25 things you didn’t know about your favorite horror movies
Poltergeist (1982) – The real-life curse of Poltergeist
They’re heeeeeere!
Decades before there was Paranormal Activity, there was Poltergeist. The Freelings are your typical suburban family; Steve sells real estate and Diane is a stay-at-home mother. They’re the parents of three kids: Dana, Robbie, and Carol Anne.
When strange occurrences start happening in their home, they think it’s amusing at first, when chairs slide across the floor and furniture rearranges itself. But things start getting more serious, and this paranormal being starts hurting the family, and even kidnaps their youngest child, Carol Anne, as she’s dragged into her closet.
The only way the family is able to communicate with Carol Anne is through the static in their TV, so they call in a team of paranormal investigators to try and save her amid the chaos in their home.
When films are dealing with anything paranormal, such as the previous slide’s The Grudge, strange occurrences sometimes happen to the cast and crew on and off the set. In the case of Poltergeist, a supposed curse followed many of the cast members until their untimely demises.
Several actors in the Poltergeist franchise died following the filming of the movie. Dominique Dunne (who played Dana Freeling) was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend in 1982, the same year the film was released. Julian Beck, who appeared in Poltergeist II, died in 1985 from stomach cancer, and Will Sampson, also in Poltergeist II, died from complications from a heart-lung transplant.
Heather O’Rourke, who played the young Carol Anne and appeared in all three Poltergeist movies, died in 1988 at age 12 from cardiac arrest caused by septic shock from a bowel obstruction. Finally, Lou Perryman, who played Pugsley in Poltergeist, was murdered in his home by a recently released criminal in a robbery gone wrong. However, this was years later, in 2009.
Whether the film franchise is cursed or not, it’s still eerie to think of the terrible circumstances surrounding the deaths of all of these actors!