99 Ways to die (Actually Movie Curses *chuckle*)
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vegas lucky
Topic: Demonology
CURSE OF `THE EXORCIST': THE E! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY
PREMIERES ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 15 AT 8:00 PM ET/PT
EPISODE ALMOST DOESN'T MAKE IT TO AIR ON TIME!
Two-Hour Episode Includes Exclusive Interviews with Linda Blair and
Members of the Original Film Crew, Plus Director Renny Harlin
Production of "The E! True Hollywood Story" Also Plagued
by Unexplained, Strange Occurrences
Los Angeles, August 4, 2004 - Often dubbed "The Scariest Movie of All
Time," The Exorcist not only thrilled audiences, the film also
possessed its productions as well. Now just a week before the release
of Exorcist: The Beginning, this two-hour installment of The E! True
Hollywood Story explores the curse of The Exorcist. From the freak
motorcycle accident that critically injured the son of lead actor
Jason Miller to the mysterious blaze that allegedly destroyed one of
the sets, to the untimely death of one of the co-stars, the original
cast and crew of The Exorcist were playing with fire. In fact, the
crew was so spooked and so sure there were supernatural factors at
work, that priests were sent to bless the set. However, this didn't
stop frightening events from happening on and off the set. Viewers
discover how the curse has carried on over three decades to haunt the
casts of Exorcist II, III and even the new prequel Exorcist: The
Beginning. The sudden death of director John Frankenheimer, and near
death of director Renny Harlin, both point to a curse that has
followed the film to present day. Tune into "Curse of the Exorcist:
The E! True Hollywood Story" premiering Sunday, August 15 at 8:00 PM
ET/PT.
In another strange twist, the production crew in charge of putting
together this specific episode of E! True Hollywood Story was also
plagued with eerie and unexplainable events. From an IV bag filled
with fake blood (from the set of ER) suddenly "bleeding" over the
associate producer's desk, destroying forms recently signed by
Exorcist actor Eileen Dietz (Linda Blair's double in the first film)
to the segment producer being rushed to the emergency room when her
throat started to swell (the hospital couldn't identify a cause-the
producer was released) to repeated production problems with Linda
Blair's interview in the edit bay, and system woes causing the loss
of nearly 40% of the episode, the show's staff struggled to get the
episode on the air in time. Coincidence?
E! uncovers the spooky, eerie and downright frightening occurrences
The Exorcist's cast experienced from the summer of 1973 until now.
In the episode:
The Exorcist crewmember Chris Newman - "It was the kind of movie
where when the movie was finished, all you wanted to do was leave the
movie business and never have anything to do with (it) again."
Father W. O'Malley (who appeared in the original film) on writer
William Blatty, who penned the book The Exorcist - "The reason it was
a stunner was that Bill Blatty did his homework. Blatty researched
it, he based it on a real situation, a historical factual situation
about a boy who was possessed."
The Exorcist make-up artist Dick Smith on transforming Blair's
character - "I come in for a conference and the first thing he
(director William Friedkin) does is show me a picture of Linda Blair,
and here's this cute, little twelve-year old girl with a chubby face
and everything. And I already learned what the basic story is, and I
think, "Oh my god, what am I gonna do with this? How can I change
this into a believable little monster.'"
Exorcist star Linda Blair on her character's extreme profanity, which
upset her co-star Max Von Sydow - "Number one, remember, I don't want
to say these things anyway, so I'm assuming he's (Von Sydow) prepared
[laugh]. But he wasn't prepared...he yelled `Cut' and he was appalled
and I don't blame him And then he and Friedkin went and talked, yeah,
you forget about the person receiving that language, you know, that
wasn't easy for anybody. I didn't want to say it and people didn't
want to hear it."
Producer James Robinson (CEO of Morgan Creek Productions) on The
Exorcist: The Beginning set troubles - "Did I think we had a lot of
bad luck? I've never had so much damn bad luck."
Robinson - "I'm not the most religious person but I do believe that,
I believe there's good and I believe there's evil. And this is going
sound corny but I really believe this, nobody can take your soul. You
have to voluntarily give it up. Nobody can make you become evil,
you've gotta, you've gotta embrace it so, I think this movie kind of
... not kind of, this movie does send that message. You see it very,
very clearly."
The Exorcist director William Friedkin (archival) on Jane Fonda
turning down the role of the mother (which went to Ellen Burstyn) in
the original film - "And then it was offered to Jane Fonda who read
it and whose response was, remember now this was the early seventies
(laughs), Jane Fonda said, `Why would I want to appear in a piece of
capitalist horse shit?'"
Blair on actress Mercedes McCambridge preparing for the "raspy" voice
of Blair when she's possessed - "I know how hard she (Mercedes)
worked because Billy Friedkin told me that he kept her up 24 hours,
that he had her drinking and swallowing egg yolks and vomiting and
smoking cigarettes and so she went through a lot. She did her own
performance in order to give that performance. And it's incredible."
Writer John Kenneth Muir on audience reaction to The Exorcist -
"People were running up and down the aisles. There were people, they
reported, they fainted or that people were vomiting or that people
were praying. It was just this intense visceral reaction to the film."
Exorcist: The Beginning director Renny Harlin on dealing with "the
curse" - "And when I went home the next day I wake up to my dog
screaming in pain and I see my dog hemorrhaging on to the floor,
spraying blood." (the dog survived)
The Exorcist director of photography Owen Roizman - "I've often
thought of analogies of working on that film and I think the best one
I can come up with is, it's like taking a trip to hell and living to
tell about it."
There have actually been many films that have a supposed "curse" on
them that has affected the production, and even the cast and crew.
The most famous are probably the Poltergeist series, "The
Exorcist", "The Crow", and "The Omen." It is rumored that cast
member have died because of the curses. Supposedly, there is
something out there that did not want these movies to be made.
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In 1982, Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper released the horror
hit "Poltergeist", which spawned two sequels and even a television
series. The trilogy comprises of "Poltergeist" (1982), "Poltergeist
II: The Other Side" (1986), and "Poltergeist III" (1988). Each film
recounts an episode in the lives of the Freelings, a family who
unfortunately moves into a house filled with evil spirits.
But beneath the ghosts on screen, there is something even more
chilling. An unusually large amount of deaths have accured among the
former cast of the movies. These deaths have risen the rumor that
the productions were cursed due to the stories of the films. It was
as if the monsters of the movie world were claiming victims of our
world where monsters don't exist. Although coincidence would be a
much more common response, four of the cast members have died from
this trilogy, two were expected, the other two were not.
22-year-old Dominique Dunne (Donna Freeling) died on November 4th,
1982 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. It was four days
after her boyfriend choked her into a coma from which she never
awoke. A few weeks earlier, Dunne had ended her abusive relationship
with Los Angeles chef John Sweeney. On the night of October 30th,
1982, he dropped by their former shared residence to plead with her
to take him back. The visit did not go as he had hoped, and with what
he thought was going to be a quiet conversation, ended with him
strangling her for what was later determined to be 4 to 6 minutes,
then leaving her for dead in her driveway.
Sweeney was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, sentenced in
November, 1983, and released in 1986 after serving only 3 years, 8
months of a 6 and a half year sentence. His sentence is controversial
to this day.
"Poltergeist", the film in which Dunne appeared, had been released
earlier that year, in June.
12-year-old Heather O'Rourke (Carol Anne Freeling) died of septic
shock in on February 1, 1988 at the Children's Hospital in San Diego.
What had been thought to be a bout of ordinary flu launched her into
cardiac arrest during the drive to the hospital as bacterial toxins
set loose by a bowel obstruction made their way into her bloodstream.
Her heart was successfully restarted and she was flown by helicopter
to the larger Children's Hospital where she underwent an operation to
remove the obstruction. The toxins destroying her system proved too
much, and she died on the operating table.
The circumstances surrounding her passing rendered her death even
more of a shock than it otherwise would have been. She went
overnight from a little girl who had the flu to a dead little girl
who expired during an operation to save her life. Of course such an
unexpected death would fuel rumors, especially when considered in
conjunction with Dominique Dunne's murder only six years earlier.
O'Rourke appeared in all three Poltergeist movies. Poltergeist III
had been completed at the time of her death although it had yet to be
released, which lead to rumors that she had expired during shooting
and a double had to be used to complete the picture. Gary Sherman
eventually decided to use a double and shoot the alternate ended. In
an interview he said that the worst time of his life was carrying
that little girl out of the church in a casket.
The other two deaths were of seasoned actors well into their careers,
both suffering from serious illnesses that would in time take their
lives. Because their deaths were not unexpected, only rarely is
either one mentioned in connection with the Poltergeist "curse."
60-year-old Julian Beck died of stomach cancer on September 14, 1985
at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Beck died during the end of
filming and the release. Unlike O'Rourke, his death was not
unexpected; he had been battling the cancer for 18 months.
53-year-old Will Sampson died on 3 June 1987 in a Houston hospital
after receiving a heart-lung transplant 6 weeks earlier. The cause of
his death was ascribed to severe pre-operative malnutrition and post-
operative kidney failure and fungal infection. It has been said he
knew his chances for survival were small due to his weakened
condition prior to surgery. Samson was probably best known for his
potrayal of the indian in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
There have also been rumours of strange things happening on set, but
there is almost no info on these happenings. The E! True Hollywood
story of the Poltergeist Curse is very interesting, and I would
recommend you trying to find it.
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Considered the scariest movie of all time, "The Exorcist" won two
Acadamy Awards after it's release in 1973. One for Best Adapted
Screenplay, and the second for Best Sound. Most people would think
that the book (written by William Peter Blatty) is a made up story.
Well it's not. A similar incident occured in New England with a 13-
year-old boy; but this is not what we're discussing today. Today, we
are talking about "The Exorcist" curse.
Due to the accidental deaths and fires on set, and even supposed
mental breakdowns from the young Linda Blair (Regan), some would say
that an actual demon was trying to stop the filming of this movie.
Some rumours state that four to nine people died during the fifteen
month fiming period. Jack McGowen had just wrapped up filming his
small part for the film when he died of a heart attack. Another
rumor states that the man who Regan said would die up there was
accidently killed while filming. There were other deaths too. One
was that of Max Von Sydow's brother and Linda Blair's grandfather. A
night watchman for the set, a crewmember that refrigerated the
bedroom for the exorcism scenes, and a cameraman's newborn baby were
also part of the unexplained deaths. There was also strange behavior
and panic by the cast and crew reported by while filming. Future
interviews from the makers of the film have them saying that the
filming was a very creepy experience. Another big rumor was that the
set caught on fire on night when no one was there. It still remains
a mystery to what caused the fire.
There were also strange happenins at screenings for the film. They
were filled with people vomiting, fainting, and breaking into
hysterics. "The Exorcist" has proven to have some of the strangest
audience reactions of all time. For some reason, the death tolls rose
in the areas surrounding Georgetown after the movie was released.
Heart attacks were recorded all over the world during premiers.
There was even a lightning strike that destroyed a 400-year-old cross
during the Italian premiere at the Metropolitan Theatre in Rome.
Some of these rumours have been confirmed false, but many still
believe that something was trying to stop the film. Although there
were no incidents on the film's sequels, the original director for
the prequel Exorcist: The Beginning, John Frankenheimer, died before
filming began.
If the film is cursed, has it returned with the death of the original
director for the The Beginning? And will it continue to plague the
cast and crew of the prequel?
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After this movie's release in 1994, "The Crow" became an instant cult
favorite. Based, on a comic book and starring Brandon Lee, the film
is about Eric Draven and his fiancee who are brutally murdered one
night. Then, a year later, the Crow brings his soul back to seek
vengeance and earn his eternal rest.
During rumors that "The Crow" set was cursed, many accidents
happened. A carpenter was severely burned after the crane in which he
was riding struck high-power lines; then a disgruntled sculptor who
had worked on the set drove his car through the studio's plaster
shop, doing extensive damage. Later, another crew member slipped and
drove a screwdriver through his hand and a lorry full of equipment
mysteriously went on fire.
And there's also Brandon Lee's (Eric Draven) mysterious death during
filming. They were filming a flashback scene to show how he really
died. He was going to be shot with .44 Magnum which was not a prop,
but a fully functioning firearm. The gun was loaded with blanks,
they are as loud as real bullets, but whe fired only the harmless
cardboard wadding which they are packed is ejected from the gun. But
when the gun was fired, Lee fell to the floor with a wound the size
of a quarter in his left abdomin. Apparently, the metal tip of one
of the dummy bullets had somehow pulled loose from its brass casing
and killed Brandon Lee.
Even the T.V series, "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven" could not escape
the curse of tragedy. Veteran stunt co-ordinator Marc Akerstream was
killed while working on an explosive stunt involving a rowboat near a
shoreline. Everything was working fine but when the stunt exploded a
piece of debris shot up into the air, cleared a tree and struck
Akerstream on the head. He was flown to a nearby hospital, where he
later died.
Perhaps the Crow was working during the production of the film and
the series, and maybe it will continue to work in the following years.
---------------------------------------------------
In 1976, "The Omen" was released which was a hit. It follows the
story of an American ambassador who learns that his son is actualy
the antichrist.
On the first day of filming, a crew member was in a car accident
which destroyed a company car. Harvey Bernhard was driving Richard
Donner to his apartment, as Donner was getting out of the car,
another came round the corner, tore the door off of the car and
trapped Donner between the two. The crew shot a scene at Windsor
Safari Park including lions, that was eventually cut. The day they
finished shooting with lions, a guard was killed by two of them. A
flight from LA to London with Gregory Peck on it was hit by
lightning, and an engine was knocked out. Then eight hours later, a
plane with the screenwriter, David Seltzer, on board was also hit by
lightning. The crew had hired a private jet, which they would use to
some ground scenes. However, the charter company had become booked,
and so the Omen's crew flight was canceled. It took off with business
men on board. The jet crashed onto a road, crashing into another car,
which crashed into another car, killing all which included the wife
and child of the jet's pilot who were in the second car.
Then, after "The Omen", the special effects director John Richardson,
went to Holland to make "A Bridge Too Far", with his girlfriend. He
was involved in a car crash, and his girlfriend was beheaded, just
like David Warner was
In "Damien Omen II", the curse continued. The best friend of William
Holden was stabbed while they were on holiday. Also, the entire cast
came down with a rare form of influenza, even though no outbreaks had
been reported.
Were these deaths and accidents coincidences? Or were they an omen
for the filming to stop?
---------------------------------------------------
Whether they were deaths or accidents, these supposedly cursed movies
may make you think a little. Despite the fact that some of the
rumors have been proven false, there are still questions concerning
the ones that haven't. So if you're an upcoming filmmaker, think
twice before doing horror.
-Decayer
Posted by Tracy
at 6:14 PM EDT
surprised