From the idea of Steven Spielbergfor a question that devoured him as a boy (was there something on television when the broadcast ended and the static rain started?) until the final result of poltergeist there were many unknowns, secrets and … curses.
The death of several cast members of the saga (there were three films), including that of little Heather O’Rourke, who played Carol Anne in all three, occurred after the latter’s filming had ended, at 12 years, or who he was, whether Tobe Hooper or Spielberg, the real director of the film, are myths and questions that have had their answers over the years.
Now that 40 years have passed since the premiere of poltergeistwhich in Argentina was known under the subtitle of evil gamesand which will be re-released in restored and digital copies, we will reveal (?) some problems surrounding the film.
The “Curse” and the deaths
The “Poltergeist Curse” is an urban legend based on the fact that there were several unfortunate deaths of actors in the saga, as well as strange events. There were four deaths in a space of six years, between the first of the first and the first of the third.
In the middle of the shoot Poltergeist III, Heather O’Rourke contracted giardiasis, a disease she contracted from exposure to lake water. She was misdiagnosed with Crohn’s disease and she continued filming. She died a few months before the film was released on February 1, 1988.
Dominique Dunne (Dana Freeling) and Heather O’Rourke (Carol Anne Freeling) are buried in the same cemetery: Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles. On October 30, 1982, Dominique was killed by her ex-boyfriend when she strangled her after refusing her attempt at reconciliation. She was in her driveway in West Hollywood. She never regained consciousness and died on November 4 at the age of 22. On February 1, 1988 O’Rourke died of intestinal stenosis. I was 12 years old.
The other two were the result of chronic illness: Julian Beck (Reverend Kane in Poltergeist II: The other side, 1986) died in 1985 of stomach cancer; Will Sampson (Taylor in Poltergeist II: The other side) died of complications from a heart-lung transplant.
JoBeth Williams had a supernatural experience while filming the film. Every time she came home, the images of her on the walls of her house were crooked. She fixed them, and they were crooked again.
Zelda Rubinstein also had an experience, when she had a vision of her dog saying goodbye. Within hours, her mother called her and told her that her dog had just died. Rubinstein allegedly had true psychic abilities. Despite this, she had to pass four auditions to land the role of the medium Tangina.
And then Lou Perryman (Pugsley, the factory worker who steals Diane’s cup of coffee and tastes the sauce) was killed with an ax by a 26-year-old man in Austin, Texas on April 1, 2009. He had 67 years old.
Spielberg saw Heather O’Rourke while she and her mother were having lunch. The girl auditioned and Spielberg rejected her, because she continued to laugh, even when she was asked to show that she was scared. He gave her another chance, but he asked her to bring a book of horror stories. He also asked her to scream, which she Heather did until she started crying. That’s how she got the role of Carol Anne.
Drew Barrymore auditioned for the role of Carol Anne, but Spielberg felt he wanted someone more angelic. It was that audition for Barrymore that earned him the one for Elliott’s little sister ET the alien (1982).
Heather O’Rourke kept with her the pet goldfish that Carol Anne has in the film.
While the shoot included horrific scenes, only one scene scared Heather O’Rourke: the one where she had to hold onto the headboard while a wind machine blew toys into her closet. She fell and Spielberg stopped everything, picked her up and told her he shouldn’t do that scene again.
Oliver Robins (Robbie) had a worse time: when the clown is strangling him, the doll’s arms tightened and the boy began to drown. He yelled “I can’t breathe!”, But Spielberg and Tobe Hooper thought he was improvising and motioned him to look at the camera. It appears that when Spielberg saw Robbins’ face turn purple, he ran and freed him from the clown’s arms around his neck.
Just Robbie is terrified of the same things that Steven Spielberg had as a boy: the fear of clowns and a tree that he saw nearby, from his window.
The house it was filmed in exists and is in Simi Valley, California. The family that owned it sold it in May 2009.
Real human skeletons were used in the pool scene, as it was too complicated and expensive to make fake ones. JoBeth Williams didn’t find out until she finished shooting the scene.
The scene where Diane is being attacked in her bedroom by an invisible force was shot in a rotating box with a fixed camera, which made it look like she was being dragged up the wall and across the ceiling.
The first scene to shoot is where Diane opens the bedroom door and meets the Beast. And the last one is where Marty hallucinates in the bathroom and his face starts to crack.
Spielberg hired Tobe Hooper after being impressed The Texas chainsaw massacre (1974). First he offered him the script for etbut when Hooper refused, Spielberg offered him to write the poltergeist.
Steven Spielberg worked on this film and beyond et almost continuously. The positions were at 20 minutes. The shooting of poltergeist he finished in August 1981, took a few weeks off and started working etwhile Tobe Hooper spent 10 weeks in the editing room.
But Spielberg oversaw the visual effects for both films simultaneously (which were produced at George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic). Is that already in the post-production phase of poltergeistIn early 1982, Spielberg was in complete control: editing, sound mixing and choice of composer, Jerry Goldsmith.
Indeed, Spielberg wanted to direct it, but a clause in his contract stated that while he was still working et I couldn’t do another one. Various members of the cast and crew – even producer Frank Marshall – said Spielberg chose the cast, directed the actors, and designed the storyboards. The DGA opened an investigation and found no reason why Spielberg had credit as co-director. Hence, it is a conundrum.
The special effects and the music of poltergeist they were nominated for an Oscar, but they lost et the alienin both categories.
If you look closely, the graveyard Steve and Teague are talking about has a tree identical to the one Robbie tried to eat. The first clue that the Freelings’ house was built on a graveyard.
The original script was very different from what had been filmed. Carol Anne would be killed in the first act, then she would haunt her house. It seemed too dark for them and they decided to have him kidnapped by the entities. In fact, in the poltergeist there is only one death: that of Tweety, the little bird.
It is also assumed that poltergeist Y et They started with a common bond. The film was supposed to be titled night skies, and it would speak of a family in the countryside terrified of evil aliens. But one of the aliens has become friends with the youngest son of the family and would have rebelled against the likes of him. Well, in the end the stories separated, and there was on one side the good alien, who then leaves, and on the other the family terrified by supernatural forces.
Writers Mark Victor and Michael Grais insisted that a family member had to die and when Spielberg asked which one, they chose Carol Anne. The original ending saw Carol Anne possessed by ghosts and abandoned by her family and left to die as the house burned down.
Stephen King he was tempted to write the screenplay and if he accepted it would be the first film original. They couldn’t agree.
Believe or do it: Robbie has a poster in the room he shares with Carol Anne for Superbowl XXII, which wouldn’t be done for another six years. Heather O’Rourke died in San Diego the day after the 1988 Superbowl Sunday … also played in San Diego.
Believe or Burst II: When Carol Anne sits in front of the television in her parents’ bedroom, the time on TV is 2:37. Tribute to hotel room number 237 of The glow…?
It was the highest-grossing horror film of 1982 and the eighth highest-grossing film of the year. And come back.
Paul O. Scholz
Source: Clarin
