Over the decades, there have been legendary horror films that have become even more legendary because of what happened off-screen as well as on.
William Friedkin’s THE EXORCIST (1973) was hit by a number of tragic occurrences that some of the cast reminisced about in the excellent Mark Kermode documentary THE FEAR OF GOD and in a documentary about the late Richard Donner’s 1976 iconic horror classic THE OMEN, Donner reflected on the story about the Hawker Siddeley plane that was chartered by some Japanese businessmen over him and the producer Harvey Bernhard which crashed on take-off due to some birds flying into the engine.
Now, Shudder’s new series CURSED FILMS II goes beyond some classic films and in the opening two episodes, the series reflects on the behind the scenes production mysteries of Victor Fleming’s THE WIZARD OF OZ (1938) and Roman Polanski’s ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968).
THE WIZARD OF OZ is a definitive family favourite these days, a forever Christmas TV classic like IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE and SCROOGED, but the episode tells of some very shocking production moments, notably the infamous ‘Hanging Munchkin’ seen in the back of the soundstage as Dorothy, The Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow and The Tin Man dance whilst singing ‘The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz’ which was eliminated from later home video releases, but which appears on an early VHS copy.
In addition, there is also Wicked Witch of the West actress Margaret Hamilton’s soundstage accident of fire in which she suffered third degree burns during a scene where she disappeared down a trap door, as well as reflections on Judy Garland’s own personal troubles which led to her premature death after a career of musical classics.
The ROSEMARY’S BABY episode takes us into the context of the ‘Manson Family’ murders in Polanski’s house in Hollywood, in which his wife Sharon Tate and others died at the hands of the notorious murder, but there is also some context in terms of the location of the building where the principal action took place, namely the Dakota – the same building where John Lennon resided at the time of his murder in December 1980 at the hands of murderer Mark Chapman.
The commentators in the episodes also question whether the films were truly cursed – and other episodes to come include STALKER, THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW and Ruggero Deodato’s CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST.
These first two episodes are well worth your time and effort and are well worth a look.
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