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(at around 1h 40 mins) At a point of the movie, Diane lies in the bed trying to sleep, when a supernatural force tries to remove her red shirt, shaking her in the bed like she was being sexually attacked. Coincidentally, a few months later The Entity (1982) was released, which was another horror film about a woman sexually attacked by a supernatural force.
On October 30, 1982, Dominique Dunne's ex-boyfriend strangled her unconscious in the driveway of her West Hollywood home. She died on November 4, having never regained consciousness, at the age of 22. Heather O'Rourke died of intestinal stenosis on February 1, 1988, at the age of 12. Both are are buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
(at around 43 mins) When Steve tells the parapsychologists his family members' ages, he says that Dana, his oldest daughter, is 16 and that his wife, Diane, is 32. Many viewers interpret this to mean that Diane was only 16 when she gave birth to Dana. However, the novelization of the film clarifies that Diane is Steve's second wife and that Dana is actually Diane's stepdaughter. In the movie, when telling the parapsychologists about his family, Steve specifically says, "My daughter, Dana, ..." and not "Our daughter, Dana."
Both of the terrors that plague Robbie came from Steven Spielberg's own fears as a child: a fear of clowns and a tree outside his window.
James Karen at the time was also the commercial spokesman for Pathmark supermarkets. He received hate mail from people saying they would never shop there again because of his character's treatment of the Freelings.