Poltergeist's sinister clown doll gave many viewers nightmares, but in reality, a malfunctioning effect almost legitimately killed one of the actors. Rated PG - although made in a time slightly before the creation of the PG-13 rating by the MPAA - 1982's Poltergeist is one of the scariest movies ever made that isn't rated R. In fact, it may be one of the scariest movies regardless of rating. While Poltergeist's spirits initially seem friendly enough, as the film goes on, things get crazier and crazier, as well as more and more frightening.
It's a bit hard to choose just what moment in Poltergeist is the scariest. There's the part where Freeling son Robbie is almost eaten by an enormous tree. Then again, there's also the scene in which one of the paranormal researchers appears to be ripping his own face off, or the scene where Diane Freeling falls into the mud-filled pool, only to encounter corpses (played by real human skeletons). Poltergeist truly has a lot to offer in the scares department.
For many fans though, the most frightening scene in Poltergeist involves Robbie's clown doll, which is pretty creepy even in its normal, non-threatening state. It's giant, immovable grin is deeply unsettling, and Robbie begins the film a bit afraid of it already. Later on though, the doll gets possessed by the attacking spirits, and attempts to kill Robbie. Unfortunately, actor Oliver Robins almost died for real in the process.
Poltergeist's Terrifying Clown Doll Almost Really Killed An Actor
Sadly, there's always been a dearth of behind the scenes details about the making of Poltergeist, most likely due to the longstanding controversy concerning whether Tobe Hooper or Steven Spielberg really directed the film. One bit of info that has made the rounds involves the shooting of that aforementioned scene where the clown doll turns evil and attacks Robbie Freeling. To accomplish the sequence, the crew built a mechanical version of the doll, and it turns out that this piece of machinery wasn't exactly perfect.
During the part of the scene where the clown doll wraps its long arms around Robbie's neck and begins choking him, the mechanical doll accomplished its goal way too well. The arms tightened to a dangerous degree, causing child actor Oliver Robins to yell out that he couldn't breathe. Hooper and Spielberg mistakenly thought Robins was just improvising a reaction to the scene, but when Robins' face started to change color, Spielberg realized the kid was no longer acting. Spielberg rushed over to Robins and pried off the mechanical clown doll, saving his life. Thank goodness he did, as Poltergeist's cast already has a sad amount of death associated with it.