Selects: Can movies be cursed?

What It Covers

Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant examine whether movies can genuinely be cursed, analyzing six productions — Poltergeist, The Wizard of Oz, Superman, The Conqueror, The Omen, and Brainstorm — cataloging deaths, accidents, and near-misses on set while arguing the pattern reflects confirmation bias rather than supernatural causation.

Key Questions Answered

• •Confirmation Bias in Curse Narratives: Movie curse stories are constructed by selectively keeping incidents that support the narrative and discarding those that don't. Any large film production involves dozens of people over years, statistically guaranteeing some tragedies. Recognizing this filtering mechanism helps evaluate any "cursed" pattern — in film or elsewhere — more critically.
• •Radiation Exposure on The Conqueror (1956): John Wayne's film was shot within 150 miles of Nevada nuclear test sites where 11 above-ground detonations occurred the prior year. Roughly 91 of 220 cast and crew members later developed cancer — approximately 41% — versus an expected baseline roughly three times lower, per University of Utah radiological health director Robert Pendleton.
• •Occupational Hazard Baseline: Early Hollywood productions routinely caused deaths and injuries due to absent safety standards. A 1928 Noah's Ark flood scene used 600,000 gallons of water in a single take, killing three extras. Understanding baseline danger rates on sets prevents misattributing ordinary industrial accidents to supernatural causes.
• •The Omen's Near-Miss Pattern: Multiple crew members narrowly avoided death during production — a chartered jet they were booked on crashed on takeoff after a last-minute plane swap, killing all aboard. Rather than evidence of a curse, these incidents illustrate survivorship bias: the people who lived are the ones telling the story.
• •Development Hell and the "Cursed Script" Pattern: Both A Confederacy of Dunces and the script Atuk share an identical pattern — John Belushi, John Candy, and Chris Farley were each attached to both projects before dying. This coincidence reflects how a small pool of large-framed comedic actors in the same era were repeatedly targeted for similar roles, not supernatural interference.