'Cursed Films' Episode 3 'The Poltergeist' is a fitting emotional tribute to the franchise's cast, say fans
Shudder's 'Cursed Films' docuseries just released its third episode 'The Poltergeist'. 'Cursed Films', directed by Jay Cheel, explores the history of the assumed cursed films in the five-episode docuseries.
'The Poltergeist' is a supernatural horror film, released in 1982. The movie was received so well by the audience that they made a franchise of the movie. 'The Poltergeist' was directed by Tobe Hooper, 'The Poltergeist 2: The Other Side' was directed by Brian Gibson released in 1986 and 'The Poltergeist 3' was directed by Gary Sherman released in 1988.
In 2015, another movie from the franchise was released, 'Poltergeist' directed by Gil Kenan. The franchise was speculated to be cursed due to the morbid deaths that took place while shooting and after the releases of the films.
Shortly after the release of the first film in 1982, the actress who played the older sister Dominique Dunne was murdered by her ex-boyfriend Jonh Sweeney. Heather O’Rourke, the actress who played Carol Anne in the third film of 'The Poltergeist', unexpectedly died of septic shock.
Julian Beck, who was the man behind the evil spirit Kane died from stomach cancer before the release of the second movie 'The Poltergeist 2: The Other Side'. Another crew member, Will Sampson, who was the man behind the good spirit Taylor, died due to complications following his lung cancer after the release of the second movie.
The audience connected these incidents and called the franchise cursed. In the 30 minute episode of the docuseries, Cheel compiled interviews of director Sherman, special makeup artist Craig Reardon, a horror fan Sean Clark and many more.
This episode was more like a tribute to the actresses and the crew members who passed away. It also clears the speculation of the real skeletons used in the movie, Reardon clarifies that they were fake and all the rumors about them using the real skeletons were fake news.
Clark, the horror fanatic, also talked about his collection of horror memorabilia. The tribute to the cast members left the fans emotional.
A fan took to Twitter saying, "Shudder's Cursed Films: Poltergeist is terrific. A touching tribute to Heather O'Rourke & Dominique Dunne and why it's disrespectful to them to look at their deaths as being part of some bogus 'curse'. Props to the whole team for being respectful rather than sensationalistic."
Another user tweeted, "Just watched the Cursed films series on Poltergeist & seeing both Dominique Dunne & Heather O'Rourke brought me so much sadness. We are all just moments. Some longer than others & it emphasized how important it is to tell those you love how much you love them bc time is short."
"The story Gary Sherman tells about being forced to finish POLTERGEIST III after Heather O'Rourke’s death in CURSED FILMS is going to stay with me forever," said another user on Twitter.
Another fan took to Reddit to express, "This. Very glad to see the production not try to make it about being sUpER sPoOkY and just talking about what happened. Watching the director and effects lead both pretty much say that two people died and that had nothing to do with any sort of actual curse was nice. Confirmation bias is a b***h and far too many people ascribe more to what was a simple series of tragic events. Or. In the case of 'The Omen', certainly odd but coincidental events."
"Just watched the Poltergeist episode of Cursed Films. It's my [favorite] so far and takes a more [skeptical] approach." said another user on Reddit. "The Poltergeist episode of Cursed Films on @Shudder is really good. Gary Sherman’s story about O'Rourke's death had me near tears. Powerful stuff," wrote a fan on Twitter.
Despite the initial disappointment of the first two episodes 'The Exorcist' and 'The Omen', this episode was truly heartwarming.
Sherman's tribute to the actresses was the highlight of the episode. He also confessed that after the death of O'Rourke, he wanted to stop filming but was forced to finish the movie because of the pressure by the studio.