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The success of the original Poltergeist (1982), a masterful blend of suburban anxiety and supernatural terror, seemed to guarantee a rich future for the franchise. Directed by Tobe Hooper and famously guided by Steven Spielberg, the film remains a textbook case of how to balance heart-pounding scares with moments of familial tenderness. By contrast, Poltergeist II: The Other Side has always felt like a pale echo of its predecessor – a sequel that revisits familiar territory but struggles to carve out its own identity.

Set a year after the events of the original, Poltergeist II finds the Freeling family – Diane (JoBeth Williams), Steven (Craig T. Nelson), Robbie (Oliver Robins), and the ever-captivating Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) – attempting to rebuild their lives. Now living with Diane’s mother, they’re haunted not just by the memories of their spectral ordeal but by literal ghosts who refuse to let go. Their suburban nightmare is far from over.

With the recent reveal of the showrunners behind the upcoming Poltergeist television series, fans may be missing the beloved actors who won't be able to join the show. Among the cast members who passed during the production of the original trilogy is Julian Beck, whose performance as the ghostly Preacher Kane was the most terrifying part of Poltergeist 2: The Other Side. That was Beck's best-known screen role, but on the stage, he was the co-founder of The Living Theatre, a legendary performance group whose activities shocked a generation.

The Poltergeist franchise began with the 1982 classic that combined director Tobe Hooper's flair for scares with producer Stephen Spielberg's friendly warmth. The successful film was followed by Poltergeist 2: The Other Side (1985) and Poltergeist 3 (1988). While these sequels did not fare as well as the original, they created an iconic villain in the Preacher Kane. This grim specter traumatized...

The house from Poltergeist is up for sale. This is the actual house used in the movie, and it is loaded with plenty of urban legends. However, the realtor selling the house is playing off the legends from the horror movie and promises the house is “definitely not haunted.”

Here is what you need to know about the famous house that is up for sale.

Poltergeist House Up For Sale For First Time In 45 Years

An ad went up, and it appears that the house used in the movie Poltergeist is for sale. This is the first time the house has been on the market in 45 years. The movie is based on the supposedly haunted Herrmann House in Long Island. However, this house is located in Simi Valley, California.

The Poltergeist house from the movie

The Poltergeist house, located outside Los Angeles, was listed for $1.174 million. It has a 16,000-square-foot lot,...

Scream Factory has announced this afternoon that Poltergeist II: The Other Side will be joining the original horror classic in the world of 4K Ultra HD with a brand new release.

The 1986 sequel gets a 4K Ultra HD upgrade on August 27, 2024.

In the thrilling follow-up to the smash hit Poltergeist, the Freeling family settles into a new home following the annihilation of their former residence by terrifying visitors from the netherworld. But the spirits of the dead are still hell-bent on luring the family to “the other side.”

Featuring incredible visual effects that earned the team an Academy Awards nomination in 1987, Poltergeist II is notable for the late Julian Beck’s chilling performance as Reverend Kane.

Poltergeist II: The Other Side was followed by one more sequel in 1988, simply titled Poltergeist III. 20th Century Fox later remade the original classic with Poltergeist in 2015.

Last we heard, a TV series is...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker 4K Uhd from Severin Films

Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on May 28 via Severin Films. The 1981 psychosexual horror film has been newly scanned in 4K from the original camera negative.

Also known as Night Warning, the film is directed by William Asher (Bewitched) and written by Steve Breimer, Alan Jay Glueckman, and Boon Collins. Jimmy McNichol, Susan Tyrrell, Bo Svenson, Bill Paxton, and Julia Duffy star.

Special features include: commentary by McNichol; commentary by Breimer and Glueckman; commentary by co-producer Eugene Mazzola; and interviews with McNichol, Tyrrell, Svenson, Breimer, actor Steven Eastin, makeup artist Allan A. Alpone, director of photography Robbie Greenberg, and editor Ted Nicolaou.

Poltergeist 2's Reverend Kane, played by Julian Beck, is an iconic horror villain despite Beck's battle with stomach cancer during filming. Beck's health condition added to the eerie appearance of Reverend Kane, making him even more terrifying on screen. Julian Beck passed away before post-production was completed, leading to some of his lines being re-recorded by a sound-alike. His death contributed to the "Poltergeist Curse" surrounding the franchise.

1986 sequel Poltergeist 2's villain, the terrifying Reverend Kane, is a horror icon, but actor Julian Beck barely made it through production alive. The first Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hooper and released in 1982, is a horror classic, managing to scare audiences while only being rated PG. At the time, the PG-13 rating didn't exist. In 1986, Poltergeist's Freeling Family — minus older daughter Dana, as actress Dominique Dunne had been tragically murdered in the intervening years — returned for another ghostly adventure. Few...

Clockwise from bottom left: Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (Screenshot: Paramount Pictures/YouTube); Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth (Screenshot: Dimension Films/YouTube); A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (Screenshot: New Line Cinema); Halloween 2018 (Photo: Universal Pictures)Graphic: Rebecca Fassola

When you think of what makes a great horror movie,...

A new episode of The Arrow in the Head Show has just been released, and in this one hosts John “The Arrow” Fallon and Lance Vlcek are talking about Poltergeist – but not the Tobe Hooper / Steven Spielberg classic from 1982. The Poltergeist movie they’re focusing on in this episode is the 1986 sequel Poltergeist II: The Other Side (watch it Here), the one with the creepy reverend and the tequila worm. To find out what they had to say about it, check out the video embedded above!

Directed by Brian Gibson from a screenplay written by Michael Grais and Mark Victor, Poltergeist II has the following synopsis: The Freelings have escaped their haunted house, which is now being studied by paranormal investigators, including shaman Taylor. When Taylor realizes that the Beast, masquerading as the Reverend Kane, knows where young Carol Anne Freeling now lives, he goes to warn the family that...

From "Halloween" to "A Nightmare on Elm Street," there's no shortage of iconic horror movies from the '70s and '80s that launched long-running franchises. Still, "Poltergeist" stands out among the rest because of its cult following - and many of those fans believe the Poltergeist franchise is actually cursed.

A reboot of the classic 1982 horror film "Poltergeist" came out in 2015, but let's be honest: nothing could compare to the original. While no horrific accidents occurred on the set of the most recent movie, there are plenty of rumors of a curse on the original film trilogy's cast.

The movie revolves around a suburban family who moves into a new home and begins to notice strange things involving their 5-year-old daughter, Carol Ann. Turns out, menacing spirits are haunting the house, and while their interactions seem harmless at first, their true evil nature is soon revealed when Carol Ann goes missing,...

You can’t help but have high hopes for a film called Fried Barry so thankfully expectations have been massively exceeded. Writer/director Ryan Kruger extends his 2017 short of the same name into a phenomenal mind-f**k masterpiece that transcends nano-budget B movie trappings.

The script doesn’t let up as we’re swiftly introduced to Barry (brilliantly played by Gary Green), a perpetually frazzled, financially struggling, drug addled dad/scumbag, who looks like a hybrid of Lee Van Cleef, Julian Beck (Kane from Poltergeist 2) and Dieter Laser from The Human Centipede films.

After walking out on his wife and young son, Barry goes pub, gets tousled on heroin and is then either possessed by extra-terrestrials or has the type of frighteningly heightened hallucination that would suggest he’s been cajoled onto a toad licking frenzy by a psycho Shaman from Mars.

We’re then swiftly booted face first into Barry’s odyssey,...

As someone who has enjoyed all of Bryan Bertino’s directorial output over the years, with The Strangers being one of my favorite modern horrors of all-time, The Dark and the Wicked might just be Bertino’s greatest cinematic achievement to date. A masterful exploration of grief and faith that often ratchets up the tension to unimaginable levels, The Dark and the Wicked is one of the most confidently crafted horror films of 2020, and is easily one of the best that this year has to offer as well. It takes a lot for a film to crawl right up under my skin, but The Dark and the Wicked did it with minimal effort, and it left me shaken and unsettled by the time the credits rolled around.

At the start of the film, a pair of siblings – Louise (Marin Ireland) and Michael (Michael Abbott Jr.) – return home to the family farm,...

Last year, AMC’s horror-centric streaming service Shudder unveiled the compelling documentary “Horror Noire,” examining the role African-Americans played throughout film history. That feature’s success sparked a desire for the service to cater to more niche facets of film history, and their next foray into that arena is “Cursed Films,” which looks to examine films that have long histories of being cursed. The material is interesting, especially in conjunction with the features the five-part documentary series covers, but director Jay Cheel takes too many tangential digressions to keep things from feeling tiring.

When the 1982 feature “Poltergeist” debuted it was quickly tempered by the murder of actress Dominique Dunne. Actors Will Sampson and Julian Beck would pass after the film’s sequel came out, while leading child star Heather O’Rourke passed at just 11-years-old while working on “Poltergeist III.” It’s easy to see where audiences would start to wonder...

They say you Can’t Go Home Again, but Francis Coppola has pulled a real magic trick — his 1984 gangland musical ended up heavily compromised by outright racism producers that didn’t like the half of the story that favored a black show-biz drama. All the gangster action has been retained in this impressive Encore recut, but with twenty new minutes of performances and backstage intrigues. Gregory and Maurice Hines’ tap dances are extended, and musical numbers have been restored, with the terrific Lonette McKee getting special emphasis. The show was always good, and now it’s much better.

The Cotton Club Encore

Blu-ray + DVD + Digital

Lionsgate

1984-2019 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 139 min. (originally 119) / Street Date December 10, 2019 / 14.99

Starring: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Gregory Hines, Lonette McKee, Bob Hoskins, Maurice Hines, James Remar, Nicolas Cage, Allen Garfield, Fred Gwynne, Gwen Verdon, Julian Beck, John P. Ryan.

Cinematography: Stephen Goldblatt

Production Designer: Richard Sylbert

Film Editors: Robert Q. Lovett,...

For a director mostly known for gory cannibal/torture flicks like Hostel and The Green Inferno, Eli Roth has gone on to helm one of his finest features yet with an Amblin family fantasy! But before horror hounds run for the hills screaming “sell-out!”, The House with a Clock in Its Walls is far from the plastic PG fright-laden picture some might imagine, given the oddly Christmassy “Harry Potter for horror fans” posters. Based on a book by John Bellairs, Roth and screenwriter Eric Kripke’s gaudy haunted film fun-house is bursting with a firework display of vibrant concepts, riveting fantasy dread, necromancy, ghouls and squirmy purple tentacles. All a young horror fan could hope for and far creepier than the demon nuns and slender men of recent “grown-up” genre hiccups.

It’s 1955, New Zebedee, Michigan: after the death of his parents, Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) is sent to live with his strange,...

There was never really a need to sequelize 1982’s Poltergeist. It told a complete story. It vanquished the evil spirit haunting the house by film’s end. Heck, it even vanquished the house itself. But because the original movie was a hit and it was the ’80s, the Tobe Hooper/Steven Spielberg collaboration got not just one sequel but two, despite the fact that it does not lend itself to being a franchise. New villains and new mythology—and eventually even new family members—were introduced to keep the story going, albeit with mixed results. And while the sequels have their fans, they’re hardly among the most beloved horror films of the decade. Thanks to Scream Factory’s new Collector's Editions of both, horror fans now have the chance to reevaluate them in the best possible format.

Though released four years after the 1982 original, Poltergeist II: The Other Side...

Tony Sokol Feb 3, 2017

Plans were afoot to make Poltergeist 2's preacher a recurring horror character to rival the likes of Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers...

In Poltergeist II, directed by Brian Gibson, Reverend Henry Kane - played by Julian Beck - was a doomsday cult leader in the early 19th century, who promised to save his followers from the end of the world by hiding them in an underground cavern below what later became the Freeling familys' property. But Kane had an ulterior motive. And according to an interview at Poltergeist 3: The Website, Kane was on his way to achieving the iconic horror status of Freddy Krueger or Michael Myers by becoming the beast.

“I was at Universal in the early 90s and I heard about Poltergeist 4,” industry insider Macklin Crux told the site. “Someone told me about a new script that was being developed about the pre-story: Kane and his followers.

“You’re gonna die in there! All of you!” Whether you revisited Poltergeist 2 on Scream Factory’s brand new Blu-ray this week or you haven’t watched it since you were a kid, I’m willing to bet you have a vivid memory of the film’s antagonist, Reverend Henry Kane. Played by Julian Beck, who was dying at […]...

For this final week of home entertainment releases in January, horror and sci-fi fans have a ton of cult classics to look forward to, including Poltergeist II and Poltergeist III from Scream Factory, and Lair of the White Worm and Parents from Lionsgate via their Vestron Video Collector’s Series.

Synapse Films is also keeping busy with a trio of releases this Tuesday—The Coffin Joe Trilogy Collection, At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul, and This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse—and for those of you missed it in theaters, Boo! A Madea Halloween comes home to both Blu-ray and DVD on January 31st as well.

Lair of the White Worm: Vestron Video Collector’s Series (Lionsgate, Blu-ray)

Bram Stoker’s last novel is the basis for this wild tale of a horrific beast and the evil forces it unleashes on the beautiful English countryside.

Vestron Video...

If your home away from home in your formative years was the dentist’s office, then you know that braces can be hell. That teeth-centric fear was tapped into by the special effects team in Poltergeist II: The Other Side, and with the sequel coming out on a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray on January 31st from Scream Factory, we’ve been provided with an exclusive bonus features clip just for Daily Dead readers that goes behind-the-scenes of the movie’s intense braces scene.

Check out our exclusive bonus features clip of actor Oliver Robins reminiscing about the braces scene below, and be sure to visit Scream Factory to learn more about their Collector’s Edition Blu-rays of both Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III:

https://www.shoutfactory.com/film/film-horror/poltergeist-ii-the-other-side-collector-s-edition https://www.shoutfactory.com/film/film-horror/poltergeist-iii-collector-s-edition

Poltergeist II: The Other Side (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray...

Beginning January 31st, sinister spirits return to haunt the Freeling family on Scream Factory’s Poltergeist II: The Other Side Collector’s Edition Blu-ray, and we’ve been provided with three copies to give away to Daily Dead readers.

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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Collector’s Edition Blu-ray copy of Poltergeist II: The Other Side.

How to Enter: For a chance to win, email contest@dailydead.com with the subject “Poltergeist II Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on February 3rd. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted.

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Poltergeist II: The Other Side (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray): “In this thrilling follow-up to the smash hit Poltergeist, the Freeling family (JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson,...

Scream Factory welcomes back the spirits that plagued the Freeling family with their respective Collector’s Edition Blu-rays of Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III, and to get you prepped for the January 31st releases, we have high-def clips and trailers from both films for you to enjoy.

Poltergeist II: The Other Side (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray): “In this thrilling follow-up to the smash hit Poltergeist, the Freeling family (JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Heather O’Rourke, Oliver Robins) settles into a new home following the annihilation of their former residence by terrifying visitors from the netherworld. But the spirits of the dead are still hell-bent on luring the family’s clairvoyant daughter Carol Anne to “the other side.” This chilling sequel, directed by Brian Gibson (Breaking Glass) also stars Will Sampson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Julian Beck (The Cotton Club) and Zelda Rubinstein (Anguish) returns as Tangina.

★★★☆☆ Home is where the Abattoir is, in Darren Lynn Bousman's film noir chiller. Swapping torture porn frolics - he helmed several sequels in the Saw franchise - for a more subdued approach, his latest work, arguably his strongest yet, is pitched as a ghost story with a nightmare twist. Based on an unpublished graphic novel serving as a prequel to events in the film (making its literally origins a bit of a cheat, because nobody's read it) Abattoir's visceral title is symbolic and reflected upon in a line of dialogue uttered by the film's Big Bad, Jebediah Crone (Dayton Callie), a creepy southern preacher recalling Julian Beck's insidious final role in Poltergeist II.

Hell's Kitchen: Soul stew image likely from the 1922 Benjamin Christensen horror classic 'Häxan / Witchcraft Through the Ages.' Day of the Dead post: Cinema's Top Five Scariest Living Dead We should all be eternally grateful to the pagans, who had the foresight to come up with many (most?) of the overworked Western world's religious holidays. Thanks to them, besides Easter, Christmas, New Year's, and possibly Mardi Gras (a holiday in some countries), we also have Halloween, All Saints' Day, and the Day of Dead. The latter two are public holidays in a number of countries with large Catholic populations. Since today marks the end of the annual Halloween / All Saints' Day / Day of the Dead celebrations, I'm posting my revised and expanded list of the movies' Top Five Scariest Living Dead. Of course, by that I don't mean the actors listed below were dead when the movies were made.

Any number of famous horror movies are supposed to have had a curse that plagued their cast and crew both during the shoot and subsequently. The Exorcist is one; Poltergeist is another. And the latter is now set to be the subject of a documentary. Producer and director Adam Ripp is putting together The Curse Of Poltergeist, taking the life and experiences of actor Oliver Robins as its starting point and main focus.What's the supposed curse? A number of deaths, basically. Actress Heather O'Rourke - the trilogy's cute Carol-Anne -  died suddenly at the tragically young age of 12, just before the release of Poltergeist 3. Dominique Dunne, who played Dana, was killed by her boyfriend in 1982, not long after the first film. Bit-part player Lou Perryman was the victim of an axe murder in 2009. Will Sampson died two years after appearing in Poltergeist II. And Julian Beck - Poltergeist II...

With Halloween right around the corner, we're counting down the days by posting five facts about our favorite fright flicks.Today's featured film is "Poltergeist" (1982).1. Many believe there is a curse associated with the film.Heather O'Rourke, who played Carol Anne Freeling, died of intestinal stenosis just four months before the release of "Poltergeist III." Dominique Dunne, who played the teenage daughter, was strangled by her boyfriend and died in 1982, the same year as the film’s release. Her character was away at school in the sequel. Julian Beck, who played Kane in "Poltergeist II," also passed away between filming the movie and its release. He had been battling cancer for well over a year.2. The hands which pull the flesh off of the investigator’s face were actually Steven Spielberg's. 3. Drew Barrymore was up for the role of Carol Anne, but Spielberg wanted someone more "angelic." However, her...

The following article accompanies the audiovisual essay Paratheatre - Plays Without Stages (From I to IV) by Adrian Martin and Cristina Álvarez López and commissioned by Chris Luscri for the 2014 Melbourne International Film Festival premiere of Jacques Rivette's 1971 magnum opus Out 1 - Noli me tangere.

In Jacques Rivette’s monumental Out 1 (1971), we see two theatrical works perpetually in progress — until, due to the force of many factors both internal and external, both projects collapse. Yet what we witness are not, in any conventional or normative sense, rehearsals. They are more like what Jerzy Grotwoski called paratheatre: playing without a stage, without an audience ever in mind or in attendance, playing for the sake of playing itself, for the process of working it out and working it through.

Every critical commentary on Out 1 (and its double, Out 1: Spectre from 1974) refers to the prominent place in it of theatre — a prominent place it enjoys,...

‘Cursed productions’ are not exclusive to horror pictures. But, it’s typically horror films that garner the most attention for tumultuous circumstances surrounding their filming. At one point, people seemed to like the idea of those involved with horror movies being condemned for their participation in the devil’s work. But, these days, many people would, attribute a cursed production to nothing more than bad luck, negligence, unfortunate circumstances, or a combination of the above factors. Films from The Wizard of Oz to Superman have spawned rumors of a curse associated with their production. But, a lot of people argue that there is a slightly less fantastical explanation for films that endured a particularly turbulent shoot.

Despite the fact that people try to tell us that there is no such thing as a ‘cursed production’, we thought it would be interesting to reminisce on some of the most notorious ‘cursed productions’. As a disclaimer,...

The big news of the day has finally come as Monster House director Gil Kenan has been named as the person sliding into the director's chair for the Sam Raimi produced remake of the 1981 classic Poltergeist.

The Poltergeist reimagining originally had Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) attached to direct, but then money woes at MGM slowed everything down to a grinding halt on the flick.

In case you're a young whippersnapper or have been living under a rock, the original flick starred Craig T. Nelson and Jobeth Williams as the parents of a normal family whose dream house turns into a nightmare when their daughter is sucked into the TV, their son is attacked by a tree, and corpses pop up out of their backyard, thereby leaving the door open for a sequel starring a dying while filming Julian Beck as Reverend Kane, the spookiest preacher ever put to film.

Help us sort through the racks for the best examples of shopping malls featured in film

This week's Clip joint is by Martyn Conterio. Think you can do better? If you've got an idea for a future Clip joint, send a message to adam.boult@guardian.co.uk

The shopping mall on screen: where bland commercialism meets high drama. Over the past 40 years, cinema has used this environment for all sorts of strange and unusual scenarios, ranging from Woody Allen comedies to zombie sagas. A major lure for film-makers and producers is the salient matter of dispensing with constructing an expensive set – there's already one there.

That Anywheresville quality to shopping-mall interiors lends various films a universal feel. Don't all malls look basically the same on the inside, dominated by bright lighting, displays, food courts, neat rows of shops, fountains and sculptures? Almost naturally, American movie-makers have utilised the mall for many,...

Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense Julian Beck, Poltergeist II: The Other Side: Top Five Scariest Living Dead Pt.4 In The Sixth Sense, Haley Joel Osment plays a young boy who not only sees dead people, but he hears them as well. Bruce Willis, for his part, sees and hears what he wants to see and hear. As for me, I saw and heard what writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, cinematographer Tak Fujimoto, and the film's sound editors wanted me to see and hear. As far as I'm concerned, scarier than Osment, Willis, the myriad plot holes, the phony melodrama, the dishonest ending, and the dead people you get to see was the dead person you don't get to see in Shyamalan's hugely successful horror movie. I'm referring to that voice in the recording that must be played backwards so you can hear a desperate Spanish-speaking man saying "I don't want to die.

Julian Beck, Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) Peter Wyngarde, The Innocents: Top Five Scariest Living Dead Pt.3 Brian Gibson's Poltergeist II: The Other Side is probably one of the worst, most tedious horror movies I've ever seen. But the Poltergeist sequel did offer one memorable sequence featuring avant-garde theater multitasker Julian Beck, who died in 1985 while working on the film. As a demonic Christian, Beck doesn't do much in his brief role; his underplaying, however, ends up making his character's malevolence all the spookier. In fact, I find Beck's deeply wrinkled, gargoylish face — so much like that of a couple of priests at my Catholic school — much scarier than the better-known, colorful façades of, say, Jason, Freddy, or Norman Bates' mom.

Yes, yes, I know. The only great Poltergeist film is the first one. But for fans of the franchise this BluRay release is gonna be the bomb. Poltergeist II offers a genuinely stunning transfer of a seriously twonky eighties monsterfest. I first saw this on theatrical release as a part of a double bill and all I remembered about the experience was falling asleep. But don not dismiss it. On current review this movie is hilariously entertaining and you could do far worse than schedule it for your Halloween festivities. Of special mention is actor Julian Beck as the evil Reverend Kane. He is the one genuinely chilling aspect of a clunky surreal storyline involving indian mysticism, numerous flashbacks to the previous film and also a wonderful...

Just for the hell of it, and in the spirit of the Halloween season I came up with a list of 10 movie characters who I think are the most creepiest characters ever created in film. The list I've put together is in no particular order, but go through tell me what you think, and let me know if there are there any characters that you think should be added to it?

Kane - Julian Beck - Poltergeist II

I was actually just wanting Poltergeist II and it was seeing this character that actually gave me the idea of putting together this list. This guy is just scary as hell! The guy had a unique gift of scaring the shit out of people while walking down the street. 

Willy Wonka - Gene Wilder - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

You just can't deny that Willy Wonka isn't scary as hell...

Rank the week of September 13th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Thor

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #227

Win Percentage: 58%

Times Ranked: 18033

Top-20 Rankings: 90

Directed By: Kenneth Branagh

Starring: Chris Hemsworth • Natalie Portman • Anthony Hopkins • Jeremy Renner • Kat Dennings

Genres: Action • Adventure • Based-on-Comics • Comic-Book Superhero Film • Fantasy • Fantasy Adventure

Rank This Movie

Conan O’Brien Can’T Stop

(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #5260

Win Percentage: 54%

Times Ranked: 719

Top-20 Rankings: 5

Directed By: Rodman Flender

Starring: Conan O’Brien

Genres: Comedy • Documentary

Rank This Movie

Incendies

(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #4296

Win Percentage: 51%

Times Ranked: 947

Top-20 Rankings: 8

Directed By: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Lubna Azabal • Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin • Maxim Gaudette • Rémy Girard • Abdelghafour Elaaziz

Genres: Drama • Foreign Language Film

Rank This Movie

The Tempest

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #7784

Win Percentage: 37%

Times Ranked: 385

Top-20 Rankings: 2

Directed By: Julie Taymor

Starring: Helen Mirren • Djimon Hounsou • Alfred Molina...

Continuing in the honor of the upcoming Texas Frightmare Weekend, Tmp takes a look at some of the most notorious "curses" that have seemingly plagued Hollywood over the years.  Chronicling odd circumstances and strange occurrences, some of these instances are just plain creepy.

Curses and misfortune have persisted in the realm of artistic creation since the premiere of Shakespeare's Macbeth, quite possibly before that.  But the stories behind the curses that terrorize some productions would seek to prove that the supernatural can affect more than just the imagination.  The following stories are just a few of the more intriguing ones we've discovered haunting the hallowed history of Hollywood.

Calories Or Curses?

A Confederacy of Dunces

Widely regarded as one of the most cursed projects in Hollywood, A Confederacy of Dunces, based on the absolutely hilarious and bestselling book by John Kennedy Toole, has yet to even get off the ground.

Journalist Alex Goldblum has posted an audio interview, embedded above, with actress Judith Malina about her experience appearing in Jack Smith’s seminal 1963 underground film Flaming Creatures. Although the film was made close to 50 years ago, Malina has a good recollection of the filming, including Smith’s more outrageous directions. Word of warning: Malina’s comments play over scenes of the actual film, which are Nsfw as they include male and female nudity.

The nicest part of the interview is the glowing terms with which Malina describes Smith, who was known as a very difficult person to get along with. But, Malina only speaks of him as a great artist who worked with actors the way painters work with paint. (That’s a somewhat paraphrase of her comments.) Even when Smith asks her to commit an outrageous act, Malina apparently didn’t hesitate.

I’m not enough of a scholar...