Marketing 101: Sell a remake with tales and intrigue of the original series. That was being done by the makers of the POLTERGEIST redo, but with a fourth place finish at the box office it may have all been done in vain.. regardless of that, the story of terror from the original POLTERGEIST film has always fascinated me—-it has been called the most haunted film of all time.
Or the ‘most cursed.’
That assertion came after the movie left in its wake a 12-year-old star dead of cardiac arrest, another strangled, and another killed with an ax.
There are two parts of the DAILY MAIL story that intrigued me more than the supposed curse. First, Stephen Spielberg was very afraid of clowns. As am I, and many others..
I have always felt there to be something dastardly about clowns and their atrocious death face smiles.. And second: The scene in POLTERGEIST where the family was floating in the muddy pool-to-be with skeletons actually featured real bones from dead bodies..Hair and other traits were added to the remains, but the skeletons were real .. BLOODY DISGUSTING wrote about that in 2012 when they said that Hollywood today, less renegade than the early 80s, would never do such a thing. I agree.. And probably, really, it’s a good thing that bodies will not be desecrated for profit.
By the way, when the original film was made, it was cheaper to get real remains than fake ones.
Think about that concept for a while.
But also remember, in your logical mind, that there were countless others who were not harmed in the making of POLTERGEIST..
Perhaps that is more telling the the few occasions and rarities of people actually succumbing to tragic finales..
And anyway, Stephen Spielberg has been the unstoppable presence on the movie scene. Certainly if a curse would be true, wouldn’t the man who demanded REAL remains for the final scene get the worst treatment?
Reblogged this on THE PIERIAN ELEMENT. and commented:
Regardless of the hokey effects and lack of a good story line, Poltergeist made a huge impact on me growing up. I saw it when I was just a boy and it holds a special place in my memory. I saw this blog and just had to share. Well written… and good stuff. Their baaaack!