Tragic story of Poltergeist movie as multiple actors died shortly after its release

Some have speculated that a horror movie was 'cursed' after multiple actors died shortly after filming ended.

In 1982, Poltergeist was released and it went down a storm with film fans.

To this day, the decades old movie that was produced by Steven Spielberg boasts 88 percent on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer.

Like many horror movies, Poltergeist drew inspiration from a true story. It's said to be based on the Hermann family of Long Island, New York, who claimed that their home was haunted by a poltergeist in the 1950s.

Of course, some parts of the Poltergeist were embellished for additional dramatization, but one thing that didn't need to be embellished was the tragedies that surrounded the movie and its actors.

The original 1982 film had sequels in 1986 with Poltergeist II, and 1988’s Poltergeist III, and four actors involved in the movies later passed away.

Heather O'Rouke

The youngest of them was 12-year-old Heather O'Rouke, who starred as Carol Anne Freeling in the franchise. She was only six when she starred in the first film.

In 1987 O'Rouke diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease. The following year she fell ill once more but her symptoms were attributed to the flu.

Heather O'Rouke was only six years old in the first film (MGM/Warner Bros.)

Shortly after, O'Rouke suffered a cardiac arrest and after being rushed to hospital, the young actress died during an operation to correct a bowel obstruction.

It went on to be suspected that O'Rouke was misdiagnosed with Crohn's and that she actually had a congenital intestinal abnormality.

Dominique Dunne

Dominique Dunne starred as Dana Freeling in the first Poltergeist movie. While it's likely that her character would have featured in the follow-up films, tragically Dunne was murdered by her partner in 1982 when she was just 22 years old.

Dominique Dunne was murdered by her partner (MGM/Warner Bros.)

Dunne had separated with her partner John Sweeney who turned up to her house one night pleading for her to take him back.

When she refused, Sweeney strangled the actress and left her on the driveway of her home to die.

Julian Beck and Will Sampson

While Dunne and O'Rouke's deaths were very much unexpected, both Julian Beck and Will Sampson had been suffering with ill health before their deaths.

Beck, who played the evil preacher Kane from Poltergeist II was diagnosed with stomach cancer before his passing in 1985, while Sampson died from scleroderma in 1987 following heart-lung surgery.

He portrayed Taylor the Native American shaman in the second film of the franchise.