The Stories Behind Three More Horror Classics

Posted by Stacy in Movies & SciFi, Neatorama Only, Paranormal on October 16, 2008 at 2:22 pm


Back by popular demand, I give you the stories behind some of your favorite horror classics – Part Two!


The Omen

I’m watching The Omen as I type this – how great is Gregory Peck? And he almost wasn’t cast in the part – the first pick was Charlton Heston, but he turned it down to make Midway. And thank God for that – just about a year earlier, Peck was contemplating retirement because he had been in a nasty string of box office bombs. But then The Omen came along and revived his career. He took a huge pay cut, but did option to get a cut of the film’s gross. The movie made more than $60 million in the U.S. alone, so it quickly became Gregory Peck’s highest-paying movie ever. On to the trivia!

  • The little boy who played Damien, Harvey Stephens, dyed his hair dark just to play Damien – he was actually blond. It’s the only major film role he ever had, although he did have a brief cameo in the 2006 remake as “Tabloid Reporter #3.”
  • I was delighted to find out that the actress who played Mrs. Baylock was in Hot Fuzz (I adore Simon Pegg). She was Joyce Cooper, the lady who ran the inn that Sgt. Angel stayed at – the one he had the “Fascist” and “Hag” verbal spat with.
  • Equally interesting – the girl who played the nanny who offs herself in Damien’s honor is Jack Palance’s daughter, Holly.
  • The scene where the baboons attack the car at the safari park really scared Harvey Stephens and Lee Remick. At first the scene wasn’t working – they tried putting a baby baboon in the backseat of the car to make the baboons angry, but much to everyone’s dismay, the baboons didn’t really care. Instead, they took the head baboon, causing the herd to go insane, rushing and pounding on the car. That terror you see on Lee Remick’s face is real. She wasn’t expecting such a violent reaction.
  • When the goldfish bowl falls to the floor and smashes, they’re not really goldfish. They’re just already-dead sardines painted orange, because director Richard Donner refused to kill goldfish just for the sake of the movie.
  • Just like the 2006 remake, marketing made a huge deal out of 666 being the sign of Satan. If you remember, the 2006 version came out on 6-6-06. The ‘76 version was sneak-previewed on June 6, 1976, and you’d better believe that date was picked on purpose. While movie patrons were in the theater watching the preview, theater employees were busy putting up posters to be seen as soon as the customers exited the theater. They read, “Today is the SIXTH day of the SIXTH month of nineteen-seventy-SIX!” THe trick worked – many customers were seriously spooked.
  • Maybe The Omen is cursed. Much has been made of the bizarre accidents that befell members of the cast and crew. For instance: Scriptwriter and novel writer David Seltzer’s plan was struck by lightning. Gregory Peck’s plane was struck by lightning too, on a separate occasion, and he was almost killed in a plane crash – he canceled his reservation on a flight that ended up plummeting to the ground, killing everyone on board. Director Richard Donner’s hotel was bombed. The Rottweiler trainers were attacked by the dogs they were training. Eerily, the girlfriend of the special effects coordinator who rigged up the famous decapitation scene was decapitated a couple of years later. And even people barely involved were at risk: a warden where the safari park scene was filmed was killed by a lion just a day after the scene was shot.
  • The scene where Lee Remick falls from the second floor of the house was done not by having her actually fall, strapped into a harness or anything. She “fell” standing upright and was pushed backward by a dolly onto a “floor” built onto a wall.
  • How did the unknown Harvey Stephens get the prime role of Damien? Well, during casting, director Richard Donner told all of the little boys who were auditioning to attack him like they would attack Kathy during the church scene. I mean, that’s probably fun for any little boy – but Stephens really played it to the hilt, scratching and clawing at Donner’s face and kicking him in the groin. The groin kick must have really won Donner over.

    • Texas Chainsaw Massacre

    I must admit, Texas Chainsaw isn’t one of my favorites. I have to agree with the commenter who said they aren’t really into the torture movies – Saw, Hostel and Turistas are so not up my alley. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it for what it is – a groundbreaking movie for the genre. It was so terrifying that people actually walked out during a mere sneak preview of the movie. Like a lot of the other movies we’ve discussed, it had a tiny little budget – $60,000, although some accounts say it eventually ballooned up to as much as twice that. Doesn’t really matter, though, since it ended up making $30.8 million in the U.S.

  • Director Tobe Hooper says he was standing in the hardware section of a store, getting angry because the crowd was so huge. Then he saw the chainsaws and a lightbulb went off in his head.
  • Edwin Neal, who played the hitchhiker, said that filming his scenes with John Dugan (he played the grandfather) was the worst experience of his entire life. It took 36 hours to film his scenes in temperatures that were consistently over 100 degrees. The room was filled with rotting animal carcasses and food. Neal has emphasized just how horrible it was by saying, “I had been in Vietnam, with people trying to kill me, so I guess that shows how bad it was.”
  • There’s no way the film is a true story. The opening says that the events took place on August 18, 1973, but the movie was actually shot from July 15, 1973, thought August 14, 1973. However, urban legends still persist that the horrifying events actually did happen near Poth, Texas, a town about 50 miles south of San Antonio.
  • The dude who played Leatherface, Gunnar Hansen, could easily run faster than Marilyn Burns (Sally). He employed lots of little tricks to slow himself up – if you watch when he is chasing her through the woods, at one point in the background, he starts to randomly slice up branches.
  • Gunnar Hansen had to wear the same shirt for the entire month of filming. It couldn’t be washed, because the color might change and provide an inconsistency. So he wore it for four weeks in the same conditions noted above – Texas heatwave, lots of fake blood and gore, etc. By the end of the shoot, no one would eat lunch with Hansen when he was in costume because he smelled so bad.
  • Supposedly, the film never would have been made if it wasn’t for the porn Deep Throat. The financing for Texas Chainsaw came from the profits of the Linda Lovelace flick.

    • Poltergeist

    Let’s just keep the Tobe Hooper train rolling – he directed Poltergeist, which is maybe the best ghost movie of all time. And unlike our others, this was a Spielberg flick – it had a budget and a crack marketing crew. But like Texas Chainsaw, being involved with the movie comes with its downfalls. I’m talking about the Curse, of course.

    Both actresses who played the daughters in the movie died at very young ages – Dominique Dunne, who played the older daughter, was murdered by her abusive ex-boyfriend in 1982, the same year Poltergeist was released. She was only 22. The actress who played little Carol Anne in the entire series died in 1988 at the age of 12 – the cause is a little murky. First it was called an extreme case of the flu, then changed to septic shock, and is now thought to be attributed to acute bowel obstruction. Two of the actors from Poltergeist II also died, one from stomach cancer and one from post-operative kidney failure.
    But it’s not just deaths – lots of other odd things happened as well. The house that served as the exterior of the Freeling home was damaged in a 1994 earthquake; JoBeth Williams (she played the mom) would come home after filming every day to find that all of the pictures on the wall in her house were crooked; and in the scene where the son, Robbie, is choked by the clown, something went wrong with the mechanical prop and the actor was actually being choked. These are just a few – a quick Google for “Poltergeist curse” will lead you to all sorts of interesting stories. Some of them are a stretch, to be sure, but it definitely makes for some creepy reading. Snopes has a good article about it, too. A few more tidbits:

    • According to both Craig T. Nelson (the Freeling dad) and JoBeth Williams, the skeletons used in the swimming pool scene near the end were the real thing due to a mistake by the prop company. I feel like there are probably some bio-hazard issues there – I wonder if the cast was just told that he props were the real thing to elicit real terror during filming the scene.
    • Like Texas Chainsaw, director Tobe Hooper had some real-life inspiration: a previous encounter with a poltergeist. When he was a teen, his father passed away. For weeks afterward Hooper says random dishes would fly of their own accord around the house.
    • You know the scene where the researcher is looking in the bathroom mirror and starts hallucinating that he’s tearing the skin off of his own face? The hands actually ripping the flesh off belong to Steven Spielberg.
    • Look close at the kids’ rooms – they’re packed with Star Wars toys.
    • Drew Barrymore audtioned for the Carol Anne part.
    • Steven Spielberg and I have something in common: a fear of clowns. In the movie, both of Robbie’s fears – the clown and the tree outside of his room – are things Steven was scared of as a child.
    • Apparently the MGM lion roar is the same roaring noise the Beast makes when it attacks the house at the end of the movie. I’m going to have to go pull out my copy of Poltergeist and check that one out.
    • When JoBeth Williams is in the kitchen cleaning, turns to get some more supplies, and then turns back around to find the chairs stacked up on the table – that was all done in one smooth shot. While the camera is following her over to her cleaning supplies, crew members quickly removed the single chairs and set an already-constructed stack on top of the table. IMDB says if you watch the toaster on the counter while JoBeth is assembling her cleaning stuff, you can see the crew members stacking the chairs in the reflection. Another thing I’m definitely going to check out.

    So, that’s it for one more round of horror movie facts. Would a third round be overkill? So many wonderful, terrifying movies… so little time.


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    37 comments to "The Stories Behind Three More Horror Classics"

    1. Ken
      October 16th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

      There was a movie I saw as a kid about a couple whose young daughter died, and all the dolls in her room kept being rearranged as if her ghost was playing with them. And they kept seeing glimpses of her in places. Scared the heck out of me.

    2. gavsy
      October 16th, 2008 at 2:55 pm

      I could read this feature year round, to be honest. I'd say not-enough-kill!
      I'd be interested to know some things about:

      Dawn of the Dead (the original)
      Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn
      Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors
      Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
      Phantasm
      Hellraiser
      Suspiria
      an off-beat horror comedy classic: ELVIRA

    3. gnat
      October 16th, 2008 at 2:56 pm

      these are awesome! i hope you keep them coming !

    4. mkultra
      October 16th, 2008 at 3:08 pm

      The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is really not very violent at all, particularly when compared to films like SAW or Turistas. What makes it so scary isn't the gore but the mood of inescapable doom that builds throughout the movie. The original is outright creepy in a way that none of the sequels or remakes have been able to replicate.

    5. CountryCritter
      October 16th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

      I HAAAATE Poltergeist. That movie scared the crap out of me when I was younger. I saw it once and it's sequels and haven't watched them since. I find it very creepy that all of those things happened to the people involved with that movie.

    6. mkultra
      October 16th, 2008 at 3:42 pm

      another note about Texas Chainsaw: While the events in the movie were mostly fictitious, Leatherface's skin-mask and the bone furniture were inspired by real life killer Ed Gein. Also the inspiration for Psycho, Ed Gein was generally considered a nice harmless old loner until it was discovered that he was making lampshades and clothing out of the skin and body parts of corpses he liked to dig up.

    7. DanOhh
      October 16th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

      Go for the trifecta.

    8. Ali S.
      October 16th, 2008 at 3:59 pm

      @ StacyBee

      Another great article! *high fives!*

      I have to say that this trivia and facts stuff is quite interesting to read up on. I don't have a copy of these movies yet but I'm gonna make sure to keep an eye out for the goofs and neat things when I watch them again. Once again great stuff!

      Oh, since we're on the Halloween theme how about the ultimate film of the undead? Nosferatu? :D

    9. J of The Sandhills
      October 16th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

      Texas Chainsaw Massacre seems to not to be the grandfather of the " inbred southern cannibal" genre.

      Two Thousand Maniacs?

      but it encouraged alot of drivers not to wander into country back roads, for sure.

    10. joecoollv
      October 16th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

      Fellow Neatoramans (Neatoramites?) My wife presented me with a challenge, as a child/pre-teen she saw a horror movie in which the house did not want the daughter to leave home to go to college. She distinctly remembers a scene in which the house locked someone in a shower stall, and it filled up with water, drowning them. If anyone knows the title or can suggest where I can search for such a film, I would greatly appreciate it.

    11. LisaL
      October 16th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

      I could also read stuff like this year round. I love these little tidbits and definitely want more! Don't care what movie... just do more pls :D

    12. garbonzo
      October 16th, 2008 at 4:12 pm

      Another fantastic post! Bruce Campbell's Autobiography (Confessions of a B-Movie Actor) gives some fantastic behind the scenes info about the Evil Dead movies. Have you read it?

    13. buu
      October 16th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

      we want a third!

    14. Johnny Cat
      October 16th, 2008 at 4:15 pm

      I'm soo watching Poltergeist tonight! Great job (again), Stacy!

    15. Woogie
      October 16th, 2008 at 4:51 pm

      The Star Wars toys thing in Poltergeist is hardly an unknown bit of trivia. A bloody Tie Fighter flies plast, complete with engine sound, if I recall when they open the door.

    16. Chris
      October 16th, 2008 at 4:58 pm

      I love Poltergeist, but I could never get past the ending. If a horrible evil inhabited my house, kidnapped my child and tortured my friends and family - I would get out of the freaking house! At one point they seem to think everything is a-ok and walk back into the house all smiley and cheery... which, of course, was a mistake. If any of this had happened to me, I would have pissed myself and ran screaming to the nearest metal hospital (after rescuing my family, of course). THEY GO BACK IN THE HOUSE! Argh. Still gets me riled up.

    17. seekshelter
      October 16th, 2008 at 5:09 pm

      i kinda liked touristas... but i wouldnt compare it to something like hostel. the use of violence wasnt used in the same way even though there was a bit of gore... that underwater chase where they are breathing bubbles off the cave walls was kinda neat too..

    18. b-ee
      October 16th, 2008 at 5:15 pm

      do more, these are great

    19. Bryan
      October 16th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

      This is a great article, and I'm going to look around Neatorama for the first (which I must have unfortunately missed).

    20. Sars
      October 16th, 2008 at 7:40 pm

      These articles are great, and I totally agree with gavsy in that I could read it year round. Great job!

    21. alex place
      October 16th, 2008 at 7:46 pm

      EVIL DEAD!!!!!

    22. The Mutt
      October 16th, 2008 at 8:14 pm

      Horror movies have never scared me. Even when I was a small child. But the baboon scene in The Omen has haunted me to this day. I still have nightmares about baboons. I have to bypass their cage at the zoo.

      And I was 18 when I saw it!

    23. Alex
      October 16th, 2008 at 11:55 pm

      Third round, please!!! That was great!

    24. Nathan H.
      October 17th, 2008 at 10:13 am

      The movie that scared the life out of me was "The Exorcist". I saw it during it's re-release in 1978 when I was 19 and thought I was mature enough to handle it. Needless to say, I wasn't! While others in the theater laughed while exiting after the film, I couldn't move because I was paralyzed with fear and that fear stayed with me for weeks after. I shudder just thinking about it. And from what I've read, there were some very strange events that took place during the filming of this movie.

    25. damir
      October 17th, 2008 at 11:30 am

      try this update every day direct download movies http://movies4directdownload.blogspot.com/

    26. mark lansing
      October 17th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

      Fun piece, but the bit about TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE being financed by the profits of DEEP THROAT isn't true. The movie was financed by private backers in Texas, but it was distributed by Bryanston Pictures, which was run by the same folks who distributed DEEP THROAT. The guys behind DEEP THROAT were tied in with the Mafia, so when it began making a LOT more money than they ever expected, they needed to launder some of that cash, and Bryanston was started to do just that. When TEXAS CHAINSAW became a hit, Tobe Hooper discovered his business partners weren't interested in paying him what he was owed (and made a lot of threats when he asked for his money); it was years after Bryanston went under before Hooper and the producers saw a dime of the film's profits.

    27. crocstimpy
      October 17th, 2008 at 12:58 pm

      @garbonzo - Loved Bruce's book. I laughed out loud reading much of it. I've always been a fan of Evil Dead so it was neat to hear stories about making it. And to this day I always look for someone 'shemping' in a low budget flick.

      @joecool - That sounds vaguely like the premise behind The Bad Seed with Julie Christie. Basically, an automated house falls in love with her and won't let her leave. It's been a while, but she didn't drown in the house. It just sounds like a similar premise.

      A movie that truly scared the hell out of me - and that's saying something - is Darkness Falls. The opening sequence really scared the crap out of me. The way it was staged and filmed was very frightening, and I was in my late 30's when I saw it. The movie kind of fell apart near the end, but it's well worth seeing for the beginning and other parts.

      Also, the first Jeepers Creepers was pretty good. I thought it was good because you didn't see the 'monster' hardly at all during the movie. Your imagination can always think of something far worse than somebody can show you. In the sequel you saw it all the time and I think that ruined it.

      Oh, and Blair Witch Project is worth seeing once. It's kind of pointless afte that. Sit through the whole movie because the payoff is the last 5 minutes, and especially in particular the last 10 or 15 seconds. I still get hairs standing up on the back of my neck when I think about it.

    28. Eric Kornblum
      October 17th, 2008 at 4:26 pm

      Love these! Would love to see one for A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Shining. Maybe Hell Raiser...

    29. DJR
      October 17th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

      Loving the horror movie trivia.
      Hope ya keep it coming. It would make a great permanent section to the site.

      We need some Suspiria, Cannibal Holocaust, Last House on the Left, The Thing, and Dawn of the Dead (1978) trivia too!

    30. Abbey
      October 17th, 2008 at 6:03 pm

      I remember reading a quote from Tobe Hooper about how after certain scenes he'd yell "cut" and EVERYone, cast and crew, would run to the windows and throw up, it was that intense. I could see it. TCM is one of my favorite movies ever, simply because the sets are so detailed. Can you imagine the set up time it took for all those bones we see the first time the camera shows us the inside of the house?

    31. frannie
      October 18th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

      ken, you may be ale to find that movie on http://www.kindertrauma.com

      (at your own risk!)

    32. TwoDragons
      October 18th, 2008 at 2:32 pm

      Ahhh, spooky movies! Hubby and I used to be big scary-movie fans before the Kiddo came along. Event Horizon, In the Mouth of Madness, Hellraiser...

      The one that scared me the worst though, was so cheesy it could cause gastric distress in the lactose-intolerant: Disney's "The Black Hole". The actual movie was absolutely awful, full of plot holes you could pilot a fleet of space cruisers through. But it had the most pants-wettingly terrifying robot in it, that still gives me a massive case of the heebie-jeebies--and I'm 35!

      --TwoDragons

    33. tanya
      October 19th, 2008 at 12:54 am

      KEEP EM COMING!!!
      but do the shining!!! i love these factoids!

    34. phone
      October 22nd, 2008 at 9:44 am

      So yur wit ur honey, n ur makin out wen the phone rigns. U anser it n the voice is “wut u doing wit my daughter?” U hang up n tell ur girl. She say “my dad is ded.”

      THEN WHO WAS PHONE?

    35. julian
      October 22nd, 2008 at 1:23 pm

      great post! thanks IMDB trivia!

    36. Jeff J
      October 23rd, 2008 at 7:32 pm

      Another note on Ed Gein & the movies - the human skin clothing and cannibalism was the foundation for Thomas Harris' Buffalo Bill character in Silence of the Lambs.

    37. Kimberlee
      October 29th, 2008 at 10:06 am

      These posts are great! I think a round three is basically a necessity at this point! I love random fact articles and yours are always the best. Please post another round! :)


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