All language subtitles for Cursed.Films.S01E03.WEBRip.x264-ION10

- My name is Mace Neufeld.

I'm a feature
and television producer,

and I was executive producer
of "The Omen".

Omen came about because
a friend of mine,

Harvey Bernhard, came to me
with the idea of doing

a story about the devil child.

- The curse attached to
The Omen is an interesting one

because it kind of almost seems
self-inflicted in a way.

They had 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 this subject matter,

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, um, 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 him 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 the 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.

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

In the beginning, Gregory Peck
was coming to England

and his plane was struck
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 to set

is pretty spooky.

- Also, Gregory Peck was
supposed to be on a flight

that he cancelled,

and then the plan apparently
crashed

and killed everyone onboard.

- The plane took off,

hit a flock of birds,

crashed at the end
of the runway

and into a... a road

and hit a station wagon.

And in the station wagon

was the wife
and the two children

of the pilot of that plane.

They had dropped him off.

- There were 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.

They'd 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.

Woman: Welcome to Windsor
Safari Park.

- We shot in a place called
Windsor Safari Park,

and there was a sequence
with baboons.

Woman: Keep all car windows
closed.

- Suddenly the car that Lee Remick was driving stalled.

She couldn't get out.

And Lee Remick
is trapped in a car

being attacked by baboons.

Lee was really terrified,

and it shows in, 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 said
it wasn't a lion,

it was a tiger.

- After the making of the film,

our special effects supervisor,

John Richardson,

had an automobile accident.

Um...

And his fiancée...

was decapitated.

- The accident replicated
a decapitation in the movie.

- People said it happened...

- Near a sign...
- That said, uh, "Omen."

- Omen.

- O-M-M-E-N.

- 66.6 kilometres.

- But these things that
happened

around the making of the film

seemed to be more than
coincidental.

That's the best way
I can put it.

- With movies that deal
with demonic archetypes...

- Three sixes.

- there's definitely
the potential

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,

the production,

also into the individuals

that are involved in
the production.

Those sensitive to these forces

notice the little glitches

and the matrix of things
like...

consecutive plane flights

getting struck with lightning.

Absolutely, the film "The Omen"

was, was, no doubt,

an active gateway
in its own right.

- I'm Michael Correll.

I'm known on the internet
as Uncle Birch.

Uh, 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 when everything goes wrong
in their life,

they won't try and fix it.

And then it's like, yeah,
it's like a virus,

like a festering virus.

It gets worse and worse
and worse with time.

- Who is it?

- I went and saw "It Follows"

And, you know, the story is...

this sort of unknown evil
follows you

after you've had sex.

- And 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 that we can have evil
passed on to us

and we can somehow be tainted
with it.

- Ungh!

- 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 gonna happen to you
if you don't do it?

If you look in the Bible,

it can be animals
that are cursed,

it can be people
that are cursed,

it could be places
that are cursed.

- Cursing was quite widespread
in antiquity.

We have lots of examples

and lots of phenomena
about cursing.

One of these phenomena
is narratives.

So these are stories of figures like Jesus or prophets

or other holy men cursing
somebody 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 belief

that words had creative power.

Pronouncing the curse

will have an effect in
the real world.

Just by speaking something,

you could make something
happen.

- The occult colours
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.

- We'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 parts of the world
who will still pay somebody

to curse a troublesome
neighbour

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 Konja.

There's all kinds of different
magics out there.

I've been a witch
my whole life.

I talk to spirit just like
I talk to you sitting here.

It's just this is normal
to me.

And some people out there
are just -

I will even say - are just
so out there,

I can't believe it.

- Black Magician.

Yeah, absolutely,
Black Magician.

You know, it's not filmmaking
that I do,

and it's not necessarily
just vlogging.

It's doing black magic,

performing as crazy and
out-there rituals as I can.

Just kinda pushing the envelope

further and further
and further,

for myself and documenting
that for video.

Three, two, one, go.

Hey, guys. It's E.A. Koetting.

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 a week
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,

that 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've gotten

said my blood will run
on the streets

for doing what I did.

- Since we're talking about
films being cursed,

we're gonna 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,

whether I'm trying to kill
somebody through magic

or I'm trying to destroy
a business

or whatever it is,

the emotion I'm left with
at the end of it

is always humility.

I'm just humbled by it.

- The premise of all curses

is that pronouncing the curse

will have an effect
in the real world.

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".

Oh.

That 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 gonna know this

by the Hollywood version
of the Voodoo Doll.

- Look! An authentic
voodoo doll.

Somebody already sent for it.

- Get a doll and you get
somebody's hair

and fingernails,
maybe their picture.

Put 'em 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, Dad?

- 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 Omen", just like,
you know, the Antichrist.

If the devil exists,
if the Antichrist exists,

that's some pretty intense
energy to be depicting.

- Yeeeee-haaaaw! Hooo!
- Yeee-haw!

- The nature of the film
can be enough

to kind of ignite
its own spark.

You have many films -

like you're talking about
"City Slickers" -

that don't cross the threshold

of creating a substantial
contact...

- So long, cowboy.

- ...'cause that film is
spiritually neutral.

Horror does...

seem to have that knack of uh...

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 outside 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 wanna see patterns

or, you know,
believe in conspiracies

or to believe in curses.

- With "The Omen",

what you have is a series of
coincidences or incidents

then that people then weave
into a narrative

about a curse.

- That's what coincidence
theory is about,

just trying to get connections

between what is rational

and what is, uh, weird.

And you know, on the one hand,

rational can look weird, too.

- Our brains are designed to
believe all sorts of things,

whether there are ghosts,
poltergeists,

angels and demons,

and gods and aliens
and conspiracies.

We have all this propensity to
just see patterns everywhere,

just 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 passing
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, Shermer!

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 'cause
they're attending

to counting the number
of passes.

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 gonna put this box
right here

and then we're gonna draw
a square 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 cursed
non-horror films:

Superman, you know -

I mean, Christopher Reeves 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?

'Cause they're not horror
films.

In this box down here,

I want you to think about
non-cursed horror films

like "The Shining".

- Come and play with us,
Danny.

- 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-cursed, 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 the case of
Mark Chapman,

the guy who killed John Lennon.

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

wondering if he should actually go through with it.

And just at that moment,
Mia Farrow walked by

and she starred in
Rosemary's Baby.

And then he recognized that
the building,

is called The Dakota.

It was used in 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're they doing?
Why do they come here?

- It's a 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 word's kind
of a problem for us.

We don't... witches uh...

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 weird
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
to 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 wanna kill somebody.

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 devil
was an artist,

and I'm not saying he isn't,

uh, I think he would go -
or she -

would go to great pains
to really drive it home,

like be killed by a kid.

Because if you really wanna 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 gonna bring a plane down.

Actually, it seems like Satan
is helping the film.

Every time there's a big
mishap,

the IRA explosions,
for example,

it was the crew that was safe
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 Peck

have been 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 paying 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.

- 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 uh...
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 unsinkable 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 this.

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.