Poltergeist Poster
In 1982, three of the biggest movie names joined together to create one of the most well-known ghost movies, Poltergeist. Directed by Tobe Texas Chainsaw Massacre Hooper, produced by Steven Spielberg and with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith, it’s easy to see how this film could be such a huge hit. Once again, ghosts proved to possess the power to pull in millions of fans!
The film has since become a key film of the genre, appearing in numerous top 100 horror film lists and originally nominated for an Academy Award. But what makes it so scary? Poltergeist offers much more than a typical poltergeist horror. Here, our childhood fears are toyed with and pushed to the extremes – clowns, dolls, the dark and losing your parents.
But perhaps the most terrifying part of this ghost film, is the story behind it; the Curse of Poltergeist! The movie’s intense climax includes a dozen human skeleton remains but, did you know that these remains were actually real human skeletons? During the 80s, importing real human remains from India was much cheaper than creating prostetic bones from scratch. Since the film’s release, many people have blamed this for the eerie amount of untimely deaths of the film’s stars. The list of deaths include Dominique Dunne (the oldest daughter) after being murdered by her boyfriend, Julian Beck (Henry Kane in Poltergeist II) who died of cancer, Will Sampson (Poltergeist II‘s medicine man) and perhaps most shocking of all, the young and very talented Heather O’Rourke who stared as the youngest daughter. The cast and crew were horrified to find out the story behind the bones, resulting in a cast member exorcising the set late at night. Is the film really cursed or is it all just a coincidence? That’s for you to decide.
For a more recent but equally terrifying haunted house, ghostly thriller don’t miss The Pact!
Break-out horror movie smash of the year that has been electrifying hardened genre fans and non-horror fans alike, “The Pact” combines the supernatural terrors of “Paranormal Activity” with the tense atmospherics of a serial killer thriller to create a unique, modern-day take on the classic ghost story.
And it’s out on October 1st! Pre-order yours here.
Previous Parts:
- Part I: Things That Stay Silent In The Night!
- Part II: The Terrifying Twenties
- Part III: The Uninvited
- Part IV: House On Haunted Hill
- Part V: Ghoulish Gimmicks & Shocking Spookshows
- Part VI: The Innocents – Classic British Chills
- Part VII: The Haunting
- Part VIII: Low Budget Terrors – Let’s Scare Jessica To Death!
- Part IX: The Amityville Horror
- Part X: There’s Something In The Fog!
- Part XI: The Shining
- Part XII: The Changeling
- Part XIII: Ghost Story
- PART XIV: The Entity
- Part XV: Poltergeist
- Part XVI: Who You Gonna Call?
