Thomas Boldon's List: The Poltergeist death

• The "Poltergeist curse" is a rumor of a supposed curse attached to the Poltergeist trilogy and its crew, derived from the fact that four cast members died in the six years between the releases of the first and third films.^[1][6] The rumor is often fueled by the fact that real cadavers were used as props in various scenes of Poltergeist and Poltergeist II.^[7] The rumor and the surrounding deaths were explored in a 2002 episode of E! True Hollywood Story entitled "Curse of Poltergeist."
• • Dominique Dunne, who played the eldest daughter Dana in the first movie, died on November 4, 1982 at age 22 after being strangled by her abusive former boyfriend John Thomas Sweeney.^[8] He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison, but was paroled after serving three and a half years.^[6]
   
  • Julian Beck, 60-year-old actor who played Henry Kane in Poltergeist II: The Other Side, died on September 14, 1985 of stomach cancer diagnosed before he had accepted the role.^[9]
   
  • Will Sampson, 53 years old, who played Taylor the medicine man in Poltergeist II, died as a result of post-operative kidney failure and pre-operative malnutrition problems on June 3, 1987.^[10]
   
  • Heather O'Rourke, who played Carol Anne in all three Poltergeist movies, died on February 1, 1988 at the age of 12 after what doctors initially described as an acute form of influenza but later changed to septic shock after bacterial toxins invaded her bloodstream.^[11][12] At the time, she had suffered acute bowel obstruction, initially diagnosed as Crohn's disease, which may have been the cause of death

• The Curse:

   

  Everyone who appeared in the poltergeist trilogy is now dead, says an extreme and entirely untrue version of the poltergeist curse. Indeed, Nancy Allen, (Robocop's sidekick), is very much still alive. It's just her career that's dead. What is true is that four of the trilogy's actors all died within 6 years of the first movie, giving rise to talk of The Poltergeist Curse.
• Supposed deaths include child actor Heather O'Rourke, who appeared in all three films and died just before the third film was released. Suffering what was thought to be the flu, she was taken to hospital and later died on the operating table from complications. Then, Julian Beck, (who played the terrifying old man in Part 2), died of cancer..
• ... and Native American actor Will Sampson died during an operation (note that he was wanted at the time for the suffocation of a lobotomized Jack Nicholson and vandalism of state property).
• Then we have Dominique Dunne (who played the oldest child in the first film) who was strangled to death by her boyfriend the same year the film was released. That's where the "curse" starts to get shaky, since that seems less like supernatural misfortune and more like having a shitty, murderous boyfriend.

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• It has been nearly three decades since  the release of the original Poltergeist film and, surely, the segment of the  public who clamor to blood-and-gore flicks of the 21st century would not be  overly interested in voices coming from a static filled TV set…or would they?  Word on the street is that a remake of the classic 1980s supernatural thriller  is not too far off. Horror film fans old enough to remember the original  Poltergeist movie series may or may not rejoice at the thought of a frame for  frame shot for shot remake of the original Steven Spielberg / Tobe Hooper  collaboration but it looks to have been green lighted with a possible release  date of 2012. Don’t remember the original three films? Let me set you up with a  primer to the movies – and the curse. Yes, the curse.
• Dominique Dunne – Cast as Dana, the Freeling’s oldest child, in the  original Poltergeist movie was strangled to death by a jealous boyfriend  in 1982.
• Julian Beck – Cast as Rev. Henry Kane in Poltergeist II: The Other  Side died of stomach cancer in 1985.
   
   Will Sampson – Cast as the American Indian shaman in Poltergeist II:  The Other Side died of post operative kidney failure in 1987.
   
   Heather O’Rourke – Cast as Carol Anne Freeling in all three of the  Poltergeist movies died in 1988 of septic shock after bacterial toxins  entered her bloodstream.
   
   Beatrice Straight – Cast as Dr. Lesh in the original Poltergeist  film died of pneumonia in 2001 at age 87.
   
   Brian Gibson – Director of Poltergeist II: The Other Side died of  bone cancer in 2004 at the age of 59.
   
   Susan Peretz – Cast as “daughter” in Poltergeist II: The Other Side  died of breast cancer in 2004 at age 64.
   
   Geraldine Fitzgerald – Cast as Grandma Jess in Poltergeist II: The  Other Side died of Alzheimer’s related complications in 2005 at age 91.

1 more annotation...

• he Poltergeist curse is a rumor that a supposed curse is/was attached to the Poltergeist motion picture series and its stars.
   
    The idea that the casts of the several movies in the series were in some way cursed is a superstition based on the fact that four of the cast members from the movies died in a relatively short span of the films' release, two of them dying at a young age (12 and 22). It is not clear that these particular films are atypical in the number or nature of the deaths of their actors.

   

  In Poltergeist's case, those associated with the film who died prematurely include:

   

  • Dominique Dunne, 22-year-old actress who played the oldest sister Dana in the first movie, died after being choked by a jealous boyfriend in 1982. The boyfriend was later convicted and sentenced to six years in prison.

• Heather O'Rourke, 12-year-old actress who played Carol Anne in the three Poltergeist movies, died in 1988 after what doctors initially described as an acute form of influenza but later changed to septic shock after bacterial toxins invaded her bloodstream.
   
   • Julian Beck, 60-year-old who played Kane in Poltergeist II: The Other Side, died of stomach cancer, with which he was diagnosed before he had accepted the role.
   
   • Will Sampson, 53 years old, who played Taylor the Medicine Man in Poltergeist II, died of post-operative kidney failure and pre-operative malnutrition problems.

   

  Other rumours surrounding the film have pointed to a potential cause of the curse. The most widely blamed alleges that real human skeletal remains were used as props in the first film, causing the angry spirits of the deceased to wreak havoc. On this theory, also "survivor" actress JoBeth Williams has pointed out in television interviews (most notably the E! True Hollywood Story episode "The Curse of Poltergeist") that she was actually told that the skeletons used in the well-known swimming pool scene in the first Poltergeist film were real.

   

  Other occurrences that have been attributed to the curse include:

   

  • The "Freeling" home in Southern California where the original film was partially shot was damaged by the Northridge earthquake in 1994. 
   
    • JoBeth Williams, who played mother Diane Freeling, claims she returned home from the set each day to find pictures on her wall askew. She would straighten them, only to find them crooked again the next day.
   
    • Actor Will Sampson, a Creek Indian and actual shaman, performed an exorcism on the set of Poltergeist II to rid it of "alien spirits." A year after Poltergeist II was released, he died.
   
    • During a scene when Robbie Freeling (Oliver Robins) was choked by a clown in his room, something went wrong with the prop and Robins was actually being choked.
   
    • During a photography session for Poltergeist III, it was discovered that one shot of another "survivor" co-star Zelda Rubenstein had shining light obstructing the view of her face. Rubenstein claims the photo was taken at the moment her real-life mother died.
   
    • During the fight Dominique Dunne had with her boyfriend that ended up with her losing her life, Dominique's friend who was at the house turned up the Poltergeist soundtrack to drown out the noise of the two yelling outside.
   
    • During the making of Poltergeist III, a movie set of a parking garage was completely engulfed by fire during shooting of a fire scene, from which only one crew member escaped without a scratch.
   

   

  Looking at the information above, the only link between the deaths is that they are all unfortunate. There have been many unfounded rumours circulating that the deaths occurred during shooting (they were all completed) and that the entire cast was dead. If this ever had happened, then yes it would suggest a curse.