The Poltergeist Curse

I enjoy watching horror movies.  Many horror movies are worthless, dumb, or a form of pornography, but there are some good ones.  

I recently watched Poltergeist again, which is considered by many to be a classic.  After watching movies I think are interesting in some way, I often get online and research them a little bit.  

After watching Poltergeist, I read on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) about a possible curse surrounding the movie.  Apparently four actors from the movies died shortly after completion.  Other things add fuel to the idea, like real cadavers being used as props.

While reading the message board on IMDb I came across a thread labeled “The Poltergeist films are cursed” and found a particular post interesting:

“I get so sick and tired of this curse tripe. There is no curse surrounding the films. The deaths of these people, as with all people, are sad. BUT, people die everyday. I guess the whole world is cursed then. Give me a break." (Emphasis added)

I was struck by the positive worldview of the person making the sarcastic comment about the world being cursed.  Could he really believe the world is perfect?  Does he really think that death is natural?  Does he think the world is unbroken and pure?

Maybe the IMDb commenter was not choosing his words wisely, or he was just trying to emphasize his point about not believing the movie is cursed, but it really made me wonder what he was thinking.  I don’t know anything about the movie being cursed, but there are many people in the world that believe in curses like the evil eye or forms of black magic and witchcraft.  It is understandable that a person with a western, secular, worldview would not believe in curses, but does a person with this worldview believe that ultimately the world is naturally good and perfect?

We don’t have to watch a horror movie to see the evil that dominates a cursed world; we can pay attention to the local news, or better yet, look into our own hearts.  Our selfish hearts would rather have our wants and desires fulfilled at the expense of others.

The Bible tells us how Adam and Eve selfishly chose to disobey God.  Because of the disobedience of us all, known as sin, we are all cursed along with the earth on which we live (Genesis 3:6-19).

Maybe the IMDb commenter is ignorant of the real world and spends too much time in the fantasy world of movies, but the real world has problems.  We see things like murder, genocide, famine and cancer all over the place.  

The Bible tells us that one day God will step in and right all the wrongs of the world, and that creation is eagerly awaiting this:

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.  And not only the creation, 
but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, 
groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, 
the redemption of our bodies.  
Romans 8:22,23 // ESV

Because the curse of sin in this world is because of our own evil hearts and cannot be blamed on demons, God must deal with our sin.  There was nothing we can do to get rid of the curse of sin on our own.  Jesus had to become a curse for us and die in our place.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law 
by becoming a curse for us—for it is written,

"Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree."

Galatians 3:13 // ESV