The horror films that were cursed: From actors shot on set to weird accidents, how some of Hollywood’s biggest chillers left cast and crew with a real shiver down the spine

Hollywood has long realised that one of the most sure-fire ways to an audience’s pocket is with a shiver down the spine.

But some of the biggest-ever horror films have left cast and crew with their very own real-life chilling stories.

From on-set shootings to exorcisms behind the scenes, here we reveal how on many occasions it wasn’t just the cinema-goers wanting to hide behind the settee.

The Exorcist

The Exorcist is probably one of the best known horror films made in the last few years.

The film first came out in 1973, and at the time it was dubbed the most frightening film ever made and for some it still causes a chill to do go down our spine.

The plot tells the story of a demonic possession of a little girl with a Catholic priest being asked to come exorcise the entity.

What some people might not know was that in one instance the set used as the family home caught fire after a bird flew into a circuit box, the Sun reports.

But in a sinister twist, the one section to survive the blaze was the bedroom where the exorcisms were performed in the film. The fire ended up delaying filming by six weeks.

Just in case the set was haunted by an evil spirit though, the crew called in the help of a Jesuit priest, to bless the set after the incident.

However, the creepy things did not stop there, because the main reason people believe the set was cursed was because of the number of deaths associated with its cast.

For Jack MacGowran and Vasiliki Maliaros, both their characters died in the 1973 film. However they also both died in real life soon after the filming of the movie had been completed.

Stars Linda Blair and Max Von Sydow were also affected by the so called ‘curse’, with Linday’s grandfather also during the production of the show while Max’s brother passed away on the first day Max on set.

Jason Miller, who played the Jesuit priest Father Damian Karras, also had a near death experience when he was hit by a motorbike during filming.

Poltergeist

People have had their suspicions the Poltergeist is cursed for supposedly using real human remains during filmings.

In one of the scenes, film star JoBeth Williams is dragged into her family’s swimming pool and as she tries to get out she bumps into decaying corpses and skeletons.

She said she had ‘assumed’ they were ‘prop skeletons’ made from plastic but she later found out, along with the crew, that they were using real skeletons, as it’s ‘far too expensive to make fake skeletons out of rubber’.

Shortly before the third film’s release in 1988, four cast members including 12-year-old Heather O’Rourke died after a cardiac arrest and septic shock.

Dominique Dunne, 22, who played O’Rourke’s character’s older sister, died after being strangled by her ex-boyfriend just months after the film was released.

In 2009, Lour Perryman was also hacked to death with an axe by an ex-convict.

Shortly before the third film’s release in 1988, four cast members including 12-year-old Heather O’Rourke died after a cardiac arrest and septic shock.

Dominique Dunne, 22, who played O’Rourke’s character’s older sister, died after being strangled by her ex-boyfriend just months after the film was released.

Annabelle

Many of us may remember the eerie Annabelle doll and how could we forget the way it made us feel having the scary-looking figure staring at us through the screen?

To make matters worse, both Annabelle and its sequel had strange incidents happen including light fixtures falling and the doll moving on its own.

The film’s producer, Peter Safran told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘In particular, the first day that the demon was shooting in full makeup, we brought the demon up in the elevator.

‘He walks out and walks around to the green room to where we’re holding the talent, and just as he walks under — a giant glass light fixture is being followed by the actor playing the handyman of the building — and all of a sudden the entire glass light fixture falls down on his head, the janitor‘s head.

‘And in the script the demon kills the janitor in that hallway. It was totally freaky.’

The Ring Two

The film had some strange set of events that happened that mirrored the film.

Water was used to represent an evil spirit symbolically, meanwhile, in real life, the production office also flooded.

During production, a deer reportedly six foot tall ran towards Jeannine Bourdaghs, a customer, with her saying had she been feet ahead, the deer likely would have ploughed directly into her almost 100 miles an hour.

Ironically, in the film itself, a character named Samara attempts to kill Rachael and Aidan with a deer.

The Crow

The Crow starred Brandon Lee – son of martial artist Bruce Lee.

The film was set to be the actor’s breakthrough role, however, during production, Brandon died after being shot with a prop gun accidentally loaded with a real bullet.

It hit the 28-year-old actor’s abdomen and sadly caused his death. However, his father was only 32 when he also died, which led some to think the family were somehow cursed.

The Deliverance

The most recent film to feature on this list Netflix’s 2024 The Deliverance.

The production of the film experience some bizarre instances  which included actor Mo’Nique being rushed to hospital – and director Lee Daniel’s dog dying.

Furthermore, the director also later revelaed how his sister was dignosed with lung cancer just days before he filmed a chemotherapy scene.

The Omen

The 1976 film also had a number of tragic circumstances surrounding its production.

Just two months before filming, lead actor Gregory Peck had a tragedy in his family with his son taking his own life.

Adding to that when travelling to London for filming the film, the award-winning actor’s plane was struck by lightning. The film’s producer Mace Neufeld faced the same situation.

As part of the film, they had planned to hire a plane to film aerial shots in Israel, however, at the last minute the planes were switched and in the end, the original place crashed killing everyone onboard.

To cement the rumours of the curse, John Richardson, the film’s special effects designer, behind the famous decapitation scene was in a car crash while sculptor Liz Moore was in the passenger seat.

Richardson survived the incident, however, Moore was decapitated.

He also claimed that when he stumbled out of the car he noticed a road sign saying he was 66.6 km away from the town of Ommen.