Horror fans are all-too aware of the Poltergeist curse that’s run rampant through Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg’s 1982 film, and its two sequels.
There are stories about the infamous clown malfunctioning during filming and strangling a young Oliver Robins, while Dominique Dunne and Heather O’Rourke passing away after completing production being even more chilling.
While nothing awful happened during the filming of the forthcoming remake, in theaters May 22nd, director Gil Kenan did experience some supernatural occurrences, one of which was self-inflicted.
“…the location for the house, during shooting, I chose because it had a strange and unnecessary field that the houses of this particular community were built around,” Kenan explained during a reddit AMA. “And we found – throughout production – that we had persistent and repeatable equipment field only on that strange plot of land.
“For instance, lights that could turn on anywhere else in the neighborhood would blow out the second you’d try to light them on this plot,” he added. “Also, I used a lot of aerial drone photography in the film, and the drone-pilots were never able to lock in the GPS signal in this field. We would have to move 10 feet away to launch the craft.
“I was too afraid to find out what the land used to be. We filmed outside of Toronto, somewhere between Buffalo New York and Toronto, Ontario, in a town called Hamilton.”
Even though he chose the land particularly because of its strange field, the place he lived in during the shoot came with a surprise: a woman in black (no relation to the movie).
“The house that I rented during filming was straight-up legit haunted by a female spirit dressed in black,” explained Kenan. “And I became aware of her within the first few days of staying in the house. And only after I left did I receive a call from the previous owner, who had moved back in, who was terrified by the goings on in the house, and wanted to see if I had experienced any of it. So it was an incredible real-life inspiration for filming that followed me home.”
The more terrifying part of the story comes when he discovered the ghost was following him.
Says Kenan: “Well, I mean, she definitely was there. It didn’t follow me back to Los Angeles, but it followed me from set back to where I was sleeping during filming.”
I personally have had some super bizarre experience with electrical disturbances, in a graveyard. Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery to be exact… so I find this kind of stuff incredibly interesting.
Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Saxon Sharbino and Jane Adams star in the new Poltergeist, with Jared Harris playing Carrigan, a larger than life TV personality who left the world of academia behind to become the star host of basic cable TV show “Haunted House Cleaners.”
Legendary filmmaker Sam Raimi (producer) reimagines and contemporizes the classic tale about a family whose suburban home is invaded by angry spirits. When the terrifying apparitions escalate their attacks and hold the youngest daughter captive, the family must come together to rescue her before she disappears forever.