Cursed Films

Cursed Films Series 1 2020 Shudder (Acorn Media International) AB2066

Certificate 15 also on download.

We’ve had films about curses (The Mummy, Night of the Demon, The Ring) and films so bad, we’ve cursed at them, but what about films which are said to be cursed? Shudder have come up with an engaging TV series which discusses the possibility that some of the best-known films of the last fifty years may harbour a curse. Writer/director Jay Cheel presides over this collection of curios.

The 1982 Tobe Hooper directed and Steven Spielberg/Michael Grais/Mark Victor co-written ‘Poltergeist’, was hugely successful and went on to win four Academy Awards, in a tale of ghosties and ghoulies turning up in the kind of suburban USA setting mind numbingly familiar to film goers during that decade. Special effects are great for the period, and the story is accessible, but what’s that about a curse?

The careers of the director and at least one of the co-writers don’t seem to have been adversely affected by any hoodoo, but spare a thought for actresses Dominique Dunne, who played Dana Freeling, later strangled by her ex-boyfriend, and child actress Heather O’Rourke, who played younger sister Carol Anne Freeling, and would go on to appear in Poltergeist II and III, and would die tragically young aged twelve, following two cardiac arrests. The rumour mill was in full operation even before the invention of the public internet, fuelled by these two tragically early deaths, Poltergeist gained an unwelcome reputation for having a curse on it. Note the timeline; Heather O’Rourke’s sad passing was six years after the original film.

The Omen (1976) is perhaps one film which did its damnedest to attract a curse, with the deliberate courting of bad luck and satanic imagery in its publicity material. Well-crafted and superbly acted, veteran stars Gregory Peck and Lee Remick play Robert and Kathy Thorn, the former an American diplomat working in the United Kingdom, their union ‘blessed’ with a child, Damian, who is nothing less than the son of the Devil. The story is awash with biblical warnings, archaeological evidence and various shades  of interested parties. Patrick Troughton puts in a terrific performance as a desperate priest, and David Warner as a beleaguered photographer. Billie Whitelaw’s chilling performance as Mrs Baylock, an emissary of the Old One set to look after the infant antichrist, is worth the price of the ticket alone. This strange, disturbing film is brim-full with conspiracy, cover-up, suicide and retribution, and it wasn’t shy of talking it up on release. Much was made of Gregory Peck’s flight to the UK to begin filming. His ‘plane was struck by lightning, as was the executive producer’s ‘plane a few weeks later. A ‘plane scheduled for use in the film crashed, killing everyone on board. The man who designed the decapitation scene witnessed a real one soon after. Yet, as pointed out in the documentary, if the Devil is real, and wanted to go about his nefarious work unhindered, why would he try to stop the film being made, with these terrible accidents? He would surely do his best to ensure a smooth shooting schedule and a successful wrap. One of the most successful films of the year, it earned an Academy Award for best score (Jerry Goldsmith), so perhaps the Devil doesn’t have all the best tunes.

For the sheer number of accidents, deaths and bad luck visited on the cast and crew of The Exorcist (1976), it is tempting to believe that this towering piece of work in the Old Nick film cycle was actually cursed. The story line is outre, even by the standards of 1970’s exploitation cinema. Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) the 12 year old daughter of a successful actress Chris MacNeill (Ellen Burstyn) begins to display odd, violent behaviour that is totally at odds with her privileged and comfortable upbringing. Endless medical tests, including an unwatchable carotid puncture sequence, are inconclusive, and the doctors suggest, through gritted teeth, that Chris takes her daughter to a Priest. This is where the story gets ever more horrifying and ever more contentious.  The demon possessing Regan resists all attempts to exorcise it, using both physical and supernatural violence to defend its position, and the film contains some of the most furious and shocking scenes ever witnessed on the big screen. Ellen Burstyn sustained a serious back injury being pulled about on a wire to simulate being pushed by a possessed Regan. So did Linda Blair, as she recalls in this documentary, from being thrashed around the room in a harness. The house used for the filming mysteriously caught fire, causing delays in the schedule, yet Regan’s bedroom remained undamaged. A carpenter cut off his thumb and a lighting technician lost a toe. Blair’s grandfather died in the first week of production, and Max von Sydow (Father Merrin) returned to Sweden after his first day of shooting, having learned of his brother’s death. Jack McGowran (who played alcoholic film director Burke Dennings) died the week after completing his scenes. The list goes on, depressingly. Nine cast and crew members are thought to have died during the filming of this, the first horror film to be given an Academy Award (Best screenplay, William Peter Blatty). It was also awarded one for best sound, having been nominated for no less than ten Academy Awards. The Exorcist regularly turns up in the lists of favourite films of horror enthusiasts and enlightened critics, and has had a prolonged life on video, DVD and film revivals, making it a modern classic. That’s a curse some film studios would welcome with open arms.

It's perhaps inevitable that 1994’s ‘The Crow’ gets a mention, by dint of star Brandon Lee, son of martial arts megastar Bruce Lee, being fatally wounded during the course of filming. Needs must, and the film was finished with a stand-in wearing a theatrical mask. If it wasn’t enough that Brandon’s father Bruce was himself the subject of intense and frankly, nonsensical speculation about his possible murder when excess water drinking whilst suffering from a prior kidney condition was nearer the mark, Brandon’s accidental death from a cartridge fragment fired from a gun, left over from a previous discharge, has sparked rumours that the Chinese mafia organized a hit, or that he was simply fated to die young. As we learn in the documentary, the District Attorney ruled that it was negligence on the part of the film crew, as the gun had not been properly checked before use. No-one was prosecuted.

The Twilight Zone is perhaps the most surprising entry here, but it easily has the darkest backstory. Essentially a portmanteau film based on the famous fantasy TV series of the 50’s and 60’s, one of its episodes features a man (played by Vic Morrow) who is forced to confront his bigotry by being put into perilous situations where the tables are turned, and he is a member of the race he despises. The Vietnam War section has our character remorseful, and he is determined to redeem himself by rescuing two Vietnamese children from a burning village in the heat of battle. The village’s designer tells the story of being congratulated on his highly realistic set, and the tragic events that led up to star Vic Morrow being decapitated and two young children, unlicensed and uninsured, being killed in the scene, hit by a crashing helicopter. The shadow of this appalling incident has tainted the film ever since, but like The Crow, no-one was ever punished for this gross negligence, and director John Landis and the four crew members who were charged with manslaughter, were acquitted.

‘Cursed Films’ makes as light a show as it can, considering the often grim events it recalls, and interviews with crew members, stars and film enthusiasts are equally enlightening, and in every case, successfully debunks the idea of the films having any kind of supernatural malfeasance attached to it.

Scenester1964

15/2/23

 Trailer; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4LZBEVlSXA

Acorn International link: https://www.acornmediainternational.com/