Movies: Unlucky For Some, Fatal For Others

 You see, there has been some movie sets down the years that really haven’t held much luck for those working on them. Sometimes it’s a freak accident, but other incidences are a whole lot more sinister… Here’s a few of the best examples.

The Curse of The Omen

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No other film in history has ever been as unlucky as The Omen. Never has there been a movie where those who made it through filming could actually consider themselves survivors.

Not one, not two, but three individuals working on the ominous film had their plane struck by lightning. What was that about lightning not striking twice?

It didn’t end there for executive producer Mace Neufeld, who was in one of the planes. He was nearly killed at the hand of the IRA when they took the liberty of bombing the hotel he was staying in.

Unlike the others, special effects consultant John Richardson’s assistant was unable to escape death’s grip. On Friday, August 13th, 1976Richardson crashed his car, causing his assistant to be sliced open by a car wheel. Rumour has it, as he crawled out of the wreckage a sign towered over like a damning signifier of his fate, reading “Ommen, 66.6km”.

The Crow: Like father, like son

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Can a family be cursed like a film? I can’t see why not. Bruce Lee’s son Brandon seemingly followed in his father’s footsteps when he was accidentally killed during the filming The Crow.

Lee’s co-star Michael Massee shot Lee during filming when a gun tragically had a dummy round lodged in its barrel when it was fired. The bullet became fatally embedded in Lee’s spine, killing him 12 hours later. Now, where are those people whining about health and safety?

Noah’s Ark

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If there was ever a film where you should take some precautions against the threat of mass drowning as a result of overwhelming flood water, it would be Noah’s Ark. Seriously, God seemingly wiped out all but eight people back then, what’s to say he couldn’t get a few more in the 20th century.

An unlucky few extras met their maker earning a few dollars working on the 1928 film Noah’sArk.The sheer volume of water required to recreate the devastation of the Flood led to three extras drowning, one needing his leg lopped off and a number of others suffering injuries here and there. Lead star Dolores Costello even caught pneumonia.

Do not star in the Poltergeist thrice

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If there’s one lesson anyone should take from the Poltergeist trilogy, then it’s “for the love of God, don’t star in the trilogy of a ghost film”.

The Poltergeist films leave a worrying legacy of people that died long before their prime. Heather O’Rourke was not lucky enough to find out where her career would go, she died from septic shock in 1988 aged 12. Dominique Dunne was strangled by her boyfriend at the age of 22. Julian Beck died from cancer and Will Sampson died from complications during an operation.

All this within six years of the first film’s release. I guess that’s what you get for using real human remains as props.

The Conqueror: The crew really fell out

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Perhaps one of the most ludicrously ill-fated film sets is that of The Conquerer. John Wayne took on the role of one of history’s most murderous tyrants, Ghenghis Khan. Little did those making the film know that they would be picked off by a more modern menace: the nuclear bomb.

Filming took place just downwind from a nuclear testing facility in Nevada. As a result, the cast and crew were subjected to some 13 weeks of nuclear fallout from 11 atomic bomb tests.

Although not all of the filming took place in Nevada (they had a very Mongolian set in Hollywood), the crew did ship an amazing 60 tonnes of dirt contaminated with radiation all the way to southern California.

As time passed, some 91 of the 220 crew members developed cancer and 41 died, which basically put an end to an incredible career of groundbreaking westerns from John Wayne. It probably did Clint Eastwood a few breaks, mind.