Shudder Presents: Cursed Films Episode 2 & 3 – The Omen & Poltergeist

Living through the real world horrors of a global pandemic and quarantine makes sitting for horror-based entertainment very interesting, to say the least. Shudder is there for us horror fans, updating their catalogs with a “Halfway to Halloween” theme as well as a new series from writer/director Jay Cheel, Cursed Films. Last week’s premiere episode: The Exorcist, was Shudder’s second biggest streaming debut ever behind their updated Creepshow series last year. This week, we get a two-fer of episodes dealing with two of the most notoriously plagued and cursed productions in cinematic history, let alone horror history: The Omen and Poltergeist.

Who will survive and what will be left of them? That is iconic line that graces the movie poster of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, one of the most visceral films ever created; a film that lives on in both infamy and reverence to this day. Its director, horror legend Tobe Hooper, died yesterday in Sherman Oaks, CA, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner who confirmed the news to Variety. No cause of death has been determined yet. He was 74.

Born in Austin, Texas, Hooper made his seminal masterpiece in 1974 for less than $300,000. The film, based on the serial-killing cannibal Ed Gein, tells the story of five friends on a drive through rural Texas to explore the home of the grandfather of Sally (Marilyn Burns) and wheelchair-bound Franklin (Paul A. Partain). They end up encountering a family of cannibals, including the human skin-masked, chain saw-wielding Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen).

Mothers provide us with unconditional love, which means we love them unconditionally as well. Sometimes, that means ignoring the fact that they’re completely insane and borderline psychotic. A mother’s love has been a focus in the horror genre for generations and with today a day for celebrating the women in our lives, I am taking a look at the Top 5 Horror Movies Moms:

More below.

Poltergeist III
Blu-Ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Gary Sherman
Screenwriter: Gary Sherman, Brian Taggert
Cast: Heather O’Rourke, Nancy Allen, Tom Skerritt, Zelda Ruinstein, Nathan Davis
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated PG-13 | 98 Minutes
Release Date: January 31, 2017

Sent by her parents to live with her Aunt Pat (Nancy Allen of Carrie and RoboCop) and her Uncle Bruce (Tom Skerritt, Alien) in Chicago, Carol Ann (Heather O’Rourke) must face an army of evil spirits led by Reverend Kane (Nathan Davis). The spirits have taken over a 100-story skyscraper to lure Carol Anne to “The Other Side” for good, but the powerful psychic Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein, Anguish) won’t let her go without a fight.

Poltergeist II: The Other Side
Blu-Ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Brian Gibson
Screenwriter: Michael Grais, Mark Victor
Cast: JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Heather O’Rourke, Oliver Robins, Julian Beck, Zelda Rubinstein, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated PG-13 | 91 Minutes
Release Date: January 31, 2017

Directed by Brian Gibson (What’s Love Got To Do With It), 1986’s Poltergeist II: The Other Side is an odd, intermittently effective follow-up to Tobe Hooper’s 1982 classic horror film. One year after the events of the first movie, Cuesta Verde is being evacuated and turned into an archaeological dig centered around the spot where the Freelings’ home stood before it imploded. The excavation, headed by psychic Tangina Barrons (Zelda Rubinstein) and Native American shaman Taylor (Will Sampson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), leads to the discovery of a mysterious underground cave.