Here are 10 spooky – and totally true – things that happened while filming some of the most famous scary movies.
- Death of the “Poltergeist” girls: Both Heather O’Rourke, who played Caroline, and Dominique Dunne, who played older sister Dana, died while working on the “Poltergeist” franchise. O’Rourke died on the operating table when she was 12, while finishing “Poltergeist 3.” Dominique Dunne was murdered by an ex-boyfriend after the first movie premiered. The two are buried in the same California cemetery.
- The exorcism of “Poltergeist”: As you might imagine, even some of the actors were spooked when working on “Poltergeist.” Actor Will Sampson had the set of “Poltergeist II” exorcised because he felt it was “evil.” Sampson died during an operation a year later.
- The curse of “The Crow”: Not only was Brandon Lee killed on the set of “The Crow,” but his dad, Bruce Lee, accidentally predicted it two decades earlier. Lee was filming a scene for the 1994 movie when something went wrong with a prop gun and it ended up shooting a real bullet that hit Lee in the stomach, killing him. About 20 years earlier, papa Bruce had filmed the movie, “Game of Death.” The martial arts icon played an actor who was killed when real bullets were put in a prop gun by gangsters.
- Other “Crow” incidents: Brandon Lee’s death was the most harrowing of incidents on “The Crow,” but it wasn’t the only one. On the very first day of filming, a crew member was burned on 90-percent of his body. Then, a storm destroyed a chunk of the set. Oh, and then a construction worker drove a screwdriver through his hand.
- Victor Morrow predicts his own death: A year before filming “Twilight Zone: The Movie,” Vic Morrow took out a $5-million life insurance policy for himself, claiming he had a premonition something bad was going to happen. Sure enough, while filming a scene a helicopter crashed and decapitated Morrow. Two child actors were also killed in the tragic accident.
- Lightning strikes “The Passion of the Christ”…a lot: “The Passion of the Christ” isn’t exactly considered a horror movie, but Mother Nature certainly appeared to have some opinions about it. During the Sermon on the Mount scene, Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus, was struck by lightning three times. The film’s assistant director was also struck by lightning twice during production.
- The curse of “The Omen”: The special effects director of the original “Omen” was in a car accident a week after the movie premiered in 1976. As if that wasn’t enough, his girlfriend was in the car and was decapitated, just like one of the characters in the movie. As if THAT wasn’t enough, the accident happened in a Dutch town on Friday the 13th near a sign that read “Omen, 66.6 km.” Good times…
- The curse of “The Exorcist”: To absolutely no one’s surprise, “The Exorcist” brought a lot of creepy coincidences with it. First, actor Jack MacGowran died unexpectedly just a few days after he wrapped on the movie. A special effects worker and a security guard died while the movie was in production. Oh, and then the set burned down for no apparent reason. Eventually, director William Friedkin had a priest come and exorcise the set. Even after the movie was released, people didn’t fare much better. Multiple audience members had heart attacks while in the theater.
- Freakish Tragedy Around “Rosemary’s Baby”: During the production of “Rosemary’s Baby,” legendary horror producer William Castle received an anonymous threatening letter that said he would “slowly rot during a long and painful illness.” Soon after, he collapsed and would undergo surgery to combat a problem that would plague him for months. But that’s not all. Krzysztof Komeda, the composer of the film, died rom a hematoma of the brain after writing the score. His death was mysteriously similar to Hutch, a character in the movie.
