While shooting his first studio feature, 27-year-old Steven Spielberg was in over his head with a shark movie filmed almost entirely on the water. With endless days of sun exposure, a title shark that wouldn't work, and a young director, crew members felt they were on a sinking ship - and some literally were. The shoot may have even been a clue to a cold case decades later. But the misfortune that befell the production of Jaws seemed to make the movie... better? So was Jaws cursed? Or was it #blessed?

Francis Ford Coppola had no idea what he was getting into when he decided to pay for his own Vietnam War movie. Production took place in the middle of the Philippines, where their strongman dictator had enacted martial law. Completely up against the elements, the cast and crew braved wild animals, disease, tropical storms, drug binges, emotional breakdowns - and some people even almost got arrested for murder. Almost. Apocalypse Now ranks perhaps at #1 on the list of the Most Arduous Shoots - Ever.

A crown gem in the catalogue of Hollywood escapist cinema, The Wizard of Oz brought joy to millions of Americans -- but the actors in this MGM monstrosity were anything but joyful as they risked their health, and in some cases, their lives, to play roles they were contractually obligated to play. First, we'll go into what went on behind the Emerald Curtain, then we'll examine the tragic life, but lasting legacy of Judy Garland. Fires! Toxic chemicals! Hospital visits! Oh my!

Join us for the last episode of our Spooky Series as we take a close look at one of our favorite films, The Shining. How far is too far when it comes to perfecting your craft? Join us as we delve into the real hotel that inspired the book of the same name, the intense life on set and how this set might be cursed in a way we haven't discussed before. This may be our last episode for the season, but we will certainly be back.

As the Church of Satan was forming in the 1960s, so was the classic film, Rosemary’s Baby. This led some superstitious folks to draw parallels between director Roman Polanski, and the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, to the storyline of Rosemary’s husband, who sells his her unborn child to the devil. While we look at the initial media coverage of the Tate/Manson murders, we’ll discuss how the human mind searches for meaning in tragedy, and how this mindset can inappropriately place blame on victims.

In our third and final exploration of Ed and Lorraine Warren's contributions to cinematic history, we will cover the dramatic haunting of the Perron family that inspired the 2013 horror film, The Conjuring. From angry spirits to angry home-buyers, the human melodrama that took place over the Perron/Warren haunting is perhaps more fraught than the stories of possession and witches that can be seen in the film.

Weird smells, falling light fixtures, possessed dolls - oh my! What’s not to love about this episode about everyone’s favorite series of horror films about an evil doll? We’ll go through the three Annabelle films, talk about which ones are believed to be cursed, and why. Plus, we’ll give you a rundown of Halloween, Austin Film Festival, and social anxiety! Written and Produced by Amelia Lewis and Katie Waldron Edited by Katie Waldron Logo by Annelise LaFlamme Theme Music by Xander Rodzi

In Part 1 of our mini-series about famed demonologist couple Ed and Lorraine Warren, we talk about the Amityville Horror, perhaps the most notorious ghost story in American history. We’ll cover the dark history of the haunted house, the grisly DeFeo murders, and, of course, the many movies the story of the haunting inspired. But what really happened at the house in Amityville, New York? And what happens when a studio capitalizes on a real haunting? And how does My Little Pony tie into all this?

Did you know Poltergeist was inspired by a real haunting? That’s not the weirdest thing about this movie. From murderous mechanical toys, unsettling children and psychokinesis, the events behind the scenes of Poltergeist run parallel to the plot of the film itself. Can one misguided production choice bring bad luck to the entire crew?

When it comes to Richard Donner’s 1976 film, The Omen, freak accidents foretold by the devil’s number weren’t just a plot point in the movie; They occurred during production, and well after, leading some to believe that the film itself was a harbinger of misfortune for its cast and crew.