Hollywood Hex

Hollywood Hex is an in-depth history of "cursed movies". The book deals with deaths on-set, copycat crimes, obsessed fans, bizarre coincidences, and other incidents which lead a film to be called "cursed".

The book's origins are in several essays by the author, Mikita Brottman. Brottman received her Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from Oxford University, taught Comparative Literature at Indiana University as a Visiting Assistant Professor, served as a professor at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, and is currently on the staff of the Pacifica Graduate Institute. Brottman's writings on film and film culture have appeared in Film Quarterly, Literature Film Quarterly and indieWire, where she regularly covers international film festivals. The book covers "cursed movies" in a period ranging from Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968) to The Crow (1994) with Brandon Lee.

In a 2005 interview for the Sunday Herald, Brottman defined the elements that make a "cursed movie": "A film will appear to be hexed if one or more of the stars has died after filming or during filming or if it turns out that the stars have drug or health problems or suicidal tendencies - something that the audience wasn't aware of at the time. Or if there's been an unusual pattern of co-incidences associated with the film such as a series of deaths or a series of accidents during filming."

The central section of the book, and the two films which receive the most analysis, are Polanski's Macbeth (1971), and William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973). Polanski's Macbeth, which receives the most complete coverage, is intercut with descriptions of and parallels with the Manson Family murder of Sharon Tate, Polanski's wife. The section on The Exorcist details extreme audience reactions to the film. Films which receive shorter coverage include Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) and Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994).