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Haunted Or Cursed Films?

This great site has plenty of information regarding the different versions of Poltergeist III, with interesting tidbits about the possible Polt IV, the real ending of the film that was changed because of Heather's untimely death (but that nobody really wanted to work on), and other oddities:

http://www.poltergeistiii.com/

And some various tidbits:
6. Doug Drexler, John Caglione, and Dick Smith get to work on creating the new version of Kane's decomposition. Doug makes notes and sketches from December 1987 into January 1988 on how the effect will be done. It is planned that after Kane touches the necklace, a waist up dummy of him will be used. It will rock back and forth, an internal mechanism used to move its eyes and mouth. Air will blow upwards, shooting his hat off the top of his head. Meanwhile, intense heat from nearby propane blowers will melt the rubber face of Kane, thereby creating the decomposing effect without the use of stop motion or other post production tricks.

7. The film's production manager, Ed Ledding, tells Doug that the budget for this new sequence has not yet been approved, and the actors are not availiable for the initial shoot date. As a result, the effect should be in "hold" mode. Presumably the only actors needed are Nancy Allen, Nathan Davis, the mime double for Nancy Allen, and perhaps Zelda Rubinstein.

8. February 1, 1988, Heather passes away. The initial plans for the scheduled re-shoot are put on hold. The funeral for Heather is held that same week. MGM issues press releases saying that Heather had completed the film and it will be released as scheduled in June of 1988.

9. Behind the scenes, however, no one wants to finish the movie. In fact, some urge the studio to shelve it, at least temporarily. The MGM board, however, tells Gary and the producers to finish the film or they will get someone else to do it. It's perhaps even more important now to re-shoot the climax because of the fact that Carol Anne's "frozen body" is seen in the original ending (I also seem to recall years ago Heather's step-father Jim Peele telling me that a scene of Carol Anne encased in ice was cut from the film).

10. In early March, Doug and John are told they have 12 days to get the effect ready. Gary re-writes, again, the script they had been planning to use for the ending of the movie. These new pages are marked "Revised, MARCH 14, 1988." In the emotional and logistical turmoil after Heather's death, not many people are still around for the film, and the crew is mistakenly informed that Kipley Wentz is "back East" going to school (when in reality he's right there in LA). Only two decomposed bodies are created-Bruce and Donna. The sequence where Tangina shows up to lead Kane into the Light is added, along with the scene of Bruce walking out of the mirror with Carol Anne and Donna. It is thought that the scene of Carol Anne waving goodbye and crying would not be appropriate after Heather's death.

11. The new ending begins filming on Tuesday, March 15, 1988. The scene of Bruce walking out of the mirror with the double of Carol Anne is apparently filmed early on. Apparently Lara Flynn Boyle may not have been available that day, since you don't see her face in that scene either. "Donna" has her head down and appears to be a double. There is also a mistake made in the costume department-the double for Carol Anne is wearing white sneakers over her red pajammas.

12. Later in the week Lara Flynn Boyle arrives, and the very last scene is filmed, when the mist clears and Pat says "She did it...she saved us!" The mistake with Carol Anne's outfit is corrected.

I was at Universal ("Mrs.. Claus" with Angela Lansbury) in the early 90's and I heard about Poltergeist 4. This is all I remember: Someone told me about a new script that was being developed about the pre-story. Kane and his followers. Kane was a healer (like an exorcist), a good-looking man who was a preacher who had fallen and was going to go to California to rid himself of the "demons". We were on the "western" lot when it came up. I remember "a Psychological thriller with less effects". The development would make some sort of connection to the Freeling family of the future. Carol Anne was the great -great grand daughter or something equally ridiculous. I don't remember if someone suggested it or if it was part of the original story but the "Freeling Family" of the past escaped Kane at the end and were the only survivors. They were protected by an Indian medicine man. Sound Familiar? It should! This was originally part of the original Poltergeist property (Story) and elements (Kane, Indian medicine man, Family Clairvoyance, etc) were incorporated into p2.
 
Re: Haunted Films?

MrRING said:
I know about the Three Men and a Baby urban legend, but isn't it just a minurature cutout of Ted Danson?

The scariest thing in a Ted Danson film is usuall his hair ;)

Anyway and article on this:

Hollywood Oddities: Three Men and a Ghost

Posted by: Anthony Langlois
Source: THN
Date: 26th March, 2006

In all honesty, I was launching into this story not so much to inform about it, but to simply point out how strongly it is still discussed and dissected, even though it was, at least in my point of view, debunked long ago. But while doing some trivial research out of pure curiosity, some people pointed out how I was missing the bigger picture, missing what truly made this little thing a true oddity.

The movie "Three Men and a Baby" is notorious not because it was directed by Mr. Spock or because Steve Guttenberg wasn't that bad an actor in it, but because of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it "ghost" who invited himself on the set. If you have seen the movie, or intend to after this read, you'll find the appearance during the scene where Jack (Ted Danson) is visited by his mother. Right in the background, in front of the window, a small figure can be seen standing, not too tall, dressed in black and white, just lurking there.

The Myth

It isn't exactly clear when controversy over the apparition began, but by all accounts, the sequel's impending release was surrounded by the now-strong "urban legend", which circulated under many variations. In most of them, the figure would be a little boy who died horribly in the apartment where the movie takes place, and returned during filming. Some versions have a mother recognizing her dead son in the movie and falling into near-madness over it, while others have her sue the studio for making her suffer such anguish.

Of course by 1990, when "Three Men and a Little Girl" was released, VHS rentals of the original had spiked, with many curious wanting to get a piece of the poltergeist. The studio, producers and even director Nimoy gave a perfectly valid and verifiable explanation: a cardboard cutout. Jack the actor being somewhat enamored with himself keeps a full blown cardboard version of his "bod" in a tuxedo, which can be seen up-close in another scene of the film, as well as in the sequel. What's more, filming for the interior scenes is said to have taken place in a soundstage, and not the building used for exterior shots. Some cynics even suggested it was planted voluntarily as a means to get people talking about the film and turn it into the legend it's become.

Nevertheless, almost 20 years later the "ghost" is still a very active and heated subject in many movie discussion circles. Since the debunking seems pretty much obvious and universal, I though I'd step into paranormal territory and find a real life "Ghostbuster" to shed the light on the strength of this myth, on why it is still being kept alive. What testimony I gathered dropped my grin and stopped me in my tracks.

The Expert

The many inquiries I sent to paranormal-related organizations came back short of a direct answer. Some admitted not having really looked into it, others suggesting I should get a life. Most simply didn't have time to reply. The one individual I didn't expect to help me out, simply because he is perceived as a top reference in the field and as such must be quite busy, was actually the most courteous and informative.

Dr. Dave Oester co-founded the International Ghost Hunters Society in 1996, which is widely accepted as the largest organization of the genre on the Internet. Along with his companion Sharon Gill, he travels across US in his RV to visit and investigate sites of alleged haunting. Author of around 20 books and lecturing all over the country, they even put together self-taught Ghost Hunting programs. The gentlemen graciously took time to tackle our questions, and allowed us to publish his answers. Here is what he had to say on the subject.


THN: Have you seen the movie, and if so, do you feel it might be genuine?

Dr. Dave: Yes, I feel the ghost boy is genuine. At that time Hollywood producers had no clue as to how ghosts appear, their version were always demonic and ugly. The ghost boy is not demonic, but is watching the actors.

THN: Many say producers planted the "sighting" to raise controversy and appeal towards the film. Is it something you have encountered in your many investigations?

Dr. Dave: Any justification in a storm is considered valid, but at that time, ghosts was not a popular icon as it they are today. Even the producer, Robert Tinnell who directed Believe contacted us as to how ghosts act and respond prior to directing the film. We have found that many times a ghost will manifest itself in human form, but not in full human form. It takes a lot of energy for a ghost to manifest 100% in human form. As in the film, the ghost boy's is floating above the floor and his feet were not visible. This is common, but back the film was made, this knowledge was not readily available to the producer or directors.

THN: In your opinion, what makes people so attracted to ghost and ghost stories?

Dr. Dave: Ghosts are real and they are everywhere. So many have had ghostly experiences, I think the figure is one out of three. Also at a much deeper level, ghosts represent proof of life after death, the ongoing eternal nature of man. Ghosts do not conform to religious teachings about the Afterlife, yet they are seen by more people than mythical angels or demons. Remove the hype and ghosts are just people without physical bodies. They retain their intelligence, their emotions, their personalities. Ghosts represent the next level of evolution for us beyond the grave. We all have an innate desire to know more about the Afterlife and ghosts are the evidence of that Afterlife.

The Bigger Picture

It would be easy to go back to studio explanation and detract once more with passion. Just as it would be easy to invoke conspiracy theory of cover-ups and denial over the un-explained. One internet poster I questioned pointed to the unending back-n-forth of this argument due to the fact that no one can go back and keep an eye towards the window, and say with 100% assurance what is. Joe Friday would advocate sticking with the facts, but I prefer to single out key words out of Dr. Oester's comments: "We all have an innate desire to know more…"

In 1994, Christopher Wilson confessed on his deathbed that the fabled picture taken by his grandfather Robert Wilson, in 1934, of a creature sticking its head out of Loch Ness was a hoax. The confession was subsequently itself called a hoax, and the story calling the confession a hoax was hinted to be one itself. Which means the Loch Ness monster legend is needed alive and well, and remains just as fascinating. The question towards the "Three Men and a Baby" ghost boy isn't whether it is true, nor if you believe in it. The question is what do you WANT to believe in, and WHY.

Controversy, curiosity, ever-lasting discussions, spine-twisting confessions and revelations, conspiracy theories and constant puzzlement are the mark of great legends. If the sighting itself was indeed planted, than filmmakers did their job in pushing our intellect and challenging our beliefs and understanding. I don't personally feel it is genuine. On the other hand, I don't believe aliens crashed in Groom Lake and yet refuse to think the only intelligent species in the universe would be humans and dolphins (those who got that one, raise your towels!). And THAT is the bigger picture.

www.thehollywoodnews.com/article/26030602.php

Links:

www.snopes.com/movies/films/3menbaby.htm
www.ghostweb.com
 
...which hasn't stopped Channel 4 making a documentary on it...

Saturday 15th July, Channel 4, 22:00 The Curse of Superman

He is the man of steel who has become the world's biggest superhero. But behind the red cape and x-ray vision lies the sinister story of a Hollywood curse - placed by the comic book's creators - that has seemingly blighted those associated with him...

As the new Superman blockbuster hits the cinema screens, this documentary reveals the sinister story of a Hollywood curse that some say has blighted those associated with the world's biggest superhero. The Curse of Superman tells a dark tale of tragic accidents, suicide, murder, debilitating illness and mental breakdown.

In 1939, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created Superman. After selling the rights for $130, they watched in despair as he became an instant and profitable worldwide hit. After hearing that Superman was to become a movie, Siegel and Shuster placed a legendary curse on the franchise. Since then, a catalogue of disasters has followed some of the movie franchise’s biggest stars. After starring as Superman’s dad, Marlon Brando went on to endure a family murder and his daughter’s suicide. The original Superman, Christopher Reeve, suffered a tragic riding accident that left him paralysed. Richard Pryor contracted multiple sclerosis, while Margot Kidder endured a headlong decline in her career and was subsequently found wandering the streets, with her teeth knocked out, following a severe psychotic episode. Unfortunate coincidences or the result of the curse? This programme, featuring illuminating interviews with Margot Kidder, Dean Cain, Susannah York and Barry Norman, attempts to tell the true story.
 
Just had a flick through this thread and learned a few things thats for sure.

The Vic Morrow scene from The Twilight Zone is actually doing the rounds on youtube. And yes it is the uncut version.

What im most surprised about is the fact that no one has mentioned The Omen.

That film has some history.
 
An interesting bit - apparently, watching a film has directly led to a death!

LINK
In 1956 a boy in Oak Park Illionis died of "heart collapse" after watching the rocket explosion scene in The Creeping Unknown.

The Creeping Unknown is the American title for the original Quatermass Xperiment film... I'd be interested if anybody can find out any more on this tidbit.
 
Not a film, but someone died laughing at the BBC TV comedy The Goodies.

On 24 March 1975, 50-year-old bricklayer Alex Mitchell of King's Lynn in Norfolk, England, kicked the bucket while roaring with laughter at one of his favorite television shows, the comedy programme The Goodies. The skit that precipitated Mitchell's fatal fit of glee involved a kilted Scotsman's flailing away with his bagpipe at a vicious black pudding intent upon attacking him. Mitchell was unable to stop laughing, and after twenty-five minutes of uproar gave one last "tremendous belly laugh, slumped on the settee, and died," said his widow, who witnessed his passing. Mr. Mitchell had expired from heart failure.

link
 
Let's hope nobody dies listening to the new White Stripes album.
 
I picked up the 1970s Spanish horror film A Bell from Hell on DVD this week.

According to IMDB's trivia:

Director Claudio Guerín Hill fell from the tower housing the title bell on the last day of shooting and was killed. The film was completed by Juan Antonio Bardem.

:shock: Well, that's one way to ensure publicity.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069838/
 
Wasn't there some controversy over whether he committed suicide or died by accident?

Let us know what the film's like!
 
I'm currently watching the third movie in the Matrix trilogy on ITV. Earlier on today during a bout of gaming over Xbox live I mentioned to a fellow gamer that I considered the 1st movie in the trilogy infinitely superior to the others. This fellow gamer happened to be a bit of a Matrix fanatic and he agreed with my opinion on the movies and also told me why this is the case.
Apparently, after the 1st movie, the production was fraught with problems. Deaths, accidents, illnesses and re-occuring equipment failures. So much so that Keanu Reeves was extremely close to quitting the entire production for fear of being cursed. Appparently, after Alia's fatal plane crash, whole sections of the 2nd and 3rd movies had to be re-written and re-filmed.

I also heared that the Excorsist and the Poltergeist movies were fraught with strange problems also.

Then there is this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF2f__k0Pnw

See the boy in the window at about 35 seconds?

Does anyone have any other good stuff on this subject? I hope so because I find it very interesting.
 
Well done gman you've hit the nail on the head when it comes to the failure of search engines.

Anyone care to guess how many hits the words "Exorcist" and "Poltergeist" achieves in the Fortean Times Message Board. Over 7000...

If you narrow it down to Fortean Culture and add Linda Blair it's not too bad and we've battered that topic to death (pun intended). Here AND HERE. I'm sure there's loads more in different forums. As for the "Three Men and a Baby" clip I believe it's a cardboard cut out of Ted Danson wearing a top hat, I could be wrong but it's one of the three male stars as a cutout from one of his stage shows. The only movie that was truly cursed IMO must have been"The Conqueror" starring John Wayne as Ghenghis Khan.

Filmed near the site of contemporaneous nuclear testing grounds, the set was contaminated by nuclear fallout. After location shooting, much dirt from the location was transported back to Hollywood in order to match interior shooting done there. Scores of cast and crew members developed forms of cancer over the next two decades, many more than the normal percentage of a random group of this size. Quite a few died from cancer or cancer-related problems, including John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendáriz (who shot himself to death soon after learning he had terminal cancer), Agnes Moorehead, 'Thomas Gomez', John Hoyt and director Dick Powell. People magazine researched the subsequent health of the cast and crew, which it published in November 1980. By the time of the article's publication, 91 of the 220 members of the film's cast and crew had contracted cancer, and half of these had died from the disease. The figures did not include several hundred local American Indians who served as extras on the set. Nor did it include relatives who had visited cast and crew members on the set, such as the Duke's son Michael Wayne. The People article quoted the reaction of a scientist from the Pentagon's Defense Nuclear Agency to the news: "Please, God, don't let us have killed John Wayne".

mooks out
 
Now I'm worried. Didn't we used to have a rule about the Thr** M*n *nd * B*by cardboard cutout? Does that still apply? It hasn't been mentioned in a while, after all...
 
I was talking to the cinematographer of all the Matrix movies on Saturday (yay, had been wondering how to drop into conversation); if only I'd heard about the Matrix curse, I could've asked him!
 
I believe that the girl from the Poltergeist movies died from an unknown disease... I wonder how many diseases are in the world that are still unknown, mmmmm
 
"The girl from Poltergeist" was named Heather O'Rourke and she died of cardiopulmonary arrest caused by complications of intestinal stenosis, which had originally been diagnosed as Crohn's Disease, a slightly different intestinal problem. Your google-fu is weak, young grey.

Despite wonderful strides in medicine during the past century, new diseases and variations on old ones happen faster than doctors can catch up. Even someone with a well-known disease can have puzzling symptoms, idiosyncratic reactions to treatment, and unforseen complications, and - as you will learn as your own medical history gets more complex with age - diagnosis is a hard thing. Ms. O'Rourke's death was tragic, but no more mysterious than the other deaths of children and babies with this condition that happen in any given year.

And the glee with which people feed their fantasies on celebrity death, without applying the brake of reality or of respect, as if someone who is not personally known to you is not a human being and doesn't deserve to be remembered accurately, annoys me quite a lot. Don't sell your belief so cheap.
 
I believe it is an unfortunate fact of life that celebrity death is big, big business. It sells magazines, it creates "Best of" Dvd's and Cd's that sell, sell and sell some more. It makes for sensationalist news reports watched by millions, it makes fantastically morbid "His/Her" last hours/last days/last weeks documentarys. It's a sad fact that celebrity death is music for the masses and that reality and respect have little or no place in the Heat magazine obituary to his/her life. It is also a sad but true fact of life that death brings to a celebrity higher earnings from all facets of their craft then living ever did.
These are facts that annoy me also. They are, however, cast in stone facts of life and getting annoyed about it is as pointless as a medical misdiagnosis.
 
gncxx said:
Now I'm worried. Didn't we used to have a rule about the Thr** M*n *nd * B*by cardboard cutout? Does that still apply? It hasn't been mentioned in a while, after all...
Given that, I think we'll let it go this time, but here is the original thread in which it's discussed to death and back, along with various others.
 
I note that no-one's suggested Rebel Without A Cause yet: given the "tragic" circumstances that surrounded the deaths of each of the leads (James Dean -car wreck; Sal Mineo -murdered; Natalie Wood -drowned) it would appear to qualify as a cursed movie, even without the story (UL or confirmed? I seem to recall hearing Dennis Hopper referring to such an accident in an interview.) of the stunt-driver who allegedly died during the filming of the chicken-run sequence.

And now the Natlie Wood case has been reopened.

Thirty-six years after Natalie Wood's mysterious drowning death, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has reopened the investigation and named her then-husband, Robert Wagner, a person of interest in the case.

CBS reported the new detail Thursday as part of its upcoming 48 Hours report Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water (Saturday, 10 p.m. ET/PT).

Wood, the 43-year-old Oscar-nominated star of films such as Splendor in the Grassand West Side Story, drowned off the coast of Catalina Island in California the night of Nov. 29, 1981, after taking her family yacht, Splendour, out with Wagner and her Brainstorm co-star Christopher Walken. Boat captain Dennis Davern was also on board.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life...talie-wood-nearly-four-decades-ag/1085971001/
 
It seems clear Wood had a verbal fight with Wagner that night, but did it get physical? Did he push her off the boat? More likely seems to be she'd had too much to drink and tried to use the dinghy to return to shore, then fell in during the process. Although the captain of the vessel is seeking his extended moment of fame by suggesting something more suspicious. If Wagner gets locked up for this at his advanced age I'd be extremely surprised.

Of course, Splendor in the Grass not only contains her greatest performance, but also includes a scene where her character nearly drowns. She always did say she was afraid of deep water.
 
Of course, there is a third possibility.
Christopher Walken may have done it (I don't really think that, but I'll put it out there). No wonder he's a 'go-to' guy for casting as a psychopath.
 
Of course, there is a third possibility.
Christopher Walken may have done it (I don't really think that, but I'll put it out there). No wonder he's a 'go-to' guy for casting as a psychopath.

Highly unlikely, no motive, and has an alibi. You may as well say Sir Anthony Hopkins eats people's livers.
 
Psychopaths often don't have a motive.

But Christopher Walken isn't a psychopath because he's been typecast as one in movies! Reality is not the same as fiction. Wagner played a psychopath in A Kiss Before Dying, does that mean he murdered Natalie? You'd make a terrible detective.
 
But Christopher Walken isn't a psychopath because he's been typecast as one in movies! Reality is not the same as fiction. Wagner played a psychopath in A Kiss Before Dying, does that mean he murdered Natalie? You'd make a terrible detective.
How did he get to be a convincing film psychopath?
I seem to recall Steven Berkoff saying that he might actually have become a psycho if he didn't do it in his films (or something like that).
 
You're talking as if psychopaths are all he plays, he has a lot more range than that.
 
Upcoming pseudo documentary on an unearthed cursed film...
Directed by David Amito and Michael Laicini, Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made is purported to be a cursed cinematic project from the late 1970s that was lost for many years and capable of killing almost anyone who claps eyes on it, particularly obstinate film festival organizers. The two directors came up with the story with Amito writing the screenplay.

Bookended by a collection of documentary-style testimonials about the strange events surrounding the film’s history (as well as the topic of the occult in general)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwe...ly-making-its-way-to-the-public/#11d082a058c7

 
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