10 Unnecessary Horror Movie Details You NEED To Know

Childhood trauma is something that most of us go through. Whether that comes from nightmares, fear of the unknown or from what our impressionable and vivid little minds fail to corroborate from a TV screen, it always stays with us for some time after. It's easy to see why Poltergeist - with its initial PG rating - in particular is something that contributed to unnerving a lot of children, both way back when and possibly even way into the future.

The one scene that a lot of people accredit their uncomfortableness to when watching this film is the one that features a rather malicious-looking clown that imbues a ton of pain and not much pleasure.

That's no exaggeration, as despite it ingraining itself into an entire generation of kids' memories, it could've potentially damaged the brain of one of the two acting in it. Poor Robbie (played by Oliver Robins) seems to be suffering a lot on screen. His performance looked so believable, which may be because he unwittingly had to suffer to get through it!

As the doll becomes as sentient as it does maniacal, it clasps the boy around the neck. In reality, however, it had also wrapped its arm around his throat and would not relent. It only came to a halt once Steven Spielberg realised the young boy he hired was not a future Oscar winner, but a boy turning purple as he writhed in pain.

Some say the mechanical doll malfunctioned. Others may point at the Poltergeist curse. But one thing's for certain, it could've gone worse.