“Some kind of evil!” – these are the thoughts that come to mind when cult horror movie is mentioned. Nowadays, audiences have become more sophisticated: They can no longer be surprised by complex stunts and special effects. But the history of the creation of some films still makes many people shudder. It’s like they’re truly cursed. Most filmmakers are known to be superstitious people. And not by chance. We are talking about mystical events on the set that will freeze the blood of even the most cold-blooded horror enthusiasts.
“Viy”, dir. Alexander Ptushko (1967)
Let’s start with the fact that the author of the work, Nikolai Gogol, is a mystical figure in his own right. Even his unusual death is shrouded in strange rumors: the writer was allegedly buried alive, not knowing that he had fallen into a lethargic sleep. The film adaptation of the story “Viy” was accompanied by a series of fatal events. It is worth saying that even during the auditions, many actresses felt strangely bad and fell ill when they got into the role of Pannochka. As a result, Zhanna Bolotova, Svetlana Korkoshko, Yola Sanko and Ada Rogovtseva, considering the role cursed, flatly refused to act.
And the young actress Alexandra Zavyalova decided that such a chance should not be neglected and continued the shooting, despite her poor health. She had to lie in a coffin for the role. Perhaps the spirits did not forgive him for this blasphemy and sent trouble to him. After the filming, the actress’s life went downhill: they almost stopped filming her, her husband filed for divorce due to failure, she even ended up in a psychiatric hospital, and she died from a stab wound inflicted on her by her own son while drunk.
Meanwhile, although many scenes were shot, a series of problems eventually forced Zavyalova to abandon filming. Beautiful athlete Natalya Varley was chosen for the role – the version with her participation was included in the final cut. Unlike his predecessors, Varley did not get sick. She was also in excellent physical condition, to the director’s delight, and was not afraid of coffins. The film legend nearly paid with his life for his fearlessness. While filming the flight inside the coffin, the actress became dizzy, and the fuse failed so inconveniently that Varley fell from a height of 15 meters! Tragedy was avoided only because Leonid Kuravlev managed to catch him. By the way, the personal life of the cinema legend, despite his crazy popularity, did not help either.
Health problems plagued the entire film crew, so Viy still has a bad reputation. Two years after the premiere, cameraman Fyodor Provorov died, who, like director Alexander Ptushko, did not live a month before his birthday. The role of Centurion in the film was the last for actor Alexei Glazyrin. Misfortune also affected Nikolai Kutuzov, who played the witch – due to superstition, women refused to play this role. The actor never abused alcohol, but during the process of working on the film, it was as if a demon possessed him – he repeatedly went on drinking binges and disrupted filming. Meanwhile, the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where the shooting took place, burned down in February 2006. How can you not believe in mysticism!
“Rosemary’s Baby”, dir. Roman Polanski (1968)
Roman Polanski also paid the price for his decision to make a film about the birth of the Antichrist. A year after the film’s premiere, his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was brutally murdered by members of the cult known as the Charles Manson Family. Meanwhile, audiences tried to boycott the release of Rosemary’s Baby due to the evil plot. This may be why the film’s producer, William Castle, suffered a premature heart attack. Shortly before the film’s release, composer Krzysztof Komeda fell off a cliff, fell into a coma and died. Another strange coincidence is related to the shooting location; The shooting took place not far from the Dakota building where The Beatles’ frontman John Lennon was shot.
“The Amityville Horror”, dir. Andrew Douglas (2005)
The film is a remake of both Stuart Rosenberg’s film and Jay Anson’s novel of the same name. The story is based on real tragic events that occurred in Amityville on November 13, 1974. Ronald DeFeo Jr. then killed his entire family, including his father, mother, and four brothers and sisters. By his own admission, he was told to do so by some voice.
Filming took place in a historic 1800s house in Salem. Strangely enough, all team members working on the creation of the picture woke up at the same time – 3:15 in the morning. That’s when the killer committed a bloody crime. But a much more ominous sign was the body of a fisherman caught near the pavilions built on the shore.
“Omen”, dir. Richard Donner (1976)
A movie about Satan’s child cannot do without mysteries and fatal accidents. On the first day of shooting, director Richard Donner was in a car accident but miraculously survived. A few days after the manager checked into one of the London hotels, a terrorist attack occurred there. Coincidence?
It seemed that a terrible curse hung over all participants in the shooting. Gregory Peck, who played the creepy boy’s stepfather, would also die tragically when his plane was struck by lightning during an air trip. Another time, his life was in the balance when, due to his busy schedule, the actor had to cancel his flight to Israel. The plane with passengers on board crashed some time after takeoff.
“Poltergeist”, dir. Tobe Hooper (1982)
Tobe Hooper felt that filming a story about ghosts was not enough, so he used real human bones on set to provide authenticity. In his opinion, so-called real ruins were cheaper than making realistic props. Apparently the spirits did not forgive him for this blasphemy and decided to take revenge.
In the story, the Freeling family is tormented by the evil spirits of the dead because their home is in an ancient Indian burial ground. However, the players soon admitted that they were actually haunted by angry ghosts.
The first victim was actress Dominique Dunne, who was murdered by spurned admirer John Sweeney in October 1982. Let us also remind you that the movie has not been released yet. Dominique was succeeded by 12-year-old Heather Michelle O’Rourke: in January 1988, the girl was misdiagnosed – at first it was believed that she had a serious illness with influenza, but it later turned out that she had intestinal stenosis, which caused myocardial infarction. Both actors are buried in the same cemetery.
The other deaths do not appear to be random either. Lou Perry died at the hands of a serial killer, Julian Beck died of stomach cancer, Will Sampson died a month and a half after a heart transplant.
The creation of the Poltergeist sequels is also shrouded in mysticism. In 1988, during the filming of the third episode of the series, a pavilion housing the equipment caught fire, causing several technical employees to be hospitalized with burns of varying degrees of severity. Meanwhile, actress Zelda Rubinstein admitted that she lost her balance as if someone invisible had pushed her. Then he was given the news of his mother’s death. But what shocked the girl the most was that the moment was recorded by a camera and a slight silhouette was clearly visible in the film. Zelda is certain that her mother is depicted in the piece.
“The Raven”, dir. Alex Proyas (1994)
Even before the shooting was completed, the lead actor, Brandon Lee, son of the legendary Bruce Lee, passed away. By a strange coincidence, he died on the set, like his father. Some fans suspected that the yakuza was settling scores with the acting dynasty, while others believed that it was related to the mystical plan of the “Crow”.
The film begins with a gang of criminals breaking into the home of a couple named Eric and Shelley on Halloween, the eve of their wedding: The bride is raped, the groom is beaten, and then both are brutally murdered. Exactly one year later, the man’s soul rises from the dead and begins searching for the murderers to take revenge.
28-year-old Brandon Lee in a way repeated the fateful fate of his hero: he died on the eve of his engagement to his girlfriend Eliza Hutton. During the shooting, he was injured in the stomach: The gun’s plug hit his spine. The actor could not be saved because he lost too much blood. According to doctors, if he had survived, he would have been paralyzed forever.
“Devil”, dir. William Friedkin (1973)
The history of this horror movie was also marked by a series of deaths. In the story, the famous actress is worried about her daughter’s strange behavior: Psychiatrists suspect mental illness, while the priest is sure that the girl is possessed by the devil. Even before the film was released, Jack McGowran, one of the actors in the episode, died unexpectedly of a heart attack. But the real tragedy befell Mercedes McCambridge, who voiced Pazuzu, the demon in the body of the main character. In 1987, his son killed his wife and child and committed suicide.
Emily Rose’s Six Demons, dir. Scott Derrickson (2005)
The plot of the film is not only based on real events, but also real evil happens on the set.
“I once woke up in the middle of the night because the radio in my room was on. The song Alive was playing loud and it was really scary,” co-star Jennifer Carpenter admitted in an interview.
His co-star Laura Lynn encountered similar anomalies. However, the television, not the radio, was on in his room. It is not known whether all this really happened or whether it was just someone’s joke.
“Wizard”, dir. James Wan (2013)
The horror film about the demon-possessed killer doll Annabelle leaves a sinister impression, but the shooting itself raised many questions. In the story, paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren had to deal with the situation at the Perron family home.
Lead actors Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga immediately encountered something inexplicable. For example, after the actor was approved for the role, three strange scratches appeared on his computer, and he woke up a few days later to discover the exact same marks on his thigh. Wilson admitted that he could clearly hear children laughing at night, even though there was no one to laugh with. Actress Joey King, who plays one of Perron’s daughters, also complained about strange bruises appearing on her body for no reason. The director of the film, James Wan, said that when the windows were closed in his house, the curtains fluttered and the dog suddenly started growling in an empty corner of the room.
Meanwhile, something strange also happened during the filming of the spin-off Annabelle. For example, in one of the episodes, a lighting device fell on a janitor and miraculously it did not kill him. The script originally called for the janitor’s death, so James Wan decided to cancel the scene. Additionally, many crew members complained of scratches on their bodies that were suspiciously reminiscent of those described by the actors in the movie “The Conjuring.”
“Lords of Salem”, dir. Rob Zombie (2012)
The plot of the movie is based on the story of the Salem witch trials. During filming, all the actors felt the presence of extraterrestrial forces. Rob Zombie chose infamous locations for naturalism, namely the abandoned Linda Vista Hospital in Los Angeles. The locals avoided him, but the actors disturbed the peace of the spirits with their presence and apparently decided to teach the ignorant a lesson. One of the actresses had real hysteria. The girl claimed to have seen a ghost in one of the rooms and flatly refused to return there for the wallet she had dropped.
“We were on the second floor and suddenly one of the actors literally swept me off my feet, he was so scared. The girl claimed that there was someone in one of the rooms and begged me to go there with her. “I believe in things like that, and it made me feel really creepy.” costume designer Jennifer Spence told reporters.
Of course, this was not the only situation. So, during filming, the doctor’s call signal suddenly turned on. The players lost their minds as the building was dilapidated and abandoned. These unexplained events led the crew to agree not to walk through the building alone.
Source: People Talk
Errol Villanueva is an author and lifestyle journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for exploring the latest trends in fashion, food, travel, and wellness, Errol’s articles are a must-read for anyone interested in living a stylish and fulfilling life.
