Poltergeist III (1988)

Carol Anne is staying with her aunt in a high-rise building, where the supernatural forces haunting her make their return.

Director:

Gary Sherman

Writers:

Gary Sherman, Brian Taggert

Stars:

Heather O'Rourke, Tom Skerritt, Nancy Allen

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Skerritt	...	Bruce Gardner
Nancy Allen	...	Patricia Wilson-Gardner
Heather O'Rourke	...	Carol Anne Freeling
Zelda Rubinstein	...	Tangina Barrons
Lara Flynn Boyle	...	Donna Gardner
Kipley Wentz	...	Scott (as Kip Wentz)
Richard Fire	...	Dr. Seaton
Nathan Davis	...	Reverend Henry Kane
Roger May	...	Burt
Paul Graham	...	Martin Moyer
Meg Weldon	...	Sandy
Stacy Gilchrist	...	Melissa
Joey Garfield	...	Jeff
Christian Murphy	...	Dusty (as Chris Murphy)
Roy Hytower	...	Nathan

Storyline

Carol Anne has been sent to live with her Aunt and Uncle in an effort to hide her from the clutches of the ghostly Reverend Kane, but he tracks her down and terrorises her in her relatives' appartment in a tall glass building. Will he finally achieve his target and capture Carol Anne again, or will Tangina be able, yet again, to thwart him?

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Plot Keywords:

mirror | building | little girl | haunting | teenage girl | 

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Taglines:

If you remember how the Poltergeist ghouls knocked a house flat, wait till you see what they do to a Chicago skyscraper!

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Genres:

Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 June 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Poltergeist III: We're Back

Filming Locations:

Francis W. Parker School - 330 W. Webster Ave. Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,344,308, 10 June 1988

Gross USA:

$14,114,488

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Producer David E. Kelley has quite a connection to this film. He cast Tom Skerritt and Zelda Rubinstein in his Emmy-winning TV drama Picket Fences (1992) after seeing them together in this film. The character of Skerrit's daughter was played by Holly Marie Combs on the show. That character is reminiscent in character and physicality to Lara Flynn Boyle's character Donna Gardner in this film. Nancy Allen was originally cast to portray the town's mayor in Season 2 of "Picket Fences" but had to drop out due to her contractual obligations to appear in RoboCop 2 (1990) and RoboCop 3 (1993). That role was then filled by Leigh Taylor-Young.

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Goofs

When Doctor Seaton is pushed down the elevator shaft the elevator is shown going up with the floor doors open and the doctor sprawled on top near the door operator. This would never happen because elevators are equipped with door interlock mechanisms. This means the outer doors (floor doors) could not be opened unless the elevator is present and completes a circuit. This mechanism also cuts the circuit to prevent it from moving if ANY doors are open. These multiple redundant fail-safes have been around for decades and would certainly be available on an 1988 elevator within a building portrayed to be a state of the art, new construction.

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Quotes

Tangina: [on the phone] Dr Seaton? Kane found Carol Anne, and it's all your fault.

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Crazy Credits

A text in the credits reads "The character of Reverend Henry Kane was originally portrayed by Julian Beck"

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Connections

Referenced in The Girl from Tomorrow: Stake-out (1991)

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Soundtracks

JUNGLE MUSIC
(uncredited)
Written by Simon Stokes and BILLY CIOFFI
Vocal by Simon Stokes

User Reviews

Bad on all counts.

What made the first Poltergeist so appealing was how likeable the characters were. For the 3rd installment in the Poltergeist series only Heather O'rourke (Carol Anne) and Zelda Rubinstein (Tangina) are hold overs from the original cast. If O'rourke and Rubinstein were smart they would have skipped particiapating in this bomb of a movie also.

Though the special effects were somewhat interesting this movie suffers from a bad script and bad acting highlighted by the actor who plays Dr. Seaton, who may have given the worst acting performance ever. There are far too many characters in this movie who are uninteresting and that you have a hard time caring about.

There is a certain sadness in watching this film knowing that Heather O'rourke died a few months before it's release. A double for Heather is used to shoot the final scenes of the movie which creates an odd and choppy ending.

This movie is a sad final chapter in the Potergeist series. The people behind the 2nd and 3rd installments were never able to recapture the magic from the original Poltergeist. It's even sadder that the cute and innocent little girl passed away at such a young age.