Top 10 Horror Movies Where the Dog Lives

Because even hardcore horror fans love Fido.

by Josh Millican June 18, 2015

It’s often noted as a contradiction and an oddity: The fact that even fans of the goriest, most violent horror movies hate to see animals getting hurt on film—especially dogs. Even though we know it’s fake, there’s something so upsetting about cruelty to canines that even those with nerves of steel can be seen flinching.
Personally, I believe that 99% of people on earth suck, so I have no problem watching them get slaughtered. On the other hand, 99% of dogs are awesome, amazing creatures, so even a fictional portrayal of violence against one is offensive.
Horror filmmakers know exactly how unsettled we get by depictions of animal cruelty, and they use this to their benefit—or rather, to our disadvantage. Because, let’s face it, when a dog goes chasing after something that goes bump in the night in a movie, we automatically assume its doomed. This gets an audience emotionally invested, and increases hatred towards an antagonist.
Some people will flat out refuse to watch a horror movie if it depicts a dog getting killed. For these folks, there’s a handy online resource to reference at www.DoesTheDogDie.com. This site lists over 1,000 films featuring canines with a legend that lets you know at a glance if the dog lives, dies, or escapes with injury.
After reviewing this online resource, as well as the titles in my personal horror collection, I’ve compiled the below list: the Top 10 Horror Movies Where the Dog Lives. Enjoy!

Poltergeist (1982, Hooper)

The Freeling family dog, E. Buzz, is one of the first to sense ghostly apparitions in the new home, but he makes it until the film’s conclusion alive—just like every other character in Poltergeist. The film has a body count of zero. In fact the only life lost in Poltergeist was Carol Anne’s bird, Tweety; Tweety may have been killed by otherworldly forces, or her death might just be a coincidence.

Bait aka Bait 3D (2012, Rendall)

This natural disaster saga from Down Under delivers a triple-threat with an earthquake, followed by a tidal wave, followed by an invasion of bloodthirsty great white sharks! Kyle and Heather (played by Lincoln Lewis and Cariba Heine) are trapped in a flooded underground parking lot teeming with man-eaters. Making their situation more stressful is Heather’s tiny dog who won’t stop yapping. Annoying dogs are especially at risk of dying in horror movies, but this little bugger makes it out just fine—which is more than I can say for Kyle!

The Amityville Horror (1979, Rosenberg)

Like Poltergeist, The Amityville Horror packs powerful thrills and inspires genuine terror without any characters dying—and that includes Harry, the Lutz family dog. Unfortunately, his counterpart in the 2005 remake doesn’t fare so well, meeting an untimely demise after at the business-end of an axe. Add this to the long list of reasons this remake quite inferior to the original.

Mama (2013, Muschietti)

Don’t get me wrong, Mama is emotionally devastating—but at least the dog doesn’t die!

Gremlins (1984, Dante)

In the original screenplay, the titular Gremlins actually ate Billy’s dog, Barney! They also killed Billy’s mom and used her head as a bowling ball! We’ll never know how a more violent version of Gremlins might have faired theatrically, but in the version we all know and love, Barney lives to bark another day (even after getting strung-up in Christmas lights).

Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010, Craig)

Poor Tucker and Dale. They’re just a couple of friendly hillbillies looking to relax at their vacation cabin in the woods—but without warning, they’re beset upon by a gang of drugged-out, psychotic, suicidal college students! They even kidnap Jangers the dog! The good news is, Tucker, Dale, and Jangles all live through this terrifying ordeal.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014, Landon)

One of the most shocking moments of Paranormal Activities: The Marked Ones comes when possessed Jesse (played by Andrew Jacobs) uses demonic powers to telekinetically push his poor dog along the ceiling. It’s difficult to watch as the dog yips and yaps in terror while Jesse laughs with wicked delight. While witnessing any degree of canine discomfort sucks, we’re eventually relived when the dog is released unharmed.

Pumpkinhead (1988, Winston)

Horror fans with a soft spot for canines will be pleased to know that Ed Harley’s dog, Gypsy, survives the film. Of course, the only thing more difficult to watch than a dog dying is a child dying, so don’t expect an easy watch!

Dawn of the Dead (2004, Snyder)

Few dogs display the kind of heroism shown by Chips in 2004’s remake of Dawn of the Dead. This pooch with nerves of steel managed to maneuver through a horde of zombies unscathed to deliver supplies to a stranded comrade across the street.

The Lost Boys (1987, Schumacher)

Sam’s dog Nanook doesn’t simply survive The Lost Boys, he even kills one of the vamps himself by knocking the blood-sucker into a bathtub filled with holy water. Good boy, Nanook!

BONUS: The Cat with Nine Lives
Alien (1979, Scott)

Cat people love their feline friends as much as dog people love their canines. To that end, I decided to include Jones from Alien. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) risks her life to retrieve her pet cat from the Nostromio, even though the ship’s self-destruct sequence is quickly counting down. Ripley may have lost her entire crew, but at least she had Jones to keep her company during her long trip home again.
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Do you squirm whenever a dog gets hurt or killed in a horror movie? Sound off in the Comments Section!
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'Poltergeist': A splendid remake without depth of original

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No more TV for you: Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt as parents battling to hold on to their youngest daughter (Kennedi Clements), who has been targeted by terrifying apparitions, in "Poltergeist." KERRY HAYES / Twentieth Century Fox

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Gallery: 'Poltergeist': A splendid remake without depth of original

About the movie

Poltergeist

Genre:

Horror; Suspense, Thriller

MPAA rating:

PG-13

for intense frightening sequences, brief suggestive material, and some language

Running time:

01:33

Release date:

2015

Rating: image: http://media.philly.com/designimages/stars2.gif

Cast:

Saxon Sharbino; Jane Adams; Nicholas Braun; Sam Rockwell; Jared Harris; Kyle Catlett; Rosemarie DeWitt

Directed by:

Gil Kenan

On the web:

Poltergeist Official Site

Now showing

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Tirdad Derakhshani, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: Saturday, May 23, 2015, 3:01 AM

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Director Gil Kenan's (City of Ember) enjoyable remake of Poltergeist, which opened Friday, has all the makings of a decent hit. The cast is wonderful. Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt are the perfect married couple, while Jared Harris is a scream as an Irish ghost hunter. And Kennedi Clements is aces in the role first assayed in 1982 by Heather O'Rourke as the little girl taken by ghosts into a parallel universe from which there seems to be no escape.
What's more, the screenplay - about a family that struggles to get their child back from a gaggle of very angry ghosts - is strong. The structure is sound, the photography superb (especially in the 3D edition), and special effects solid.
It's not exactly a scary film, but it does provide an enjoyable ride. It's good fun.
But it left me befuddled. A little sad. And a little angry.

Why would anyone want to remake Poltergeist in the first place?
It was hardly the most shocking film of its time, but Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist remains one of Hollywood's most memorable and enduring ghost stories because it had that one thing missing from other genre films - poetry.
Chalk it up to the influence of producer Steven Spielberg, who reportedly butted heads with Hooper throughout the production. They may not have enjoyed each other, but their conflict created a unique movie that was as much a classic fairy tale as it was a horror flick.
Take the procession of ghosts near the third act. Against Jerry Goldsmith's music, the specters, each lit like an otherworldly firefly, make their way down the staircase with a subtle majesty that's hard to forget. The reaction shots - JoBeth Williams' weeping face, Beatrice Straight's wide-eyed epiphanous smile - bring the scene home.
Take the shot of Williams as she describes how her daughter's essence has just moved through her.
There are no such moments in the remake. The original had a sense of fun that's also missing.
Take the kitchen scene near the top of the first story. Dad (Craig T. Nelson) watches with awe and pleasure as the house's ghost power sends his kids sliding from one side of the room to the other. One nice touch completes the effect: Both children are outfitted with football helmets. You know, just in case.
Even the ghosts in that film had character, individuality, personality. In the remake, they are amorphous, skeletal beings indistinguishable from one another.
While it's not exactly without heart and soul, Kenan's version doesn't go in for the little magical touches that fill the first. In one scene in the original, the little boy (Oliver Robins) has a terrifying encounter with a ghost-possessed toy clown. There is a palpable sense of existential dread here.
The new film streamlines the same scenes for maximum efficiency and effect. It squeezes out all the lyricism that made Poltergeist such a special treat.
MOVIE REVIEW
Poltergeist ** (out of four stars)
Directed by Gil Kenan. With Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jared Harris, Jane Adams. Distributed by
20th Century Fox.
Running time: 1 hour, 33 mins.
Parent's guide: PG-13 (intense frightening sequences, some profanity).
Playing at: Area theaters.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20150523__Poltergeist___A_splendid_remake_without_depth_of_original.html#Xxc1pEkhJkRV2Hvc.99

‘Poltergeist’ Franchise Cursed? Rumors Resurface Following Release of Remake, See Video

By Nick Younker (staff@latinpost.com)

First Posted: May 30, 2015 04:11 PM EDT

(Photo : Poltergeist/Facebook)

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For those who were alive in the '80s when "Poltergeist" first appeared on the big screen and scared fans all across the nation, the movie wasn't the only thing that had people shaking in their boots. The film and its sequels were heavily rumored to be cursed due to unexpected deaths by the first film's youngest stars.

First of all, you need to take a look at the first film to put this supernatural theory into perspective, according to Movie Pilot.
The young actresses Dominique Dunne and Heather O'Rourke both played the two daughters of Steven and Diane Freeling (played by Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams) in the film. The family was living in a house and they were digging a swimming pool in the backyard.

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The film centered around Carol Anne (O'Rourke), the child who the dead were communicating with. The demon, or "The Beast," eventually kidnaps her through a portal in her closet but they eventually get her back.
There is also a scene were Diane had slipped, during a thunderstorm, into the giant hole meant to house the impending swimming pool. As she struggles to get out, dead corpses surface along with coffins. It is later revealed in the movie that their house had been built on top of an improperly relocated cemetery.
This is where the curse starts taking shape. The two young actresses, Dunne and O'Rourke, would eventually die under mysterious circumstances.
On Nov. 4, 1982, Dunne died following a strangulation incident that occurred four days earlier on Halloween while rehearsing lines with a friend for an upcoming movie. Dunne's estranged live-in boyfriend showed up and after a fight, the argument led to him strangling her. Dunne lived for four days after the incident in a coma before she finally passed away.
According to Snopes, her boyfriend, John Sweeney, was charged, convicted and sentenced to six years in prison for her murder, but only served three years before his controversial release.
O'Rourke went on to film two more "Poltergeist" movies but shortly after wrapping the third film, she died of cardiac arrest following a misdiagnosed case of stenosis. She died on the operating table while surgeons were trying to repair the damage on Feb. 1, 1988.
According to a BuzzFeed video, O'Rourke's brother in the first film had a poster on his wall of Superbowl XXII, which was still six years away. Coincidentally, O'Rourke died the day after the actual Superbowl XXII.
The curse thickens though when actors Julian Beck and Will Sampson joined the second movie, according to another article on Movie Pilot. Beck played "Kane," who turned out to be the materialization of the "Beast" from the first film, which we never saw the character in. Sampson played the Native American Medicine Man named Taylor.
Both died of health-related complications following the movie's release. Beck died of stomach cancer in 1985 and Sampson died of kidney failure in 1987 following an operation that was brought on by preoperative malnutrition issues.
Lou Perryman, the man who played Pugsley in the first "Poltergeist" film, was murdered with an axe at his home in 2009.
This string of violent and unexpected deaths led to many calling the film franchise cursed. But the real kicker is what the producer Steven Spielberg used in the first film as props.
Do you remember that scene previously mentioned about Diane slipping into the giant muddy hole during a thunderstorm and grappling with dead bodies that revealed the remains of a cemetery? Those bodies . . . they were REAL human bodies. Apparently, it was cheaper to use these real corpses, which were flown in from India, than to make fake ones.
Will Sampson even performed an exorcism on set, while shooting the sequel, to rid them of evil spirits.
See video about the curse below.

MOVIE REVIEW: Poltergeist (2015): lots of action, some comedy, hardly any horror Gil Kenan pays tribute to the 1982 classic

By Rushina Shah

June 5, 2015

★★✩✩✩
Poltergeist
Directed by Gil Kenan
Starring Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kennedi Clements
Rated PG-13
Now Playing

This remake of Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist (1982) sees a jobless couple and their three children move into a new home that fits their budget. Griffin, their ten-year-old son, lives in the attic, where he experiences frequent nightmares and finds frightening clowns in the closet. To make things worse, he also finds his younger sister Madison talking to mysterious objects through the TV in the middle of the night. “They’re here,” she claims ominously. His parents disregard his nervousness and their youngest daughter’s sleepwalking until one night, their house is attacked and Madison is taken. The Bowens discover that their house was built on what was an old cemetery, moved to make way for construction. To cut costs, the construction company moved the headstones but left the bodies — leaving the Bowens to deal with some extremely unhappy poltergeists looking to move out of the limbo they are stuck in.

The remake has some stimulating visual and sound effects — the scenes featuring the eerie clowns were particularly enjoyable. Kyle Catlett, who stars as Griffin, is convincing in his nervousness and in his role as a protective, if scared, older brother. Kennedi Clements makes an adorable Madison, compelling the audience to be concerned. The other characters and the plot, though, leave much to be desired. Sticking pretty close to the original, the changes in the remake mostly detract from it — the eccentric and enjoyable character Tangina is replaced by a tacky TV show ghost-cleanser, played by Jared Harris, making the experience much less scary and much more like parody. Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt, playing the parents of the kids, do an unconvincing job pretending to care that their child has been taken. On the plus side, there was no hysteria, but their parental instinct kicked in so late in the film that it had me wondering if they were the ones behind the kidnapping. The inclusion of comedy was interesting, with some scenes being quite funny, but it seemed to add a lot of misplaced moments of humor and lent a very strange mood to the setting.

The 2015 remake pays homage to the 1982 original with action-packed sequences and great effects. Although quite enjoyable, it is, however, not half as scary as the original. I would recommend watching this movie for entertainment, but don’t expect any nightmares.

Spoon covers the Cramps' 'TV Set' on Conan

Spoon

Posted June 4 2015 — 11:29 AM EDT

Spoon covered the Cramps’ 1980 manic “TV Set” for the recent remake of another ’80s gem, Poltergeist—and they brought their version of it to Conan Wednesday night.
Poltergeist itself isn’t doing so well—it currently has a measly 32 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. But Spoon’s rendition of “TV Set” is pretty irresistible: The five-piece band stays relatively true to the original but adds some extra echoes to it for a spooky (and fun) effect. Watch below, and pick up the single on iTunes now.