Stay Away From the Light: The Poltergeist Curse

For some, the mention of scary movies recalls the haunting image of a little blond girl with arms outstretched, hands pressed up against the flickering static of a console television’s screen. The Poltergeist movie trilogy may be campy by today’s standards, but the added mystery surrounding the death of several cast members of the Poltergeist trilogy has helped the series remain popular specimens of the horror genre. While stories surrounding the death of cast members have been embellished and mythologized into a perpetuating mystique which surely has contributed to the enduring popularity of the series, the fact that the Poltergeist movies continue to be shrouded in legend earns them yet another mention.

The Making of Poltergeist

This video documentary of the making of Poltergeist is credited to Frank Marshall, who along with Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, was a producer for the first Poltergeist movie. As Marshall was a producer for the film, this documentary is a first-hand source for many often-shared facts about this classic horror movie.

Untimely Death of Cast Members

Heather O’Rourke, who played Carol Anne Freeling in the trilogy, was one of four cast members who died during or soon after the filming of a Poltergeist movie. Six years old when the first Poltergeist movie was released, O’Rourke was chronically ill and misdiagnosed on more than one occasion: first as having Crohn’s Disease in 1987 and then influenza shortly before her death. What was most likely actually a congenital abnormality of the intestines caused her to suffer cardiac arrest and collapse, and ultimately to die during surgery to relieve a bowel obstruction.

Dominique Dunne, who played Carol Anne’s older sister Dana, had died six years earlier in an equally unexpected, if not slightly more horrifying way. Having broken off a romantic relationship with John Thomas Sweeney, an assistant chef at nightclub in LA, she was shortly afterwards strangled by her estranged lover and left for dead in her driveway. Removed from life support five days later, her death on November 4, 1982, ended the promising film career of this daughter of novelist Dominick Dunne.

Other Poltergeist Deaths and Legends

Actor Julian Beck played Kane, the evil preacher, for Poltergeist II. Diagnosed with stomach cancer, he was aware of his impending death during filming and died soon after production of the second film ended. Actor Will Sampson, who portrayed the Native American shaman Taylor, also died a tragic but expected death while undergoing a heart-lung transplant with dismal survival rates. Sampson is also rumored to have performed an authentic exorcism during shooting of the film. This legend, along with another rumor that producer Steven Spielberg insisted on saving money by using real human skeletons on the set on Poltergeist II (which precipitated the exorcism by Sampson), combined with the previously mentioned tragic circumstances to bestow upon this campy horror trilogy an afterlife all its own.

Bottom Line

The Poltergeist horror movie trilogy has many legends associated with its production, including a curse related to the deaths of four of its actors. While these deaths and the other rumors add a certain amount of intrigue, it is hard to argue that the deaths in particular were anything more than tragic coincidence. The mystique surrounding these movies and their production has undoubtedly helped them to remain quite popular, even over 30 years after the release of the first film. What is your favorite Poltergeist moment? Feel free to leave a comment with your response.