Welcome to the World of Pub Quizzing!

Pub Quiz USA

October 27th, 2009 at 3:24 am

Poltergeist Curse! *oooooooh I’m scurred!*

in: Jeremy Hendrickson

Good night at Roscoe’s! I filled in for Dave while he is away, and the crowd was full of beer and good natured trash talkin, which makes for a fun quiz every time. Street Justice League took top spot, with Pork Bellies right behind them. People enjoyed their first taste of The Game of Arrogance, and throughout the night impressed me with their knowledge of monster trivia. Good stuff! I’d go back for sure. Might even have a beer next time!

As for the Poltergeist curse that I mentioned during the quiz, check this out:

  • Dominique Dunne, who played the oldest sibling Dana in the first movie, died in 1982 at age 22 after being strangled by her jealous boyfriend. The boyfriend, John Thomas Sweeney, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison, but was paroled after serving three and a half years.
  • Julian Beck, 60-year-old actor who played Kane in Poltergeist II: The Other Side, died in 1985 of stomach cancer diagnosed before he had accepted the role.
  • Will Sampson, 53 years old, who played Taylor the Medicine Man in Poltergeist II, died as a result of post-operative kidney failure and pre-operative malnutrition problems in 1987.
  • Heather O’Rourke, who played Carol Anne in all three Poltergeist movies, died in 1988 at the age of 12 after what doctors initially described as an acute form of influenza but later changed to septic shock after bacterial toxins invaded her bloodstream. At the time, she had suffered acute bowel obstruction, initially diagnosed as Crohn’s disease, which may have been the cause of death.

    • First off, a dude only served in prison for 3.5 years for strangling his girlfriend to death? What the fark?

    Anyway, the curse is probably more about them casting people with health problems and/or people that hate them than anything else. Of course then, there is this:

    Louis “Lou” Perryman, who played Pugsley in the first movie, was murdered at the age of 68 in his Austin, Texas home in April, 2009, by Seth Christopher Tatum (the two did not know each other.) Tatum stabbed Perryman several times with a sharp object (possibly an axe) and then stole his car to flee from police due to an unrelated aggravated assault charge.

    Some jackass just killed him, axe-murderer style, in 2009. Also, Craig T. Nelson was the only actor that I even recognize from the people who were in Poltergeist.

    And finall, the nail in the coffin (hee hee!): Poltergeist director Tobe Hooper directed the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Salem’s Lot, then Poltergeist. Not bad as far as horror movies go. But after Poltergeist, the list of movies he’s directed is just painful: Life Force (aka Space Vampires); Invaders From Mars; Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (If even there was NOT a need for a sequel); and a slew of made-for-tv horror crap. I think the *real* curse is that anyone involved in the movie either died before their careers could continue, or were cast into mediocrity… forever-ever-ever. Echo.

     

    RSS feed for comments on this post