I’m sure you’ve all been reading about the curse of Batman surrounding the latest caped offering from Nolan: Ledger’s overdose death, Bale allegedly beating his family in a hotel room, Freeman’s sleep driving tumble and the less reported accidental death of special effects technician Conway Wickliffe. This was actually the first tragedy to occur, but has only been brought to mainstream press recently; just goes to show how much press technicians get.This circumstantial tying up of seemingly unrelated events is nothing new; superstitious thinking is as old as the hills. Reading into a collection of ‘odd happenings’ is what makes ghost stories great, and supernatural forces cause a curse by definition. The problem lies with overactive imaginations, building up the ‘curse’ to become greater than the sum of its parts.
There have been many film ‘curses’ over the years, often related to horror films or films with paranormal narratives. The old adage; ‘there’s no such thing as bad publicity’, comes to mind. If a film’s content has a link with the occult or unexplainable events this could put the seed of supernatural power into the publics’ mind, much the same way a conspiracy theory fits together. The rumour mill department of studios, to help sell their product, quite probably starts these whispers, in part at least.
I’ve been looking into some of the more famous movie curses to see if it is just wishful thinking or if the truths seem too close for comfort. I’ve also tried to research some coincidental events to see if they are just coincidences. Some I’ve found aren’t even that coincidental.
For example; linking Conway Wickliffe’s death to The Dark Knight is correct – he was killed in a driving stunt involving the Batmobile and a camera truck – it wasn’t on set, but it was directly related to the film. Morgan Freeman’s recent car crash has been lumped into the Batman curse because the film is currently in the publics’ view. The truth is that Freeman has been involved in four productions since the Dark Knight, three of which are in post-production. If any, his accident should be attributed to The Last Full Measure in which he stars and is currently in production with.
This is similarly the case with Heath Ledger’s involvement with the Batman curse: Apart from most of the movie going public wrongly thinking The Dark Knight was his last film, Ledger died during production of Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, way after wrapping on Knight. So if any unforeseen forces at work are the cause, surely they should be attributed to Gilliam’s production. The ‘curse’ of Gilliam however is one that I do find interesting, a highly talented director with unbelievable bad luck, more of a struggle than a curse. Think that needs another post sometime.
As for past movie curses; the curse of Superman, The Misfits, Poltergeist, The Omen, Rosemary’s Baby, The Crow and others, there does seem to be some strange coincidences but I think that’s all they are. Estranged manic boyfriend strangled Dominique Dunne, on screen older sister to Carol Anne, on the year of release of Poltergeist. Likewise Carol Anne actress Heather O'Rourke died six years later just before the release of Poltergeist 3, due to a cardiac arrest following complications with flu. She was only 12 years old and Dunne was only 22, both untimely deaths but nothing to do with Poltergeist, just unfortunate.
Brandon Lee was killed during the production of The Crow, again a narrative that deals with the afterlife and supernatural powers; Lee was shot by a gun that was supposed to be loaded with blanks, an unfortunate accident. There are also parallels with the script and Lee’s life, the character of Eric Draven was killed the night before his wedding and Lee was to marry once filming was completed, all unfortunate events but not a curse.
The curse of Superman is probably one of the most famous and longest running ill-fated stories of Hollywood. Looking at the events they don’t seem to have anything to do with any of the productions in question. It’s unfortunate and slightly ironic that Christopher Reeve was paralysed during a horse riding accident, but nothing to do with Superman. His accident was 8 years after filming anything related to Superman; the last being Superman IV that some people would argue also has nothing to do with Superman. Margot Kidder who played Lois Lane suffered a nervous breakdown and Richard Pryor who played Gus Gorman in Superman III was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Kidder suffered a bipolar disorder in 1996, nearly 10 years after filming Superman IV and Pryor’s ill health came on 3 years after filming Superman III. Kidder has featured in many productions since including Smallville, watch out Tom Welling. Also the tit-bit that most film curse advocates bring up is the untimely death of George Reeves who played Superman in the 50’s TV show, found dead with a bullet to the head in suspicious circumstances. I imagine anyone who’s been shot is treated as ‘suspicious’, Reeves was having an affair with the wife of an MGM executive. In the US people shoot each other over much less and it was a year after Superman the TV show finished.
There are many other unfortunate events related to Superman, but with an institution spanning 6 decades, some shit is going to go bad sometime. Film making employs thousands of personnel from many different walks of life, it's high profile and high pressure, and often dangerous work. Someone is going to get ill or have an accident sooner or later. I'd like to think there is a big conspiracy or that we are at the mercy of a higher force, I love all that stuff, but sometimes it's a little misplaced.
The only film curses I’m interested in are The Curse of Michael Myers, The Curse of Frankenstein, The Curse of the Cat People, The Curse of the Puppet Master, The Curse of the Dragon, The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, The Curse of the Living Corpse, Curse of the Swamp Creature or Curse of the Pink Panties II.
Bark…
