Poltergeist, The Omen, and The Crow

Like The Exorcist, the legendary Poltergeist movies are a part of popular culture—at least the creepy side of it and some weird synchros were involved before, during and after the filming.

The simple phrase: “The-e-e-y’re here,” instantly reminds us of the creepy scene in which the little girl, Carol Anne Freeling,is abducted by evil spirits in the TV.

In the pool scene, the skeletons that emerge from the muddy water were real. JoBeth Williams was unaware of this until the scene had already been filmed. Director William Friedkin felt somewhat uneasy about the matter and possibly sensing what was coming, asked technical advisor Reverend Thomas Bermingham to exorcise the set. He gave a blessing and talked to the cast and crew to reassure them, but refused to perform an exorcism, saying it might increase anxiety.

 The presence of real skeletons on the set might’ve been a premonition of strange events related to the movie, including multiple deaths, including the two young actresses who played sisters.

 Julian Beck, who played the bad spirit’ in Poltergeist II, died of stomach cancer in 1985.  Two years later, Will Sampson who played the ‘good spirit’ in Poltergeist II, died after receiving a heart-lung transplant. Will was also known as the tall ‘mute’ Indian in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

 The two men had medical conditions, so their deaths aren’t nearly as strange as the  deaths of the two girls. Dominique Dunn, who played the older sister in the first Poltergeist movie, was strangled by her ex-lover shortly after the release of the first movie in 1982. Six years later, Heather O’Rourke, who played the little girl Carol Anne in all three movies, died of congenital intestinal stenosis at the age of 12. She was on a break from filming Poltergeist III at the time and a replacement was used in parts of the film.Ironically, Dominique Dunn and Heather O’Rourke, the on-screen sisters, are buried in the same cemetery.

 The Omen,  a classic horror film about the devil’s offspring, might be the most cursed film of the genre. Before and during the filming, there were many…omens.

 A series of peculiar accidents plagued the cast, crew and even people loosely connected to the film. The strange occurrences began with a series of unlikely lightning strikes.

 Before filming began, the plane carrying novelist and screenwriter David Seltzer was struck by lightning, and he was lucky he survived. In another electrifying incident, a plane transporting the film’s star, Gregory Peck, was also struck by lightning. The pilot managed to land the plane safely and nobody was hurt. During filming in Rome, a bolt of lightning narrowly missed producer Harvey Bernhard.

Peck had another close brush with death during the filming, when he cancelled a trip to Israel that crashed and killing all onboard. With all the strange happenings, it was a wonder that Peck decided to continue on with the project.

It’s also surprising that director Richard Donner didn’t walk away from The Omen when he was hit by a car, and stayed at a hotel that was bombed by the IRA. In a separate vehicle related incident, a number of crew members were nearly killed on the first day of shooting in a head-on car crash.

As another omen, the poster for the movie depicted the silhouette of a boy with a wolf-like shadow. The movie title was above and below the image were the words: YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

With The Crow, Tragedy and irony, as well as mystery and intrigue, overtook the plot maneuvers of this comic book adaptation when real life and fiction collided head-on in the making of this cult classic. The film’s star, Brandon Lee, was accidentally shot and killed with a life bullet in a scene in which he was to be murdered, and his death led to rumors of an actual murder.

Like The Omen, the production was cursed from day one of shooting, Feb. 1, 1993, when a carpenter was badly shocked and burned after a lift he was operating struck high-voltage power cables. Other incidents included a grip truck catching fire, a stuntman falling through the roof of one of the sets, a handyman crashing his car through the studio’s plaster shop, and a member of the crew accidentally stabbing a screwdriver through his hand. Six weeks into the shoot, a powerful storm destroyed a number of elaborate set pieces that delayed the shooting schedule.

Somehow, the production finally wrapped. As a result of the tragedy and mystery surrounding the making of The Crow, the film stood out from the plethora of horror films and led to its cult status.

Weird synchros all the way around!