Thursday, April 15, 2021

AMC/Shudder Presents Cursed Films : Poltergeist (2020)



Made for Shudder, airing April 9th in the US.
Season 1. Episode 3.
The story:  We hear a lot of tragic things that happen in sets of horror movies.
Life is full of tragedies and accidents.
People like to make sense out of horror movie mishaps by rationalizing them, fascinated by the unknown.
Curses seem to be a solution.
The pool scene in 'Poltergeist' used real skeletons.
First of all, in the first of the three films,  brother/son Robbie, played by Oliver Robins, is attacked by a toy clown in his bedroom.
It is said that the mechanics were faulty with maneuvering the clown, actually strangeling the actor.
People rationalizing the deaths of the actresses involved in these movies want to believe the real skeletons are to blame, but in reality real skeletons have been starring in movies for years with no side effects.
Dominique Dunne was a young actress, who played the oldest sister/daughter Dana in the first film.
She was the daughter of murder writer Dominick Dunne and the younger sister of actor Griffin Dunne.
Dominique was involved in an abusive relationship which she broke off.
After the movie was released, Dominique's abusive ex showed up at her house and strangled her, leaving her in a coma.
After being hospitalized, and on life support for three days, she was taken off life support.
Her killer received a mere two years for her killing.
Youngest actress Heather O'Rouke had been sick before the making of the third installment of the franchise.
At the time, she was being treated for Crohn's Disease. But she didn't have Crohn's Disease.
Heather had a birth defect and as a result of not being correctly treated, her intestines burst.
She was 12-years-old when she died.
While the third movie was not quite finished, the makers of the film didn't have the heart to finish and wanted to just forget all about it.
But they were forced to finish the film, using a body double to stand in for Heather, which was not only unsettling for the makers but very sad as well.
Stars Ryan Turek, April Wolfe, Sean Clark, Matt Gourley, Richard Holloman, Robert Hofler, Mitch Horowitz, Matthew Hutson, Phil Nobile Jr, Craig Reardon, Gary Sherman, Michael Shermer 
Directed by (& story written) Jay Cheel
Not Rated
DOCUMENTARY/HISTORY/HORROR/CRIME/SERIES/BIOGRAPHY

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