While watching horror movies, fans often have to reassure themselves that what they are subjecting themselves to is a work of fiction. Fans tell themselves that the movie isn't real and all the horrors on-screen are a result of 'movie magic.
This is not the case for those who work on the movie during production. There are countless tales from directors, actors, and crew of strange goings-on during filming. Some people working on the set even go as far as to have the movie set blessed due to fear of ghosts or curses.
Updated on March 18th, 2021 by Kristen Palamara: Horror movies have been a popular genre of movie for decades and continue to be one of the most beloved. Typically, the horror stays on the movie screen and disappears when the movie ends, but some movies have had issues of mysterious deaths, injuries, or unexplained occurrences that happened on set that brought the horror movies into the real world. There is a surprising amount of horror movie sets that have been plagued with odd and dangerous occurrences that are unexplained and, in some cases, creepily coincidental.
Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Rosemary's Baby is an iconic horror movie starring Mia Farrow as an increasingly terrified mother in a movie that builds tension and paranoia without being overly gory. There were multiple creepy occurrences on set from one of the producers receiving an anonymous note that he would die from a painful illness, and shortly after he needed emergency surgery after fainting on set.
The movie's composer died on set while another producer had a stroke and the entire cast got terrible food poisoning.
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
During the helicopter scene of the Twilight Zone movie one of the main actors, Vic Morrow, was killed while filming. It was a tragic event in and of itself, but the full story leading up to his death makes it creepier and similar to a Twilight Zone story itself.
Although it's unclear if the rumors about the coincidental nature of his death are true, there are stories of Morrow telling his friends and family that he had been dreaming of something bad happening to him on the set of a movie and that he took the omen seriously and decided to take out a life insurance policy before filming started.
The Crow (1994)
The Crow is about Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his fiancée being murdered and Eric rising from the grave a year later to take his revenge on the group that murdered them and has become a cult classic since its release in 1994.
Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee's son, was killed while filming when a prop gun accidentally released a real bullet and the actor tragically died from a gunshot wound. The odd connection to his father acting in a similar scene in Game of Death decades earlier where a prop master explains how to use the prop guns and Bruce Lee's character pretends to be dead on the set of a movie.
Psycho (1960)
Although this terrifying death didn't occur on set, it does have a connection to the original Psycho. Myra Davis was killed in 1988 when she hired a handyman and there's been speculation that it was due to the killer's obsession with the Psycho shower scene.
Davis was one of actress Janet Leigh's stand-ins to check the lighting for the shower scene, and although there's no proof that her murder was directly connected to Psycho there has been speculation about a connection since she worked on such an iconic horror movie.
The Innkeepers (2011)
The Innkeepers is a low-budget horror movie that follows two hotel employees who decide to look into the haunted stories they've heard about and the two begin to find actual evidence of ghosts. The odd occurrences on this movie set were because of the location where the team stayed.
The entire team stayed at the actual Yankee Pedlar Inn in Torrington, Connecticut, which is said to be a real haunted location. Cast, crew, and skeptical director Ti West said odd inexplicable typical supernatural things happened like lights flickering, odd dreams, and doors slamming, but thankfully no one was reportedly harmed on set.
The Possession (2012)
During 2012's The Possession, a horror movie based on the true story of a cursed dybbuk box, actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan reported several creepy stories on set. Morgan reported creepy happenings such as exploding lights, cold breezes rushing past him on deserted corridors, and even a fire in a storage facility.
An investigation into the fire even creepily ruled out any electrical faults or arson as the cause of the fire so the fire stays a mystery. The investigators of the fire described the cause of the blaze as 'undetermined' which really begs the question of whether it was related to the Dybbuk box in the movie.
The Exorcist (1973)
The Exorcist is one of the scariest and most influential horror movies of all time. However, while it is a terrifying movie to watch, it was also a terrifying set to work on. Several creepy and tragic events during production led some to believe that there was a curse around the movie.
Irish actor Jack Macgowran died shortly after completing his part on the film, as did a crew member and a security guard. If these events were not enough, the movie set also burned down without any explanation. The strange occurrences led the director William Friedkin to request a priest perform a blessing on the set.
Poltergeist (1982) & Poltergeist III (1988)
The Poltergeist curse is one of the most famous movie curses. The first instance of this curse occurred days after the release of the movie, with one of the stars of the movie, Dominque Dunne, being murdered by her ex-boyfriend.
In addition, Heather O'Rourke, the actress who portrayed young Carol Anne, tragically died during surgery while Poltergeist 3 was in production. Both O'Rourke and Dunne are buried in the same California cemetery. Tragic deaths were not the only strange instances of the Poltergeist curse. During production on the second Poltergeist movie, the producer was convinced that the set was evil and drafted in a priest to conduct a blessing.
The Amityville Horror (1979 & 2005)
The Amityville haunting was a cultural phenomenon in the 1970s. The ghostly events were investigated by the Warrens and the terrifying story even led to a book and movie deal. One particularly creepy event occurred before the first movie had even started filming. James Brolin, the lead actor in the 1979 movie, only accepted the part in the movie after his pants fell off a hanger while he was reading the script, causing him to jump to his feet in fright.
This is not all, during the filming of the 2005 remake, a dead body washed onto the shore next to the filming location. Additionally, Ryan Reynolds and other crew reportedly woke up at 3:15 am, the time of the DeFeo murders.
The Conjuring (2013)
Another movie based on a true story. The Conjuring tells the story of the Perron family who moved into a haunted house in the 1970s and had their case investigated by the famous Ed and Lorraine Warren. During the filming of the Conjuring, the Perron family actually visited the set and upon their visit, some weird events occurred.
During one particular visit from the Perron family, a wind began to swirl around the Perrons, with several of the crew also claiming that the nearby trees remained unmoved by this wind. Additionally, director James Wang recalled a story in which his dog was barking at an unseen entity while Wan was working late in his office.
