The iconic 1982 moviePoltergeist, which may soon see areboot via Amazonto redeem its poorly received 2015 remake, still maintains its often creepy, sometimes unpleasantly visceral, effect to this day. Directed byTobe Hooperwho was behindThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and both produced and co-written bySteven Spielberg, the film follows the harrowing supernatural events which plague a suburban family unit.
The classic ’80s horror has also been mired in controversy over the years, with many claiming that its production was cursed. Within the period of its franchise’s release, four of its cast members tragically passed away, leading to speculation and paranoia about the film’s legacy. However, the distressing revelations did not end there. The disturbing incident in question involved lead actressJoBeth Williams, who played Diane Freeling in one of the film’s most gruesome scenes, which was since exposed as being all too real.
RELATED:‘Poltergeist’ 40 Years Later: The Unease Buried Beneath the Suburban Dream
JoBeth Williams Goes for a Dip in the Family Pool in ‘Poltergeist’
As the action steadily ramps up in the film, the mean-spirited poltergeists hurl objects, abduct the Freelings' youngest daughter Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) and use the television as an eerie conduit. Also discovering that their home was built upon the previous site of a cemetery, the family’s easygoingsuburban life is well and truly obliterated. Despite the intervention of a medium and the rescue of Carol Anne, all is not so easily resolved. Whilst Diane is at home with the youngest two children, the family’s greatest paranormal foe named the “Beast” makes a reappearance, causing her to flee into the pouring rain and subsequently fall into the excavated pool, which is steadily filling with mud. In this memorably horrifying moment, skeletons start to rise out of the murk, surrounding her in a menacing deathly dance, with their very existence revealing that their bodies were never actually moved from the old burial site — hence the reason for the hauntings.
JoBeth Williams Made a Shocking Discovery About ‘Poltergeist’
The real terror was not in Williams' very convincing reaction to the deathly forms, but in the authentic horror which occurred behind the scenes. Reportedly, the unsuspecting actor was never informed that the frightful figures she would be swimming with would be actual human remains.According toVanity Fair, Williams didn’t even make this unsettling discovery until, when bumping into a colleague from the special effects team a few years after the film’s release, she congratulated their work — only to find out, most disturbingly, that she had been swimming with the real thing.
Despite the questionable practice of the studio failing to warn the actor beforehand — or, more importantly, of not obtaining her consent — Williams asserted that she was “glad” that at the time she had remained ignorant of the skeletons' legitimacy, or otherwise, her terrified reaction that we see in the movie need not have been acted.
‘Poltergeist’ Is Not the Only Horror Film To Use Real Deceased
It may seem shocking and morally objectionable for a studio to use human remains, especially when neglecting to warn its lead actress that she would be swimming with them. However, the use of real bodies is not uncommon within the horror genre.Apocalypse Now(1979), a film infamous for its production which continuouslyteetered on the brink of disaster, intended to use real corpses during filming, only to discover at the intervention of the police thattheir supplier was a grave robber. Considering the extreme lengths to which the film went, which nearly took the life of its leading actor, it prompts the question: when is the cost of art too high? Do the highly effective outcomes of such legendary movies justify their means?
The Enduring Power of ‘Poltergeist’
The lore surrounding thePoltergeistfranchisealmost eclipses the appreciation for the movie itself. With stories that transcend its unsettling plot, reaching viewers decades after the advent of the original trilogy, and legendary scenes that became imprinted onto audiences' memories, Hooper and Spielberg dreamed up such a mythological film to secure its placewithin the horror hall of fame forever.
