock and passed away just after finishing shooting of Poltergeist 3. This event fuelled more rumours of the Poltergeist Trilogy forcing the director Gary Sherman to shoot an alternate ending using a body double to replace Heather O’Rourke. Gary Sherman revealed that the hardest thing he had to was to carry Heather O’Rourke’s body out of the church to her grave.

Whether the rumours of the curses or supernatural happenings are real, or even the deaths that are connected with these films were merely coincidence or not does not really matter. These curses are as much a part of the movie history as the films themselves and the whole point of the films are to entertain us, so if the curses help that then so be it… I for one will continue to fuel the curses and scare myself in the process!!

Each week I will be publishing a new article on the Film Forum and the only common thread is Film. You can contribute and feature on the Film Forum too so get writing! Your article can be any length and subject as long as it’s film related and email to info@kemalyildirim.com. We are looking for regular contributors so contact me for more details.

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Thanks for reading!!