1999-2010

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Poltergeist movie curse strikes again


The curse of the film Poltergeist, said to exist because of the premature deaths of people connected with it, has struck again.

Zelda Rubinstein
, who played the tiny psychic in the 1982 film directed by Tobe Hooper and produced by Steven Spielberg, is dead.

Curse? Actually, it is the entire Poltergeist series that's said to be damned. Four cast members died in the 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.


Among the victims:

Dominique Dunne, who played the oldest sibling Dana in the first movie, died in 1982 at age 22 after being strangled by her jealous boyfriend (Monique's father, Dominick Dunne, died in the summer of 2009).

Julian Beck, 60-year-old actor who played Kane in Poltergeist II: The Other Side, died in 1985 of stomach cancer.

Will Sampson, 53 years old, who played Taylor the Medicine Man in Poltergeist II, died as a result of post-operative kidney failure and pre-operative malnutrition problems in 1987.

Heather O'Rourke, 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.

Louis "Lou" Perryman, who played Pugsley in the first movie, was murdered at the age of 67 in his home in Austin, Texas last April.

Screenplay novelization author James Kahn told People magazine says that that seconds after he wrote the line "Lightning ripped open the sky," the building was struck by lightning and all the arcade games in the lounge began playing themselves.

Any more doubts? The Poltergeist curse has even been the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story.


Zelda Rubinstein had been hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after her lungs and kidney failed. She was reportedly taken off life support at the end of December. She was 76.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It’s been nearly 30 years since the movie

The woman was 76 and probably had health issues her entire life as most with dwarfism do, I think it’s a bit of a stretch of the imagination to say that THIS death was in anyway connected to the supposed “Poltergeist” curse

Unknown said...

IT IS STRANGE AS I HAVE ALWAYS KNOWN THAT THESE DEATHS HAVE BEEN MYSTERIOUS..BUT A CURSE WHO KNOWS...MAKES YOU THINK IN THE MOVIES ONESELF WATCHES...

Gerald said...

well tbh i dont care if it was a curse because all i know is a kind down to earth talented actress has been lost. R.I.P Zelda Rubenstine

danielle.royster said...

I think this movie is possibly one of the scariest movies that I’ve watched in a long time. The supposed “curse” also adds to the suspense and scariness of the actually movie. I’m going to rent the series on Halloween night and I found out that they are all at Blockbuster! Blockbuster has the most extensive library of movies, games and TV shows and you can get thousands of On-Demand titles straight to your PC or TV! Customers will also have access to over 100,000 movies, TV shows and games by mail with new releases coming out before Netflix and Redbox. I actually work at DISH Network and I’ve been wanting to tell people about this for a long time and I want everyone to check it out!

Eric said...

Zafrius is a dead man walking.

Unknown said...

poltergeist curse ghosts are real and scar. ihave been in many situations like this!