Pages

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Yeah...They Used Real Skeletons In "Poltergeist"


 I came across a funny tweet the other day. Often, when I spot a funny tweet, I'll take a screen shot and send it to my friend. I did, but when I was checking past photographs tonight, I came across the original screen shot.

It reminded me of something I learned a while ago...

In the film Poltergeist, they used real skeletons in the film...not plastic ones, not ones made specifically for the film. No, they were once real people.

I found out about this, not because of that film, but as a "gee whiz" bit of trivia. I can't remember where I heard it, but I found out that before a certain time period, it cost more to make a believable skeleton as a prop than it did to use an actual skeleton for a film. That may have changed now with advancements in not only the manufacturing such things, but also computer enhancements to make "fake" look as good as the real thing.

So, after I heard this little tidbit, I remembered one of the most terrifying films I ever saw, the 1982 Steven Spielberg classic, Poltergeist. Near the end of the film, the mother living in the haunted house ends up in a swimming pool under construction. During a terrible thunderstorm the mother finds she's not alone in the muddy pool. I thought back on that scene and realized that those skeletons--that were terrifying, by the way--were once people. It made that scene even more horrific.

If you do a simple internet search, you'll see site after site confirming this fact. I took this picture from Looper.com. If you'd like to read the article yourself, just click: HERE.

Yes, the tweet was funny, but it was also eerily accurate.

And just in time for Halloween.

No comments:

Post a Comment