It’s not uncommon for strange events to happen during the filming of a movie, but when the project is from the horror genre, these weird occurrences are often attributed to a curse – and here are some horror movies believed to be cursed. The horror genre is home to some of the best movies ever made, and it has also seen a variety of villains that go from human to supernatural and sometimes a combination of both. The themes and stories told in horror movies are sometimes taboo or delicate subjects, and it's not uncommon for them to draw backlash and controversy, as well as a bunch of rumors.
While movies from all genres have their legends and myths due to the many behind-the-scenes stories that come to light, when the project is from the horror genre, these on-set stories take a completely different meaning. If something strange happens during the filming of a horror movie, it’s immediately believed that the project is cursed, which in various cases has been successfully used for marketing purposes, while most of the so-called “cursed” events ended up being either coincidences or the result of on-set negligence – and here are five horror movies believed to be cursed and why.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Rosemary’s Baby was directed by Roman Polanski, based on Ira Levin’s 1967 novel of the same name. It’s the story of stage actor Guy (John Cassavetes) and Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), who move into the Barmford apartment building in New York City. There, Rosemary becomes pregnant, but the circumstances around her pregnancy are quite strange, and she begins to suspect that her elderly neighbors are involved in a Satanic cult, and even worse, they have been grooming her with sinister intentions. Rosemary’s Baby was a critical and commercial success, and it’s still regarded as one of the greatest horror movies of all time, but it was also surrounded by controversy and tragedy, which is why it’s believed to be one of the most cursed movies in film history.
A couple of months after the movie’s release, and according to Polanski (via Vanity Fair), composer Krzysztof Komeda was pushed off a rocky escarpment by writer Marek Hłasko during a friendly rough-and-tumble. Komeda suffered head injuries and fell into a coma, and after being transported home to Poland, he died in April 1969. Komeda’s death was tragic, but what made way for the belief of it being part of a Rosemary’s Baby curse is that Rosemary’s friend, Hutch, had a similar fate in the story. Also in April 1969, producer William Castle was suddenly stricken with severe kidney stones as a result of the stress from the amounts of hate mail he received due to the themes addressed in the movie and more, and while in the hospital, he hallucinated scenes from the movie.
Last but definitely not least, is the tragedy of Sharon Tate, Polanski’s wife, who auditioned repeatedly for the role of Rosemary. On August 8, 1969, Charles Manson's followers Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel arrived at Polanski and Tate’s house at Cielo Drive and murdered Tate (who was then eight and a half months pregnant), Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Steven Parent. The public blamed Tate’s murder on a curse triggered by Rosemary’s Baby due to its Satanic themes, adding to the belief of it being a heavily cursed movie.
The Exorcist (1973)
In 1973, William Friedkin brought The Exorcist, based on William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel of the same name. The Exorcist follows Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), a 12-year-old girl who after playing with an Ouija board, becomes possessed by a demonic entity known as Pazuzu. Desperate to help her daughter, Regan’s mother asks Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) to perform an exorcism on Regan, and he does so with the help of Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). Just like in Rosemary’s Baby’s case, The Exorcist is believed to be cursed due to the themes it addresses, and the strange events that happened on set only added to this belief.
The filming of The Exorcist went through various problems that led to it being delayed and taking over 200 days to wrap, resulting in production going over budget. Adding to those problems was the fire that destroyed the interiors of the MacNeil’s house, with the only part that was left untouched by the flames being Regan’s room, where the exorcism is performed. Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair suffered severe injuries on set, with Burstyn’s coccyx fracturing while filming the scene where Regan throws her mother across the room and Blair fracturing her lower spine in the scene where her bed was violently rocked. Other reported injuries on the set of The Exorcist were a lightning technician who lost a toe and a carpenter who lost a thumb.
In addition to that, there were deaths among the cast and crew of The Exorcist, such as Jack MacGowran, who played Burke Dennings and ed away a week after finishing his scenes; Vasiliki Maliaros, who played Father Karras’ mother, also died before the movie was finished; Linda Blair’s grandfather died during the first week of production; Max von Sydow had to travel back to Sweden after his first day on set as his brother ed away; Jason Miller’s son, Jason Patric, was struck by a motorcycle, leaving him in critical condition (but he survived), and the night watchman and the operator of the refrigeration system for Regan’s room also died, as well as the assistant cameraman’s newborn child. However, most of these “cursed” incidents have already been debunked, as a bird caused the set fire and Burstyn and Blair’s injuries were due to unethical production and directing.
The Omen (1976)
The Omen was directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. It’s the story of American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) and his wife Kathy (Lee Remick), who while living in Rome, gives birth to a baby boy who sadly dies. Robert is persuaded by hospital chaplain Father Spiletto to secretly adopt a baby whose mother had just died in childbirth, so Robert takes the child and doesn’t tell Kathy that he isn’t their own. The Thorns name their child Damien, and five years later, a series of mysterious events and violent deaths begin to happen around the family, and they eventually learn that Damien is the prophesied Antichrist.
Just like the above movies, the themes addressed in The Omen are believed to have triggered a curse that manifested in different ways throughout production. According to producer Harvey Bernhard (via Los Angeles Times), advertising executive Bob Munger, who pitched the concept of the movie, warned him about making a movie about the devil, with Munger related recalling telling Bernhard that “If the devil's greatest single weapon is to be invisible and you're going to do something which is going to take away his invisibility to millions of people, he's not going to want that to happen”. Two months before filming began, Peck’s son killed himself, and when Peck flew to London to start filming, his plane was struck by lightning, and a few weeks later, executive producer Marc Neufeld was flying from Los Angeles when his plane was also struck by lightning.
In addition to that, an animal trainer brought for the zoo scene was killed by a tiger the day after filming those scenes, and a small plane the production team had hired for aerial filming was switched over to another client at the last minute, and it reportedly crashed on takeoff, leaving no survivors. The Omen’s “curse” continued after the movie’s release, as special effects designer John Richardson got in a car accident in the Netherlands, and while he survived, his enger and assistant Liz Moore had a tragic fate, reminiscent of a particularly graphic scene from the movie, and one of the movie’s stuntmen, Alf t, ended up in the hospital after a stunt gone wrong in his next movie, claiming that he had been pushed by something. It’s worth noting that the 2006 remake of The Omen had no strange incidents.
Poltergeist (1982)
Poltergeist was directed by Tobe Hopper and written by Steven Spielberg, Michael Gratis, and Mark Victor. It’s the story of the Freeling family, whose home is invaded by vengeful ghosts that take their youngest daughter, Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke), while strange and horrifying things start happening in the house, such as violent earthquakes, furniture moving on its own, and a tree that tries to devour their son, Robbie (Oliver Robins). The Poltergeist “curse” is one of the best-known ones in film history, and it’s due to the many tragedies that followed the cast and crew, which are often attributed to the decision of using real skeletons for the scene where Diane (JoBeth Williams) falls into the flooded swimming pool excavation, with skeletons and coffins floating around her.
A couple of months after the release of Poltergeist, Dominique Dunne, who played the family’s older daughter, Dana, was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend, and O'Rourke, who reprised her role as Carol Anne in the sequels Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III, died of cardiac arrest and septic shock in 1988 at the age of 12.
The Conjuring
The Conjuring was directed by James Wan, and it spawned a film franchise that has been quite successful, but it’s also believed to be cursed. It follows Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga), paranormal investigators who are called by the Perron family after experiencing increasingly disturbing events in their new home in Rhode Island, in 1971. Vera Farmiga revealed that during filming, she repeatedly woke up between three and four in the morning, and this time frame is commonly known as “witching hour” or “the devil’s hour”, believed to be a time of heightened supernatural activity. Farmiga also told CinemaBlend that she found claw marks on her computer after researching Warren and having a “creative conversation” with Wan, and after filming was over and she returned home, she found three claw mark bruises across her thigh.
