12 Horror Movie Sets That Were Definitely Cursed

A cheery movie about a couple who unwittingly adopt the spawn of Satan, The Omen is basically the mack daddy of cursed horror films. It seems some malevolent forces really didn’t want the movie to get made because it was plagued with bad juju from start to finish and even beyond.

No less than four cast and crew members had run-ins with lightning. Star Gregory Peck, scriptwriter David Seltzer and executive producer Mace Neufeld’s planes were all hit by lightning on separate occasions while producer Harvey Bernhard was almost struck by lightning while filming in Rome. Of course, this could all be coincidence until you consider there’s a scene in The Omen in which satanic forces take down a priest by impaling him with a lightning rod.

Lightning wasn’t the only method Satan used to try and halt proceedings. The hotel that director Richard Donner was staying at was bombed by the IRA and he was also hit by a car, while the Rottweilers featured in the film attacked their trainers.

Things only got worse after filming wrapped. An animal handler that worked on-set was eaten alive by a lion two weeks later, while stunt coordinator Alf Joint and SFX consultant John Richardson experienced more tragedy while working together on the film A Bridge Too Far in Holland.

Joint injured himself while falling off a rooftop and later swore he’d been pushed, but he was lucky compared to Richardson. While driving with his assistant and girlfriend Liz Moore, he was involved in a terrible head-on collision that decapitated Moore eerily mimicking a scene in The Omen he’d helped create.

There’s a lesson to be learned here: don’t mess with the devil.