They really were like that. When I was a kid there would be gypsies coming round the villages (in England) trying to sell "lucky heather", which was basically just weeds they pulled up in the hills, bundled into a pretty bunch. And if you didn't buy any they'd yell a string of curses at you. I only know one time it worked though, one of my neighbours got cursed by a gypsy and within a week he broke his leg, his dog died, and the garage door fell on the roof of his car.

I suspect Gypsies and quite a few other groups in Europe would do the curse thing now and again. It's obviously a thing that people without any other power do to motivate those who have power and money. Homeless people today will bless you if you put money in their cups - I don't doubt that some of them will curse you if you don't. And honestly the main difference between'May you wander over the face of the earth forever, never sleep twice in the same bed, never drink water twice from the same well and never cross the same river twice in a year.' and 'fuck you!' is artistry. . btw, the curse above was probably cooked up in Hollywood without the benefit of a single Gypsy.

Since not much is known about them ecxept whatever stereotypical mumbo jumbo that unfortunately defines them, it makes for a good concept I imagine. It's probably based loosely on them having no fixed place to call their country, and because of this, are pretty much accepted nowhere and shunned by many, so in plenty of cases, it probably makes a lot of them seem unfriendly, since they always have to be on guard from a lot of people. However, I doubt they actually huck curses and hexes at people. A lot probably do stick to older belief systems, but that's not saying much, as there are Gypsies everywhere, leading different lives. I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't know one if they saw one, including me. I personally think it's slightly upsetting though. Most horror movies involve things that don't exist, or if they do, are rather exaggerated, but Gypsies are real. Same for cannibals. The sort of people we know nothing of always have their images blown out of proportion. So because of that, they're easy to use in horror flicks and make them scary. The idea is they hey travel around, use homemade remedies and stuff and have problems being incited in societies. In plenty of places, they're chased away, prosecuted, denied jobs-whatever-which makes it easy for many to believe that they're bad folks, and in entertainment, makes the horror movie all that more plausible, apparently. Mind you though, the only horror movie I ever saw that involved Gypsies was Thinner by Stephen King. I love the King haha, but that book was a little weird, as in it, the protagonist stated that he didn't like how people viewed Gypsies in the most stereotypical ways, yet that's pretty much how they're defined by King in the book itself. :/

Yeah, I thought drag me to hell was a ripoff of thinner also.

Gypsies are an ancient people. They used to travel far and wide. They picked up lots of knowledge from lands then unknown to others. Naturally they became expert medicine practitioners in the olden days. People were baffled by the depth of their knowledge and for want of a proper understanding of their lifestyle - became scared of them. What followed was that people started believing Gypsies had magical powers. Unfortunately the impression persists even now when we have had opportunity to study the Gypsies and their life style. Also there are many from different Gypsy tribes who are now living as ordinary citizens in all countries, giving up their ancient lifestyle. Also with the change in lifestyle Gypsies have lost much of their ancient knowledge in medicine and other branches of science. Still the stereotyping continues. It is based on fear passed down the generations that causes this. It is time people really understood the Gypsies better and put a stop to all the nonsense.

Yes, that is a stereotype. We do not run around cursing people. If you want to learn about us, feel free to ask. Here is a basic "what is" about us I wrote a long time ago: http://proudromani.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-is-gypsy.html If you are curious, read that and, if you have other questions, ask me.