Whether you’re a firm believer in Hollywood curses, chances are at some point you actually had goosebumps when hearing stories about eerie stuff happening in movie sets. It’s the reason why some of those films are actually legendary.

Part of what made them popular comes from gossip and things the media invented. It’s as simple as that. In fact, the urban legends are so engraved in our culture, the Mandela effect can actually take the reins of your memories and make you remember films because of creepy things taking place around them, and not because you remember the films themselves. Some of them are classics, regardless of how they became so.

Horror streaming service Shudderreleased Cursed Films in 2020. The series instantly gained attention as it promised a deep dive on those legends, and it would surely try to “solve” whatever mysteries there were. The first five episodes were good, yet felt incomplete. They explored classics, but also classics of the “cursed films” discourse. However, writer/director Jay Cheel(of Film Junk Podcast) had a chance to go deeper with more obscure films in season two, released in 2022. And boy, did he deliver.

We went on a binge with Cursed Films to analyze if the series actually touched ground on the legends surrounding those films, or if they were better produced content about facts we already know about. Check out how they stack up, and stick around for a few surprises.

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10 The Exorcist and a Vulgar Display of Power We Didn’t Need

     Shudder

The very first episode is easily its weakest. It’s a document on already-known facts, very short interviews, and the unnecessary mix with reality to make us learn about the effect of The Exorcist. It felt a bit awkward, just like that dreadful documentary that William Friedkin himself directed, The Devil and Father Amorth. The stories about the set of The Exorcist are well-known by now, and Cursed Films unfortunately doesn’t offer anything new.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

9 Rosemary’s Baby and a Creepy Association

     Paramount Pictures

What happened around the production of Rosemary’s Baby isn’t as creepy as the association people made with the infamous Manson Murders. In this episode of Cursed Films, such association is forced and works up to a point, but in the end, the film about the birth of Satan is strong enough to be legendary by itself. There was no need to capitalize on a crime we’ve heard enough about. The bit about the importance of William Castle is a good addition to this episode, but it feels incomplete.

8 The Wizard of Oz and the Horrors of Filmmaking

Discussing the real production of Wizard of Oz is when Cursed Films starts being more a series about difficult productions than actually cursed films. From poisonous makeup, to actual legends about deaths on set, make for a proving point of adding the Victor Fleming classic to the show. It’s also the saddest episode as it goes deep into the Judy Garland drug addiction issue. The bit about collectible VHS tapes is just hilarious and insanely interesting for film buffs.

7 Twilight Zone: The Movie and Deathly On-Set Negligence

     Warner Bros.

It was inevitable to go back to the John Landis production that would end in a jury trial. The episode is an emotional trip to the past when sets weren’t safe like today. The images of the cast actually passing away are unbearable to watch. However, to call Twilight Zone: The Movie a cursed film because of what happened is just too much. It’s time to call things by their name.

6 The Crow and the Accident That Should Never Have Happened

The accidental murder of Brandon Lee in the set of The Crow is hard to revisit in this well-produced episode of Cursed Films. As emotional as it gets, it’s a very important cautionary tale on an issue Hollywood needs to understand and adapt itself to. Otherwise, these accidents will still take place just like it happened recently with Rust. The episode wisely doesn’t go for the ridiculous link between “the curse of Bruce Lee” and the death of his son.

5 The Omen and a Crew That Should Have Seen the Signs

Things get creepy. Really, really creepy. The Omen director Richard Donner participates in the interviews and sheds light on some obscure incidents related to the film. This is one of the episodes that we’re sure sparked up the idea of the show’s concept. Deaths, deaths, and more deaths are part of an aura that now makes The Omen scarier and more legendary than before.

4 Poltergeist, Mala Praxis, and a Hollywood Secret Revealed

The “Curse of Poltergeist” is actually a thing, and it’s deconstructed in this short episode about facts we can recite by memory. However, things get interesting as a tale of production greed sheds light on the debacle that was Poltergeist III. Its director, Gary Sherman, is given the opportunity to speak about Heather O’Rourke (Carol Anne in the film franchise) and the medical mistake that caused her death. Also, the episode answers the question — were real skeletons used in the film productions? Yes. But was Poltergeist the first?

3 The Serpent and the Rainbow and the Crew That Had to Run for Their Lives

The Serpent and the Rainbow was a film production “ruined” by a film crew traveling to a location they simply didn’t understand. The Wes Craven-directed film wasn’t as good as it could have been, and perhaps the reason is revealed in this thorough document about the shoot. If there was a film that could have been cursed by someone, this is it. Plain and simple.

It was great to see Wade Davis (the real-life Dennis Alan, main character of the film) sharing his opinion of The Serpent and the Rainbow. He makes us a believer in something that can’t possibly be true.

2 Cannibal Holocaust and Unnecessary Realism

Yes, Ruggero Deodato is unmistakably a difficult director who pushed to make the controversial film Cannibal Holocaust unnecessarily realistic. That’s pretty obvious from the film itself. However, this episode’s deep dive into found footage films and marketing concepts is fascinating enough to keep you hooked. It’s quite clear that Cannibal Holocaust wasn’t cursed, and perhaps its legacy has more to do with extreme filmmaking than with a good film.

1 Stalker and the Painstaking Production of a Masterpiece

This episode is a beautiful lesson in cinema and the passion that it causes. The Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker is mysterious enough to make you dumbfounded, but how the film was accomplished is also an enigma that perhaps you will begin solving with the best episode of Cursed Films. This is perhaps the only one in the series that will instantly make you want to watch the film it depicts.

Both seasons of Cursed Films are streaming on Shudder.