There are plenty of creepy films out there, but what happens when behind the scenes is just as spine-chilling? Today, I will talk about ten films that were rumoured to be cursed; who needs jump scares and gore when real life is far more disturbing…
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Insidious - 2010
Josh and Renai move into a new house with their sons, Dalton and Foster, and daughter, Cali. Out of nowhere, Dalton appears to fall into a coma and is taken for treatment. The treatment doesn’t work, and after three months, Josh and Renai bring him home. Once he arrives back home, sinister activity starts around the house. The family ask for help from a psychic and paranormal investigator; they soon discover that it’s not a coma that’s keeping Dalton asleep and that something else is attempting to enter our world via the boy.
There isn’t much information about this filming, but a lot of the cast and crew reported feeling uneasy on set, as though a negative energy was lingering around it. They would hear a buzzing sound coming from empty rooms without explanation. During the filming of the second film, many involved would feel ill as soon as they walked on set. The illness would leave them when they walked off.
The Conjuring – 2013 (Based on actual events)
Not just The Conjuring but the entire Conjuring universe, including Annabelle. In the first film, Roger and Carolyn move to a farmhouse with their five daughters and Sadie, the dog, who is highly reluctant to enter the house. A few days later, Sadie is discovered dead (I know, sorry, guys!), and Carolyn finds herself inexplicably covered in bruises. The daughters start to see a spirit roaming the house, who soon begins to attack them. In a state of panic, the family contacts demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warner to investigate the paranormal activities; the story of Bathsheba soon starts coming to light.
There are quite a few eerie happenings involved in these film sets. While filming The Conjuring, an artefact room had been built containing an ‘Annabelle’ doll and a wooden pig. According to the cast and crew, this wooden pig would often be found in different positions, as though it was moving by itself. While filming the first film, huge heavy curtains would start moving by themselves, despite no windows being open or air conditioning being present. Joey King, who played Christine Perron, had bruises all over her body within two weeks of filming starting; there was no explanation for them. The real Perron family was invited to visit the set of The Conjuring; they did, except for Carolyn. One of the Perron girls told scriptwriter Chad Hayes, ‘Something bad is going to happen out here today’. Carolyn collapsed at home while her family were out, breaking her hip. While filming The Conjuring 2, Vera Farmiga, who played Lorraine Warner, woke up to find three slash marks on her thigh, as if she had been clawed. She said, ‘My husband did not do that to me. I did not scratch some mosquito bite...’ One of the most ominous stories for me is while they were filming Annabelle, a lighting fixture fell on an actor playing the janitor in a corridor whilst filming a scene where the demon kills the character.
The Innkeepers – 2011 (Based on actual events)
Luke and Claire are working in The Yankee Pedlar Inn, a once high-end hotel that is closing for good that weekend; Luke and Claire are the only staff present. Both enjoy ghost hunting and are fascinated by the hotel's dark history, including the legend of Madeline O’Malley. Madeline was a bride in the 1800s but was jilted at the altar; after falling into a pit of despair, she hanged herself in the hotel, and her body was supposedly hidden in the basement. A medium arrives to stay at the hotel and warns Claire to avoid the cellar; she ignores the advice and soon regrets it.
The film was inspired by the real Yankee Pedlar Inn in Terrington, Connecticut, after The Innkeepers director, Ti West, stopped there while filming another project. It had a reputation for being haunted, and West later said, ‘After a few nights, I started talking with the staff here, and that’s when I heard about the ghost stories. I don’t believe in ghosts, but weird shit did happen.' He returned to the hotel to use it as the set for The Innkeepers, yet again, he experienced weird shit. ‘Lights have turned off and on by themselves in my room. My phone rang, and no one was on the line, which the hotel staff says always happens. There are nights when I wake up in my room, and it feels like somebody is in there.’ The cast and crew often complained about feeling cold spots on set and experiencing light bulbs shattering out of nowhere. In one article, I read that an actress in the film almost quit due to suffering bad nightmares, although I haven’t read that anywhere else.
The Crow - 1994
The Crow is one of the most defining movies of the 90s and is worshipped by goth kids everywhere. It’s Devil’s Night, and the police are attending the scene of a crime; Shelly has been beaten and raped, and her fiancé, Eric, lies dead. Despite being taken to the hospital, Shelly doesn’t make it. On Devil’s Night, 12 months later, a single crow lands on Eric’s gravestone to awaken him from the dead. Eric returns to the land of the living to track down those who hurt him & Shelly and get revenge any way he can.
Before production started, an anonymous voicemail was left, warning the crew not to film The Crow as bad things would happen. On the first day of shooting, a crew member backed up a cherry picker when he hit powerlines overhead. The driver was electrocuted and even caught fire; he survived but suffered 3rd-degree burns and had to have his ears removed. Later, another truck on set would catch fire, and a hurricane ruined the whole movie set. Unfortunately, the film remains notorious for the events of 31st March 1993. Brandon lee, who played Eric, started filming a scene where his character is shot. Brandon was supposed to fall forward during the scene; when he fell backwards, the director shouted ‘Cut.’ It took a few minutes for the cast and crew to realise something was seriously wrong; there had been a mishap with one of the gun props, and Brandon had been shot. After 6 hours of surgery, Brandon passed away at the age of 28.
The Twilight Zone Movie - 1983
I think just about everyone has heard of The Twilight Zone, and the theme tune has become synonymous with freaky events. The film is an anthology based on the TV series. After the prologue, there are four stories: a partial remake of the episode ‘A Quality of Mercy’, where Bill Connor discovers the reality of racism. The second episode is a remake of ‘Kick the Can’, a story of joyful magic, reminding you that age is but a number. The third episode is a remake of ‘It’s a Good Life’; a good Samaritan steps in when young Anthony is harassed and gives him a lift home. She meets his welcoming family and stays for dinner, but she soon realises the family is not as it seems. The final story is a remake of the episode ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’; John fears flying and is stuck on an aeroplane during a torrential thunderstorm. Flight attendants attempt to calm him down, but then he spots something not of this world on the plane's wing, something that seems intent on destroying the aircraft.
The filming of the episode ‘A Quality of Mercy’ was an absolute tragedy. During the episode, Bill, who Vic Morrow plays, is sent back in time to experience some of the most horrific events of racism and xenophobia, including the Holocaust and the Vietnam War. Bill finds himself as a Vietnamese man trying to protect two children from American soldiers. The episode was directed by John Landis, who hired 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen; under California law, children were not allowed to work at night, but Landis dismissed this and illegally employed the children with no permits. One scene involved Vic carrying the two children across a shallow river while being pursued by an American helicopter. During shooting, a planned explosion went off before the helicopter had time to move its tail rotor out of the way. The helicopter spiralled out of control, falling to the floor. The helicopter decapitated Myca and Vic, and Renee was crushed; all three died instantly. Bizarrely, Vic Morrow had taken out a huge life insurance policy a year beforehand – after having a premonition that something terrible would happen to him.
The Amityville Horror – 1979/2005 (Based on actual events)
On 13th November 1974, Ronald DeFeo JR murdered his entire family with a shotgun at their home at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville. Just a year later, George, Kathy and Kathy’s three children, Greg, Matt and Amy, move into the house. Initially, Kathy tries to have the house blessed, but the Father who arrives encounters terrifying experiences; a room fills with flies, he suffers terrible sickness and even has blisters appear on his hands. It doesn’t take long for the malevolence lingering in the house to seep into George’s mind, body and soul.
In the original film, Kathy and George were played by Margot Kidder and James Brolin. Brolin was initially not excited by the script but signed on after his clothes fell off the hanger while reading it; he jumped with terror. In the 2005 remake, Ryan Reynolds plays the part of George. Just before filming this version, a body washed up on the shore, right next to the film set. During filming, the cast and crew would talk about waking at 3.15 a.m. every morning. The exact time the real-life murders took place. When the remake was filmed, the real-life Kathy died of emphysema, and her husband, George, tried to sue after complaining he hadn’t consented to the film. He died before the case was resolved.
Poltergeist – 1982 (Based on actual events)
I will be referring to the original films during this; I will not reference the remake (because it was shite). Steve, Diane and their three children, 16-year-old Dana, 8-year-old Robbie and 5-year-old Carol Anne, move to a house built in a new estate. One night, Carol Anne starts communicating with the static on the TV, and soon after, paranormal activity begins to infest the house; furniture moves by itself, a tree attacks Robbie and, eventually, Carol Anne is dragged through a portal to ‘the other side’. Professionals are quickly summoned, and the family soon discovers the horrifically dark secrets beneath their house.
This is one of the saddest ones to write about. In 1982, Dominique Sunne, who played Dana, was confronted by her ex-boyfriend, John Sweeney, at her home. He was not accepting the breakup and was desperately trying to reconcile with her. When she rebuked him, Sweeney choked her and left her for dead on her driveway. Dominique died just days later, at the age of 22. Sweeney only served three years and seven months. Julian Beck played the ghoulish preacher Kane in Poltergeist II. He died shortly after filming, finally succumbing to the stomach cancer he had been suffering. Will Sampson, who played Native Indian Taylor, also died after not surviving a risky heart and lung transplant. Heather O’Rourke was just six years old when she played the iconic role of Carol Anne in the first film. Unfortunately, in 1987, she was misdiagnosed with Crohn’s Disease before becoming ill again a year later when she was told it was the flu. She collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest after this second misdiagnosis and was airlifted to hospital before dying during an operation for a bowel obstruction. It is believed she had been suffering from a congenital intestinal abnormality that had gone unnoticed. Heather was just 12 years old. It’s also interesting to note that the skeletons used in the pool scene were actual human skeletons, not props.
Rosemary’s Baby - 1968
Starring Mia Farrow and directed by infamous director Roman Polanski, this is the story of a young couple who move into a new apartment. They are warned by a friend that the building has a history steeped in dark magic and murder, but they laugh off his concerns (well, you would, wouldn’t you). A neighbour brings Rosemary a chocolate mousse as a gift, and after consuming it, she passes out and starts hallucinating; she believes that Satan is raping her while her neighbours watch. Soon after, Rosemary discovers that she is pregnant, and her hallucinations and delusions become stronger. But is what she is seeing really just in her mind?
This film was based on a novel by Ira Levin; it was a huge success, but he suffered the wrath of the Catholic Church, which deemed it blasphemous, and his wife left him soon after. Levin repeatedly denounced Satan to people and desperately tried to tell people it was simply a story, but he became a paranoid shell of his former self. Rosemary’s Baby was filmed at The Dakota apartment building, the same building where John Lennon was assassinated in 1980. There was tragedy when the film’s composer, Krzysztof Komeda, fell and ended up in a coma; he never recovered and died the following year. Strangely, this is how one of the characters in the film dies as well. One of the most notorious deaths relating to the film was that of Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski’s young wife. Polanski wanted to cast Sharon as Rosemary but was overruled by production staff. A year after the release of the film, Sharon and a group of her friends were stabbed to death by Charles Manson’s cult members. Sharon was eight months pregnant with Polanski’s baby. Polanski, somewhat understandably, did not cope well in the aftermath and became involved in drugs to manage his feelings. However, he took it too far and ended up drugging a 13-year-old girl and sexually assaulting her. He is still living the life of a fugitive to avoid facing a trial.
The Omen - 1976
After his wife gives birth to a stillborn child, Robert Thorn secretly swaps the child for a newborn whose mother has died during childbirth. He doesn’t tell his wife, Katherine, and they call the child Damien. As Damien grows, strange occurrences happen around the family; a rottweiler appears at the house to guard the child, a nanny hangs herself at Damien’s 5th birthday party, and animals are terrified of him and even try to attack him at a wildlife park. Katherine begins to fear Damien, even more so when she is warned that he could be the antichrist.
Oh, there is so much weird shit surrounding this film; not entirely unsurprising when you consider the film is about the son of Satan. The animals on set acted very strangely; the trainer in charge of the baboon scene was killed by a tiger the day after it was filmed. And it wasn’t just the exotic animals; a stuntman was attacked by rottweilers and seriously injured. These rottweilers were highly trained dogs, but for some strange reason, they all chose to ignore their trainer that day. Gregory Peck, who played Robert, cancelled a flight he had planned to take during filming; that same flight ended up crashing, killing everyone on board. In an awful twist of fate, it landed on a vehicle with the pilot’s family inside. When Peck travelled to England to shoot some scenes, his plane was struck by lightning, but luckily no one was hurt. The film’s writer, David Seltzer, took a plane two days later, and his plane was also struck by lightning. Executive producer Mace Neufeld recalled planning to dine out with some of the cast and crew; the building was blown apart not long before they arrived at the restaurant. Neufeld also checked out of a hotel early, only for the hotel to explode shortly afterwards. One of the most chilling incidents happened to the special effects designer who worked on the famous decapitation scene in the film. He and his wife were in a car crash, and sadly, she was decapitated. He later told people of the road sign next to the scene of the collision: Ommen – 66.6 Kilometres Away.
The Exorcist – 1973 (Based on actual events)
The Exorcist remains one of the most known and feared supernatural horror movies. 12-year-old Regan plays about with an Ouija board with disastrous consequences. Regan begins acting seriously out of character, swearing at family members and even urinating on the floor in front of guests at a party. Strange things start happening around the house, similar to poltergeist behaviour. When doctors can find nothing wrong with Regan, her parents begin to suspect it might be something altogether more devilish.
The film set for The Exorcist was plagued with disasters, adding even more thrills and chills to the film. During filming, a priest approached Jason Miller, who played Father Karras, in the street and gave him a medallion, warning that those who do something to ‘reveal the Devil for the trickster that He is, He will seek retribution against you, or he will even try to stop what you are trying to do to unmask him’. The family home set mysteriously burnt down, putting the production back six weeks. One of the carpenters working on the set lost some of his fingers while working on the props. Ellen Burstyn, who played Regan’s mother, was thrown across the room in one scene after her harness malfunctioned; the accident left her with a permanent spine injury. Certain deaths were attributed to the film; Jack MacGowran, who played Burke Dennings, died from influenza before the film was released. Barton Heyman, who played Doctor Klein, died after the film's release from heart failure at 59 years old. Other deaths thought to be related included a security guard, Linda Blair’s grandfather and a cameraman’s stillborn child. Shockingly, Paul Bateson, who played a radiology tech in the film, went on to murder someone in 1977. It was thought that he could be a serial killer, but there wasn’t enough evidence. Even after the film was released, the creepiness continued. Some cinemagoers reacted extremely to the film, and some cinemas had sick bags and paramedics on standby. When the film was initially shown in Rome, it was screened in a theatre between two churches. During the showing, there was a massive storm and a loud bang; lightning had hit one of the church’s crosses.
So, what do you think? An attempt to create publicity and mystery around a film? Or something altogether more sinister? Next time you settle down to watch a horror film, maybe wonder what happened behind the scenes; it could be scarier than the film itself. Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think in the comments, take care of yourselves and I will see you soon.
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