Poltergeist II: The Other Side

The only family member absent from the film is Dana, who according to the script is off at university, but a scene explaining away her absence was never filmed. Dominique Dunne was murdered by her boyfriend John Thomas Sweeney (who later changed his name to John Maura and disappeared) shortly after "Poltergeist (1982)" premiered. Ultimately, no mention is made of Dana in the final film, or of her being in college. It was decided by the filmmakers to retire the character and not recast her out of respect for the deceased actress and her family.

(at around 38 mins) When Kane walks up the lawn toward the house, it begins to rain. As Diane runs out to get Carol Anne, Diane's hair is already wet. Then moments later when she talks to Kane on the porch, her hair is dry. The next scene shows her walking into her bedroom, and her hair is damp again.

The opening credits take nearly five minutes to play out.

During post production, at least 15 minutes were cut from the film during the final editing stages, and some of the remaining scenes were re-arranged chronologically. Scenes rumored to be cut included: 1. A line mentioning "Dana," (the eldest daughter from the original film) being away at college. 2. A scene involving JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson and a floating toaster oven in their kitchen. 3. A scene in which the "Rev. Kane" appears at the house again and is confronted by "Tangina" right before she is about to leave after visiting "Diane" (Zelda Rubinstein was said to be very upset that this sequence was cut, as she felt it was one of her best scenes). 4. A longer "other side" sequence at the end featuring the family's battle with the Beast. 5. Longer versions of existing scenes featuring additional dialogue. Publicity stills from some of these scenes can be seen at: the fan site: http://www.poltergeistii.poltergeistiii.com/deleted.html

Edited from Poltergeist (1982)