Laura Wright 
Hollyweird
Poltergeist was a blockbuster when it was released, but the movie soon became famous for something other than its supernatural story. A series of tragedies involving members of the cast eventually gave rise to one of Hollywood’s most enduring legends: the supposed Poltergeist curse.
While it may be difficult to go so far as to say that a movie is genuinely “cursed,” some films seem to accumulate an inexplicable number of bizarre circumstances. Perhaps it is simply the quiet madness of Hollywood encroaching upon overstressed individuals. Perhaps the events have some other significance. Maybe much of it can be attributed to mass hysteria.
Whatever the reason, not all films are created equal when it comes to the legends that surround them. Coincidence, circumstantial evidence, tragedy, and suggestion can make a powerful combination when stories of cinematic curses begin to spread.
And few movie curses have become as famous as the one surrounding Poltergeist.
The Legend of the Poltergeist Curse
When Poltergeist was first released, it became a superstar. The film followed a seemingly fortunate family into a new home. The father was a rising star with his development company, the couple had three beautiful children, and their house seemed to contain almost anything a family could want.
Unfortunately, the new home was already occupied.
As the movie’s popularity grew, so did its notoriety. Within only a few years, Poltergeist would come to be regarded as a cursed production.
The legend is usually told something like this:
“Did you know the Poltergeist trilogy is cursed? They used real bodies in the pool scene in the first movie and now everyone who played in it is dead.”
Not everyone who appeared in the Poltergeist films is dead, of course. However, there were a number of unusual and tragic deaths involving members of the cast.
The Murder of Dominique Dunne
One of the first tragedies involved Dominique Dunne, who played the Freeling family’s oldest daughter, Dana, in the original film.
Only months after filming was completed, Dunne was murdered.
She was strangled by her boyfriend.
Her violent death so soon after appearing in Poltergeist would eventually become one of the incidents most frequently cited by those who believed something sinister surrounded the movie.
Unfortunately, another young actress associated with the series would also die.
The Death of Heather O’Rourke
Perhaps the most shocking death associated with the Poltergeist curse was that of Heather O’Rourke, the beautiful child actress who played Carol Anne.
O’Rourke became one of the most recognizable faces of the franchise and appeared in all three Poltergeist movies.
In 1988, at only 12 years old, she died shortly before the third film was released. O’Rourke suffered cardiac arrest due to a medical error.
She died four months before the theatrical release of Poltergeist III.
The deaths of two young actresses from the series, under completely different but equally tragic circumstances, helped transform stories about a supposedly cursed production into an enduring Hollywood legend.
Other Deaths Associated With the Films
Two additional deaths are frequently offered as evidence of the Poltergeist curse, although neither seems particularly relevant to the idea of a supernatural curse.
Julian Beck, who played the frightening Henry Kane, died of cancer. He had already been struggling with the disease throughout the filming of the movie.
Will Sampson, who played the medicine man in the second film, died from complications following kidney surgery.
Nevertheless, their deaths were eventually incorporated into the growing mythology surrounding the Poltergeist films.
Strange Events Behind the Scenes
Death was not the only source of stories surrounding the supposed curse.
JoBeth Williams, who played Diane Freeling, provided the rumor mill with additional fuel when she said that she would return home each day after filming to discover that the photographs in her house had been rearranged.
Then there were the skeletons.
The special-effects technicians admitted that real human skeletons were used during the famous swimming-pool scene. At the time of filming, they claimed that using genuine skeletons was cheaper than purchasing plastic models.
The revelation that actual human remains had been used in one of the movie’s most frightening sequences became inseparable from later stories about the curse.
Was Poltergeist Really Cursed?
The Poltergeist films undeniably became associated with terrible tragedies.
Dominique Dunne was murdered only months after filming the first movie. Heather O’Rourke died unexpectedly at the age of 12. Julian Beck died from cancer, while Will Sampson died following complications from surgery.
There were also the stranger details: JoBeth Williams returning home to find photographs mysteriously rearranged and the filmmakers’ use of genuine human skeletons during the production.
None of these events proves the existence of a curse.
Yet when tragedy, coincidence, strange experiences, and actual human remains are combined with a movie about angry spirits disturbed by a housing development, the resulting legend almost writes itself.
Perhaps the Poltergeist curse is nothing more than coincidence amplified by one of Hollywood’s most famous supernatural movies.
Or perhaps some films really do leave something behind after the cameras stop rolling.
Poltergeist Trivia
- Producer and writer Steven Spielberg based the brother’s fears of the clown doll and the tree outside his window on his own childhood fears.
- Zelda Rubinstein, who played the medium Tangina, auditioned four times for the role and filmed all of her scenes in only six days.
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