DIVISION: Modern Evil PR
COMMENT: Frustrated by the inflexibility of the movie industry, we at The Modern Evil Company are creating a lobby group with one focus - to move the Poltergeist Curse to the Saw series. Really, what better LEGAL way is there to get rid of Donnie Wahlberg?
To support the lobby, email - Modern Evil PR with "Let's Move the Curse" in the subject line.
The Poltergiest Curse
The Poltergeist curse is the rumor of a supposed curse attached to the Poltergeist motion picture series and its stars.
The rumor is superstition largely derived from the fact that four cast members died in a relatively short span of time (six years) between the release of the first film and the release of the third, with one dying during production of the second film. Two of them died at young ages, 12 and 22. It is not clear that these particular films are atypical in the number or nature of the deaths of their actors, and at least two of the supposed victims had serious health problems before becoming attached to the film series.
The actors who are supposed victims of the curse include:
Dominique Dunne, 22-year-old actress who played the oldest sibling Dana in the first movie, died after being choked by a jealous boyfriend in 1982. The boyfriend, John Thomas Sweeney, was later convicted and sentenced to six years in prison, though initially he only served two and a half years.
Julian Beck, 60-year-old actor who played Kane in Poltergeist II: The Other Side, died in 1985 of stomach cancer, with which he was diagnosed before he had accepted the role.
Will Sampson, 53 years old, who played Taylor the Medicine Man in Poltergeist II, died of post-operative kidney failure and pre-operative malnutrition problems in 1987.
Heather O'Rourke, actress who played Carol Anne in all three Poltergeist movies, died in 1988 at the age of 12 after what doctors initially described as an acute form of influenza but later changed to septic shock after bacterial toxins invaded her bloodstream. At the time, she had suffered acute bowel obstruction, initially diagnosed as Crohn's disease, which may have been the cause of death.
