All language subtitles for Cursed Films S01e03 Poltergeist

My name is Mace Neufeld.

I'm a feature and television producer,
and I was the executive producer of The

Omen.

Omen came about because a friend of
mine, Harvey Bernhardt, came to me with

idea of doing a story about the devil
child.

The curse attached to The Omen is an
interesting one because it kind of

seemed self -inflicted in a way. They
had a...

A religious advisor named Robert Munger
on set, who I think before mostly

anything had begun, had said, if you're
going to be dealing with the subject

matter of the devil, you're inviting the
devil into this, and bad things are

going to happen.

There are some people that say the omen
was cursed because of the subject matter

of a child as the Antichrist.

Robert Munger, the minister who came up
with the idea, thought Satan's greatest

trick. is to remain invisible.

The film was trying to make them
visible.

And so that's why Satan was trying to
stop the film from being made.

In the very beginning, when we were
first setting up the process of shooting

film in England,

Munger told us we were treading on very
thin ice, that the

Antichrist would do everything not to
have this picture made.

For me, that was in one ear and out the
other.

In the beginning, Gregory Peck was
coming to England, and his plane was

by lightning.

That was scary.

Then David Seltzer was coming over, the
writer, just a few days later, and his

plane was struck by lightning.

Two planes carrying two crew members,
both being hit by lightning on the way

set.

Pretty spooky. Also, Gregory Peck was
supposed to be on a flight that he

canceled. And then the plane apparently
crashed and killed everyone on board.

The plane took off, hit a flock of
birds, crashed at the

end of the runway into a road, and hit a
station wagon.

And in the station wagon was the wife
and the two children of the pilot of

plane. They had dropped him off.

There are a lot of strange things
happening that you could call cursed.

The IRA at that time was, in 1975, was
very active in London.

We're staying at a hotel on Piccadilly
opposite Green Park.

My wife and I were walking out of the
hotel when suddenly there was a massive

boom that set off a bomb.

A block and a half away, we were booked
to go into Scott's

restaurant, and they blew up the
restaurant.

As these things began to happen, we all
became very wary.

Welcome to Windsor Safari Park. We shot
in a place called Windsor Safari Park,

and there was a sequence with baboons.

Keep all car windows closed.

Suddenly the car that B. Remick was
driving stalled.

She couldn't get out.

And B. Remick is trapped in a car, being
attacked by baboons.

Lee was really terrified.

And it shows in that scene.

We shot this at an animal park.

One of the handlers at the park was
killed.

The animal handler on the show was eaten
by a lion,

allegedly. Lions or a lion ate the
zookeeper. Not during the filming,

but close to the filming. When we left
and he was securing the place, he left

his cabin door open or something and the
lions attacked and killed him.

Another report says it wasn't a lion, it
was a tiger.

After the making of the film, our
special effects supervisor, John

had an automobile accident.

And his fiancée was decapitated.

The accident replicated a decapitation
in the movie.

People said it happened.

Near a sign that said Omen. Omen.

O -M -M -E -N, 66 .6 kilometers.

But these things that happened around
the making of the film seem to be

more than coincidental.

That's the best way I can put it.

With movies that deal with demonic
archetypes, there's definitely the

for all types of phenomenon.

The production for these movies, they
start to make what you would call a

substantial contact with these forces.

They start to distill them into the
atmosphere of the production.

Also into the individuals that are
involved in the production.

Those sensitive to these forces notice
the little glitches in the matrix

of things like consecutive plane
flights, getting struck with lightning.

Absolutely.

film The Omen was no doubt an active
gateway in its own right.

Hi, I'm Michael Carell. I'm known on the
internet as Uncle Birch.

I'm a witch.

Some people think that if you just don't
believe in this kind of stuff, you

can't be harmed by it. We call those
targets.

That person...

won't be protecting themselves they
won't have any spiritual protection and

everything goes wrong in their life they
won't try and fix it and then it's like

it's like a virus like a festering virus
it gets worse and worse and worse with

time i went and saw it follows and then
you know the story is this

sort of unknown evil follows you after
you've had sex

You can get rid of it, okay?

Just sleep with someone as soon as you
can.

Just pass it along.

I mean, it's really easy to read that as
sort of a really shallow kind of a

metaphor for sexually transmitted
diseases.

But on the other hand, why get rid of
the idea of...

evil as an infection vector.

Because the idea of supernatural
infection is really common. This idea

can have evil passed on to us and we can
somehow be tainted with it.

To

talk

about curses, you have to define what is
a curse.

Some of the earliest curses are found in
Egyptian execration texts or in

Mesopotamian rituals or in biblical
texts.

Curses often come as part of what's
called a covenant. A covenant is sort of

like a contract between a superior party
and an inferior party.

And there are curses in these contracts.

What's going to happen to you if you
don't do it?

If you look in the Bible, it can be
animals that are cursed, it could be

that are cursed, it could be places that
are cursed.

Cursing was quite widespread in
antiquity. We have lots of examples and

phenomena about cursing. One of these
phenomena is narrative. So these are

stories of figures like Jesus or
prophets or other holy men cursing

else, striking them dead, striking them
blind.

We also have tomb curses or grave
curses.

Death, eternal punishment for...

Anyone who opens this casket, good
heavens,

what a terrible curse.

In ancient texts, curses were
pronounced. So it was premised on the

words had creative power.

Pronouncing the curse will have an
effect in the real world. Just by

something, you could make something
happen.

The occult colors mainstream life in
ways that we rarely suspect.

Lots of people in public life, probably
in the same measure as those in private

life, are interested in divination,
tarot, dream interpretation.

You've come to have our fortunes told.

Can you really read the future?

I will not disappoint you, my lady.

There are people today in different
parts of the United States and other

of the world who will still pay
somebody.

to curse a troublesome neighbor or to
curse a love partner who jilted them.

In this day and age, witchcraft's huge.

Folk magic's huge.

We got hoodoo, we got voodoo, we got
conjurer. There's all kinds of different

magics out there.

I've been a witch my whole life.

I talked to... Spirit, just like I
talked to you sitting here, it's just

to me.

And some people out there are just, I
will even say, are just so out there.

I can't believe it.

If I was to put profession in the lower
third descriptor, what would that say?

Black magician.

Absolutely black magician.

You know, it's not filmmaking that I do.
It's not necessarily just vlogging.

It's doing black magic.

Performing as crazy and out there
rituals as I can. Just kind of pushing

envelope further and further and
further.

For myself and documenting that through
video.

Three, two, one, go.

Hey guys, it's E .A. Coetting.

Is it possible for a film set or a film
production to be cursed?

From a black magician's standpoint, this
is a tricky question because for the

most part, in order for there to be an
actual curse, you have to have somebody

on the other end of it pushing that
curse.

Another black magician that's trying to
harm somebody through that curse.

For example, Satanists who might not
like films mocking their religion.

There was some watered -down versions of
Satanism. It could be that the

Satanists didn't like that portrayal.

After spending weeks searching for these
people, I finally met their leader.

As he explained his beliefs and methods,
I realized I was dealing with a maniac.

There was a time, especially back when
those movies were coming out there, the

Satanists were concerned with some PR
work.

In the making of The Omen, I got a lot
of crackpot threats.

One of these terrible letters I had
gotten said my blood will run on the

for doing what I did.

Since we're talking about films being
cursed, we're going to do a practical

experiment and see if we can curse a
film that's in production.

It's one of the most unique feelings to
call on a destructive force and to...

Let it flow through you.

The feeling that I'm left with it,
whether I'm trying to kill somebody

magic or I'm trying to destroy a
business or whatever it is, the emotion

left with at the end of it is always
humility.

I'm humbled by it.

The premise of all curses is that
pronouncing the curse will have an

the real world.

So look, I invoke doom for this empire,

for this creation.

There's no one as far as I know that
pronounced a curse on the omen.

So it is done.

There was a very strongly felt presence.

The mere fact that a production is
looking to encapsulate

and embody the essence of many of these
forces is where it begins.

Probably the most common magic in the
whole world and almost every culture

practices this type of magic on Earth,
and it's called sympathetic magic.

The rules of sympathetic magic are...

Like attracts like. And in Hollywood,
you're going to know this by the

version of the voodoo doll.

Look, an authentic voodoo doll.

Somebody already sent for it. You get a
doll and you get somebody's hair and

fingernails, maybe the picture. Put them
in the doll, on the doll.

And then you do the thing that you want
to have happen to the doll.

Ready for another shot, doll? And then
that likeness attracts it to the other

person.

Depicting a demonic curse extremely
accurately could bring the magic of like

attracts like to you.

Oh, the omens, like, you know, the
Antichrist.

So if the devil exists, if the
Antichrist exists, that's some pretty

energy to be depicting.

It's more likely that a film dealing
with the devil could become Kurt versus

movie like City Slickers.

The nature of the film can be enough to
kind of ignite its own spark.

You have many films, like you talk about
City Slickers, that don't cross

the threshold of creating a substantial
contact.

So long, cowboy.

Because that film is spiritually
neutral.

Whore does seem to have that knack of...

crossing the threshold into darker and
dangerous subject matter.

It's almost the perfect cocktail of
variables that get people thinking

about supernatural ideas and
possibilities.

When you watch a horror movie, you're
watching it to escape.

Even though you know it's a movie,
you're thinking about things that are

of conventional thinking or scientific
understanding of the world.

People become more open -minded to or
more interested in supernatural ideas.

And so when you watch these movies, it
just kind of puts you in the right

mindset to want to see patterns or to
believe in conspiracies or to believe in

curses.

With the omen, what you have is a series
of coincidences or incidents that

people then weave into a narrative about
a curse.

That's what coincidence theory is about.

It's just trying to get connections
between what is rational and what is

weird. And, you know, on the one hand,
rational can look weird, too.

Our brains are designed to believe all
sorts of things.

Whether they're ghosts, poltergeists,
angels and demons and gods and aliens

conspiracies, we have all this
propensity to just see patterns

assume everything is connected.

Okay, we're about to show you a short
clip of three basketball players dressed

in black and three basketball players
dressed in white. Each of them is

a basketball back and forth between
themselves.

Your task is to count the number of
passes.

between just the three white -shirted
players.

All right? You ready?

Go.

How many of you saw the gorilla?

What? What gorilla?

Here it is again. I'll rewind it. Oh,
come on, that's a different tape,

Sherbert. No, it's the same one.

So the famous gorilla experiment, this
was done by Christopher Chabris and his

team, in which they were testing to what
extent people do not see things in

their environment.

You know, it's like, how could you miss
a gorilla?

Well, 50 % of subjects don't see the
gorilla.

And the reason is because they're
attending to counting the number of

And by being focused on one thing, you
might miss something that's completely

obvious right there in front of you,
half.

This is interesting cognitively because
it shows how much we miss that's right

there in front of us.

Not only do we see things that are not
real, we miss things that are real.

Now, we're talking about cursed horror
films.

I'd like you to think about putting
those.

films that are cursed in a box.

And we're going to put this box right
here and then we're going to draw a

around it in which we have three other
boxes.

So in this box, number one, we have
cursed horror films, Poltergeist and The

Crow and The Exorcist and so on.

Now what I want you to think about is
the second box over here, which are

non -horror films.

Superman, you know, I mean, Christopher
Reeve fell off a horse, broke his neck

and... Apocalypse Now, you know, Martin
Sheen has a heart attack and all these

weird things that happen.

Okay, why aren't we talking about that
cell?

Because they're not horror films.

In this box down here, I want you to
think about non -cursed horror films,

The Shining.

Come and play with us, Daddy.

This is one of the scariest films ever
made.

No curses.

Or, more recently, It.

or Get Out, why don't we notice those?

And then the fourth category, of course,
is non -curse, non -horror films, pick

any of them.

Citizen Kane,

Casablanca, you know, people had long
careers after that.

Nothing weird happened. So you have to
keep in mind all four categories and

remind yourself, look, I'm only focusing
on this one, but all the other ones,

put it into context, and when you see
the bigger picture, you realize, okay,

there's actually nothing to be
explained.

Seeing patterns in the world, that's how
we form meaning, that's how we learn to

exist.

And that can extend to seeing patterns
where there aren't patterns.

Maybe it's a significant coincidence,
maybe it was a message sent to me from

somewhere.

There's a case of Mark Chapman, the guy
who killed John Lennon.

So he was outside John Lennon's
apartment in New York City, wondering if

should actually go through with it.

Just at that moment, Mia Farrow walked
by, and she starred in Rosemary's Baby.

And then he recognized that the
building, it's called the Dakota, it was

the filming of Rosemary's Baby, which
was directed by Roman Polanski, whose

wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by the
Manson family.

And they were a fan of the Beatles song,
Helter Skelter.

And of course, John Lennon is in the
Beatles.

And he took this as a sign that he
should go through with it and kill John

Lennon.

Horror films tend to, in a bizarre way,
mirror real life.

What are they doing? Why do they come
here?

Some kind of instinct, memory, what they
used to do.

The mirror of real life is that we are
frightened of things that could go wrong

in the world.

It's the same reason we love coincidence
stories.

We love coincidence stories because it
gives us a feeling that the world is

smaller than it is.

Yeah, see, that's kind of a problem for
us, which is we just don't believe in

coincidence. There's action and there's
reaction.

There's something happened that caused
that to happen, and some things are

and hard to explain.

There's a saying that the greatest trick
the devil ever played was to get people

to not believe that he exists.

And I have a hard time with that one as
well because it's to the devil's

advantage to be known.

Whether we're talking about angels or
demons or gods, the one thing that they

want is attention.

It's exciting to me actually to think
that the devil is a film fan.

I don't want to, like, put my head into
the logic of a devil, but just squeeze

the heart if you want to kill him. I
don't know, maybe the devil is a real

artist and likes the poetry of some of
these things. But even then, if the

was an artist, and I'm not saying he
isn't, I think he would go to, or she

go to great pains to really drive it
home. Like, be killed by a kid.

If you really want to do a curse on the
omen, you dress a kid in a little Angus

Young prep boy uniform and have that kid
show up at the door, ring the bell, and

then just look at you funny, and then
your head explodes.

Oh, the devil's here.

If Satan wants to stop a project, if he
wants to bring a plane down, he's going

to bring a plane down.

Actually, it seems like Satan is helping
the film.

And every time there's a big mishap, the
IRA explosions, for example, it was the

crew that was saved and other people
that died. So how is it that Satan is

trying to stop the film and he keeps
killing other people?

To me, this is the opposite of a curse.
This is a blessing.

If it was cursed, wouldn't Gregory
packed in on that flight?

But maybe we're looking at this all
wrong.

Maybe... These films aren't cursed by
the devil.

Maybe these films have been blessed by
the devil.

Perhaps the devil has been at work all
along.

When demons work in this world, they
like to sign their signature, their

autograph, on everything that they
touch, so that those of us who are

attention can look and can see the very
clear signature of the powers of magic

and the powers of darkness in the world
around us.

Do you think that it was a cursed film
production?

No, actually...

Actually, I think it was a blessed film
production, certainly as far as I was

concerned. No, I think it's just the
opposite. I think it was a very blessed

film.

In the end, it all worked out. We were a
big hit, and everybody got through it.

I do think that these movies and the
stories that sometimes sprout up around

them confirm people's senses, rightly or
wrongly, that we don't understand

everything in life.

The Edwardian builders of the Titanic
who boasted that they built an

ship didn't have it all figured out.

Victor Frankenstein didn't have it all
figured out when he thought he could

unlock the key to life.

But I'm not for a moment suggesting that
anybody should throw rationalism out

the window.

And it's obvious why the devil would be
doing that.

This is the age of the Antichrist.

The devils have been let loose upon the
world.

And they want to make sure that we know
that they are among us.

It is my command that this film and

any sequel that we follow in the same
name

will bear this curse.

It is my command.

It is devastated by the failure.