PLOT: A Shudder exclusive docuseries that examines five so-called “cursed” films: The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Omen, The Crow, and Twilight Zone: The Movie.
This one’s a little different today for Quarantine Days of Horror, but all together, this was about two-and-a-half hours of viewing, so I thought it was appropriate for today’s review.
If you’re a fan of any of these movies (or horror in general), then you’ve probably heard of most of the stories that they lay out here in this series. You’ve probably heard about the deaths surrounding The Poltergeist series or the strange occurrences that plagued The Exorcist, so I wouldn’t go into this expecting to hear something you haven’t heard before; at least not from those two episodes. The crown jewels of the series are the last two episodes, that cover The Crow and Twilight Zone: The Movie.
Don’t get me wrong, I think most of the episodes are worth the 25 minute runtime, though I didn’t find The Omen episode all that essential, but the final two episodes touch upon a couple films that maybe don’t get nearly as much ink written about them as, say, The Exorcist, arguably the greatest horror film of all-time.
I was familiar with the circumstances surrounding the stories of the final two films: I vaguely remember the news reports about Brandon Lee’s death when it happened, and I remember my father relating sticking my hand into a ceiling fan to the fate of Vic Morrow and the two children. Real gallows humor, especially for a kid that probably never heard of The Twilight Zone and definitely never heard of Vic Morrow.
I don’t know if there’s ever been as in-depth discussion surrounding the tragedies of these films, but this was my first experience with watching something specifically devoted to them. I found it engrossing, listening to people that arguably had a hand in each of them. What I also find telling is that John Landis declined to appear in the Twilight Zone: The Movie episode. To me, that’s quite telling.
The Main Damie 