There is always a buzz of activity on a movie set. Directors, actors, and stage hands work tirelessly to make the set come to life on screen. Sometimes, however, a different kind of energy takes over—one that makes everyone pause for a moment as the hairs rise on the backs of their necks. This list names 10 instances where people involved in certain movies have experienced a taste of the bizarre. Some are no longer alive to tell their tale.
Water World
Waterworld was supposed to be the Avatar of the ’90s. Starting out with a budget far below $5 million, the movie ended up costing around $200 million. So clearly it was a blockbuster, right? Not even close—Waterworld only made $88 million at the box office in 1995.The movie ran into trouble right from the start. The first producer, Roger Corman, was used to working with a low budget, and when he saw that the movie would need sets that could float, he passed up the opportunity to work on it. He couldn’t fathom the budget of the film going over $5 million. They ended up spending that amount just on the main set. Furthermore, bad luck seemed to be stalking the Waterworld production: Cast and crew suffered seasickness. One of the sets floated away and got stuck underwater. Strong winds brought filming to a halt on more than one occasion. Kevin Costner’s stunt double nearly lost his life while doing a diving stunt. Crew members were stung by jellyfish. On top of all this, the crew members’ unions demanded compensation for what it described as labor violations. It’s a wonder the movie made it to the big screen at all.
The Passion Of The Christ
They say that lightning never strikes twice. Well, tell that to the guy who did get struck twice by lightning while filming The Passion of the Christ—Jan Michelini, assistant director on the set.The main actor, Jim Caviezel, had his own problems as well. He had a piece of his flesh ripped out during the “fake” whipping scene, and he dislocated his shoulder while carrying the wooden cross. Caviezel was also struck by lightning—smoke literally came out of his ears, to the shock of others of the set. Witnesses of the incident said that Caviezel’s whole body looked like it was illuminated. And it doesn’t end there. Caviezel also suffered hypothermia, a lung infection, and severe pneumonia while filming. He also got terrible headaches and skin infections because of the long make up sessions he had to sit through.
The Possession'
The Possession is an unconventional horror movie that includes rabbis and a cursed Dybbuk box that attaches itself to a young girl. Jeffrey Dean Morgan, one of the stars, is no stranger to playing roles in paranormal flicks or TV series. He is well known for his role as the dad on Supernatural. Morgan has been an actor for 25 years now and has never had anything weird happen while filming a movie. That is, until he started working on The Possession.Morgan admits to being a skeptic, but couldn’t help being freaked out by some of the things that happened on set. This included lights exploding for no good reason and chilly breezes wafting through closed sets. It only seemed to happen when integral scenes were in the process of being filmed. The creepiest incident, however, was when the storage facility where all the props were being stored caught fire and burned to the ground. An investigation into the blaze confirmed that it could not be blamed on arson or an electrical fault. The Dybbuk box used in the movie was destroyed in the fire. There is, of course, a real-life Dybbuk box out there, and its owners offered to bring it to the set. Being as spooked as they were, the cast and crew refused to allow the box anywhere near them.
Matrix
What is known as the “Curse Of The Matrix” culminated in a heartbreaking fashion when star Keanu Reeves’s girlfriend, Jennifer Syme, gave birth to a stillborn. Unable to cope with the loss, they broke up soon after. Not long after the breakup, Syme died in a car accident. Shortly after this tragedy, 22-year-old Aaliyah lost her life in a plane crash. She was in the middle of filming her role as Zee in the movie. This tragic event threw everything off course, and filming was postponed by a few months.Not long after, another cast member passed away—Gloria Foster, who played the role of The Oracle. At one point during all this drama, Reeves himself landed in the hospital after a motorbike accident. Later during filming, he went right back to the hospital after sustaining a foot injury on set. His sister also suffered a relapse in her struggle against leukemia, and Reeves rushed to be with her.The cost of making the film also continued to spiral to the point where Keanu Reeves agreed to sign away $24 million of his own paycheck to keep the entire production from collapsing. Luckily, the movie did very well at the box office despite the bad luck that haunted it.
The Ghost Of Good Night Lane
This horror movie was inspired by a haunted movie set owned by Media World Company in Texas. The producer of the film, Alin Bijan, knew that the staff had had visions of an unknown male while on set. Film equipment was moved when no one was around, and someone even got a slap in the face by an unseen hand. These types of unnerving incidents had been going on for quite a while. Bijan confirmed that he and his crew actually kept a record of all the unexplained incidents. In 2010, paranormal investigators confirmed that the set was haunted based on the results from several tests and EVP recordings. The producer was inspired by this and started working on the script for The Ghost of Goodnight Lane. He also thought it would be a good idea to use the same haunted set to film the movie. The cast and crew reported flickering lights while they were on set, as well as fixtures falling from the ceiling without warning. Perhaps the creepiest of all, some of the crew heard their names being called by disembodied voices.
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