I never understood horror movie fans. People who fuck themselves in front of a screen to piss on themselves voluntarily while making sure to have nightmares for days and days. Those who like to inflict small traumas on themselves like that, tranquillou bilou. Finally… let’s move on! That is not the subject. The thing with the very creepy aspect of these films straight from hell (for real), is that their achievements have sometimes deeply traumatized the film crews. Brrrrrh, it’s chilling!
1. The Exorcist, by William Friedkin
The Exorcist is a cursed film. In addition to having caused the death of nine people, to having been shot in atrocious conditions (cc the director who makes the actors play in freezing cold, then who fires shots randomly to freak them out). Mercedes McCambridge started drinking (a lot) and smoking (a lot too) to have a castling voice. What good to fuck the health for the film. Eventually, the set caught fire. Idyllic shooting = barely traumatized team. So cool !
2. Emily Rose’s Exorcism
According to the film crew, several paranormal activities occurred during the film’s production. For example, lead actress Jennifer Carpenter said her clock radio would turn on and off randomly, always playing “Alive” by Pearl Jam. Several other team members report that their TV/alarm clock has turned on by itself several times. Each time, it was the musical notes of the Pearl Jam piece that were played. Hardly creepy.
3. The Lords of Salem
According to the film’s production designer, Jennifer Spence, several strange incidents took place on the set. One of her friends is said to have “seen something so terrifying that she would never have been able to talk about it or go back upstairs unaccompanied”. She also says that strange sounds were regularly audible and that the atmosphere that weighed down during filming was difficult to bear.
4. Amityville
Among the “incidents” listed on the set: the body of a fisherman who washed up on the bank adjacent to the house used for the film, and this, from the first day, and many actors who, every night , woke up at 3:15 sharp. If I tell you that the film retraces the life of a killer who murdered his family at 3:15 a.m., what do you think? The film crew, in any case, was quite traumatized and had a little trouble continuing the film.
5. Poltergeist (1, 2 et 3)
Opening scene: the young actor Olivier Robbins nearly dies, strangled by a puppet. Really, from there, already, it is necessary to flee instead of signing for a trilogy, guys! You just have to get out fast!! Just after the filming of the last episode, Heather O’Rourke died of septic shock, at only 12 years old. Not enough for you? If I tell you that, “for lack of financial means”, Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper decided to use REAL human skeletons for the decor, do you understand trauma a little better? The actress, Jobeth Williams, continued to see skeletons everywhere after filming.
6. Shining
The Shining, a film adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, is considered a horror classic. If he met with great success, it was done to the detriment of the mental health of certain actors, and in particular of Shelley Duvall. The actress who plays Wendy Torrance warns, even today (that is, more than 40 years later), of psychological sequelae. She says the director (Stanley Kubrick) regularly made her redo scenes dozens and dozens of times. The famous ax scene, for example, was remade more than a hundred times, that is to say during approximately 3 weeks of filming. 3 weeks of repeating the same traumatic scene, from morning to night. The goal of the director was to crack her mentally, so that she has the same emotional state as the character in the film. Not too unhealthy, that’s fine.
7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Well, we are on very heavy in terms of traumatic filming conditions. First, imagine acting out scenes with a guy wielding a REAL chainsaw, which WORKS (so well actor Gunnar Hansen hurt himself with it); days of work on an isolated farm in Texas, with heat peaks at 40°C, unbearable humidity that attracts filthy little animals, and that makes you sweat like never before; even worse: REAL animal bones and REAL animal skins were used to decorate the house. With the heat, try to imagine the stench of the set. Add up all those nice points, and you should easily see why the team was traumatized. Dottie Pearl, make-up artist, notably testified to Télérama. In his words “It’s unhealthy. We work on a sick movie and we get sick. We all have a feeling of disgust with ourselves. »
8. Birds
In the category of actors traumatized by a role, we can without hesitation cite Tippi Hedren, the main actress in the Hitchcock film “The Birds”. While he had been promised the use of mechanical birds, it was ultimately real crows and ravens that were used. She found herself locked in a room, with aggressive birds rushing straight at her. One of them even nearly gouged out his left eye: he cut his lower eyelid deeply. After this accident, the actress was sedated as she was traumatized. Nice.
9. Alien
Among the most famous scenes of the feature film: the alien infant which springs from the ribs of John Hurt, in a geyser of blood already very gory on the screen. Well, believe me that behind the scenes of this sequence is even dirtier than you think! To give “realism” to the scene, kilos of meat and foul-smelling offal were actually thrown on the set. The smell was so strong and awful that it permeated the decor for several days. BUT THAT’S NOT ALL, the actors themselves did not know that the creature would come out of Kane’s body in this way. 100% successful traumatic surprise effect. After this shoot, Yaphet Kotto returned home and locked himself in a room for hours, in total silence.
10. It
A film that traumatized everyone! The members of the film crew couldn’t bear to be near Tim Curry (the main actor, playing the horrible clown Pennywise), his makeup was so scary. On top of that, some of the accessories needed for filming were rusty and traumatized the teams who feared getting tetanus. For his part, Tim Curry confided that after the shooting, the clown he played regularly came to visit him in his nightmares. He also confessed to having a hard time getting rid of the role, as if he didn’t really want to give up on this evil character. Vibe !