The blockbuster from 1982 poltergeist will return to theaters as part of the TCM Big Screen Classics Series hosted by TCM and Fathom Events with screenings on September 25, 26 and 28, 2022. Fans of the hit haunted house movie will remember how the Freely family, who included Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams, as the parents and their three children faced evil spirits invading their new suburban home. Oliver Robinswho recently played middle child Robbie Freely spoke to Yahoo Entertainment about the cult classic. Robins was happy to dispel a myth that has long been besieged poltergeist, that Spielberg actually directed the film instead of Tobe Hooper. According to Robins, Spielberg’s director co-wrote the screenplay and was actively on set, but he insists Hooper was always in control, at least when he was in front of the camera.
Another interesting tidbit, which Robins says he witnessed, was the scene where the actor peeled his face off in front of a mirror. Robins states that the hands that did the peeling belonged to Steven Spielberg. Tobe Hooper led him and said:
“Okay Steven, your hands have to go here.”
As for the infamous Poltergeist Curse, Robins had something to say about that too.
“I hope there’s no curse, because I’m still here. I believe in the paranormal to some degree, but I don’t think there is a curse because those deaths can be explained. You would have let these tragedies happen, but they would happen or… [the actors] were in the movie or not. As with Heather, she had a medical condition for which she was not being treated. So I don’t think they are connected.”
The Urban Legend That’s The Poltergeist Curse
Five months after the film’s release, Dominique Dunne, who played the eldest Freeling daughter Dana, was murdered by an ex-boyfriend. In 1988, Heather O’Rourke, the youngest brother on screen, died at the age of 12 after a severe case of bowel stenosis. Both deaths were tragic and shocking. Robins told Yahoo,
“She was my buddy and stayed at my house. I didn’t know there was anything wrong with her. It was such a terrible tragedy and I honestly didn’t know how to deal with it. It was kind of a turning point in my life where I woke up to the reality that life is finite and that every day is truly precious.”
The other oft-cited victims of the curse are Julian Beck and Will Sampson, both of whom appeared in the 1986 sequel, Poltergeist II: the other side. Both men died of diseases. Richard Lawson, who appeared in the original film, narrowly escaped death in 1992 when his USAir Flight 405 crashed into Flushing Bay. A total of 27 people of the 51 on board were killed. In 2009, a second cast member was murdered. Lou Perryman played the small part of Pugsley in the original film. He was 67 years old when a recently released ex-con killed him with an ax in his own home.