Being on a movie set is the dream of millions. Seeing the magic come to life before your eyes and rubbing elbows with celebrities on stage probably seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. But what if bad things started happening when you got there. Not one, or two… but several. Would you be happy if the set turned out to be cursed?
These movies were tainted by disaster, over and over. As it turns out, cursed movies are more common than you’d think.
1. Superman (1978)
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In addition to Christopher Reeves (Superman) getting thrown from a horse and becoming a quadriplegic, Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) suffered from a mental illness after shooting and was found aimless walking around LA in 1994.
2. The Crow (1994)
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Star Brandon Lee died due to a wound from a metal tip lodged into another actor’s prop gun. Crazy enough, his father Bruce Lee was in a film (Game of Death) about an actor killed after a real bullet is loaded into a prop gun.
3. The Exorcist (1977)
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Aside from the set burning down, which production for 6 weeks, a night-watchman and a special effects expert were killed in separate incidents.
4. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
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The producer of the film received hate mail saying he would die from a terrible illness for his involvement in the film. He did. A year after filming, the Manson family murdered Roman Polanki’s wife Sharon Tate while she was pregnant with Polanski’s first child.
5. Atuk (Unreleased)
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No one will ever make this movie… because whoever takes the role of an eskimo coming to the big city DIES. First John Belushi died in 1982 from a drug overdose before filming. Then Sam Kinison died in a car crash. John Candy died 12 years later from a heart attack. Finally, Chris Farley died of a drug overdose shortly thereafter.
6. The Passion Of The Christ (2004)
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Lightning struck star James Caviezul during the filming. Assistant director Jan Michelini was struck TWICE.
7. The Omen (1976)
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This is a long one. Gregory Peck’s son committed suicide before filming. On the way to filming, Gregory Peck’s plane, as well as both the screenwriter’s and the producer’s planes, were all struck by lightning. The IRA bombed their hotel during shooting. Also, a tiger killed an animal handler. The strangest thing that happened during filming is special effects consultant John Richardson’s car accident, which killed his assistant. The road sign near the crash read “Ommen, 66.6km” The date, Friday, the 13th of the August 1976.
8. Poltergeist Trilogy (1982-88)
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This series is known for having several cast members die in a short period. The notables include: (1) Dominque Dunn, killed an ex-boyfriend, (2) Julian Beck from stomach cancer, (3) Will Sampson of liver failure, and (4) Heather O’Rourke of septic shock.
9. Rebel Without A Cause (1955)
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There’s a whole basket of weirdness here. James Dean famously died at age 23 before the film’s release during a car chase. Co-star Natalie Wood drowned years later. Sal Mileno was stabbed to death. A Beverly Hills surgeon who years later used car parts from James Dean’s car chase car died in an automobile accident.
10. Godspell (1973)
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Four of the men who played Jesus’ apostles died under unusual circumstances: (1) cerebral hemorrhaging, (2) AIDS, (3) brain tumor, and (4) under mysterious circumstances.
11. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
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A helicopter carrying three of the actors (two of them children) in a scene crashed, killing everyone on board. One of the three had recently taken out a $5 million dollar life insurance policy because he had a premonition he would die in a helicopter accident.
12. The Conqueror (1956)
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The entire crew almost died from a flash flood, Susan Hayward was almost eaten by a panther, and 91 crew members out of 220 contracted cancer after learning they filmed on an atomic testing spot. 45 cast and crew members later died from cancer, including star John Wayne.
(via eBaum’s World)
After seeing this list, I probably won’t show up in Hollywood anytime soon. Especially on the set of a new blockbuster horror movie.
