Cursed Films: Blu-Ray Review

Arriving on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD this week is Shudder’s five-part documentary series, “Cursed Films”, which explores horror films that are considered by many to have had cursed productions. Each episode runs just under 30 minutes and covers such classics as “Poltergeist”, “The Exorcist”, “The Omen”, “The Crow” and “The Twilight Zone”.  Having had grown up with all of these films, I was very familiar with much of what is touched upon in the doc, but that didn’t diminish any interest I had in the series. In fact, I feel that that I was impacted more now as an adult listening to some of the accounts of what had happened, than I did when I was younger.

The easily avoidable disaster that took place during John Landis’ segment in “The Twilight Zone” just baffled me. Watching the footage of the helicopter crash that killed actor Vic Morrow and two children on my large TV in HD had to be one of the most horrifying things I have ever seen. When it comes to “The Crow”, seeing the similarities between Brandon Lee’s death and the plot of his father’s final film “Game of Death” is downright bizarre. Not only that, but both Brandon and Bruce Lee died before they got a chance to finish their films.

Now, I don’t actually believe in curses, but I would be lying if some of the things that Linda Blair (The Exorcist), Ryan Turek (Blumhouse), Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th Part 7-10) and Gary Sherman (Poltergeist III), didn’t feel downright spooky.

If you love horror movies and documentaries about them, I recommend checking out “Cursed Films”.

By: Marc Ferman