Monday, June 14, 2010

Is there anything to the 'Poltergeist Curse'?

I scratched another Saturn Award winner for Best Horror Film off my list of movies to watch this morning, and this time around, it was 1982 winner, “Poltergeist.”
“Poltergeist,” which literally means “rumbling spirit” in German, was released in June 1982, and even though it’s considered horror films, no murders or fatalities are depicted in the movie. In fact, it’s rated PG. (Keep in mind that it received this rating in the days prior to PG-13.)
Written and produced by Steven Spielberg, “Poltergeist” is about a family of five who unknowingly live in a house that’s been built over an old cemetery. Things go from bad to worse when things begin to go bump in the night (and day) and when the youngest member of the family disappears after being sucked into her bedroom closet.
In addition to having received the 1982 Saturn Award, “Poltergeist” was also nominated for three Academy awards and was ranked No. 80 on Bravo’s 100 Scariest Movie Moments. The New York Times also selected it as one of the Best 1000 Movies Ever Made, and the American Film Institute ranked it No. 84 on its 100 Years… 100 Thrills list.
Sort of like “The Exorcist,” there is a so-called “Poltergeist Curse” because several people associated with the movie have met with untimely ends. For example, Heather O’Rourke, who played Carol-Anne, and Dominique Dunne, who played the family’s teenage daughter, both suffered early deaths. Dunne was strangled to death by her boyfriend in 1982, the same year the movie was released. In 1988, O’Rourke died of intestinal stenosis. Both are buried in Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
Interestingly, Drew Barrymore was first considered for the role of Carol-Anne. During her audition though, Spielberg selected her to play a part in 1982’s “E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial,” which he was working on at the same time as “Poltergeist.”
From here, it’s on to the 1983 Saturn Award winner, “The Dead Zone,” which is based on the novel by one of my favorite writers, Stephen King. I’ve never seen this movie, but the novel was very good, so I’m looking forward to having NetFlix deliver it to the house.

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