Review of Poltergeist III (1988) by Roy C — 08 Jul 2009

There is a legacy surrounding the Poltergeist franchise. A legacy of mysterious on-set accidents, and unfortunate deaths of people involved with making the films. One of the, unfortunately, most famous deaths is of little Heather O'Rourke, who died before this film was even completed.

It's a real life tragedy that mirrors the hardships her character, Carol Anne, endures through all three movies in this series. The filmmakers wanted to go in a different direction with this entry, opting to have the entire film take place within a Chicago high rise.

They also stayed completely away from blue screen visual effects, and went with practical on-set effects involving make up, and extensive work with reflections and mirrors. The result is a very claustrophobic, and atmospheric movie that is visually remarkable.

It also uses its visual trickery as a means of moving the story along. The story setup is solid, if unremarkable, and the acting is (mostly) workmanlike and believeable. Unfortunately after a very solid first 45 minutes, the movie disolves into a series of sequences where characters run up and down hallways and stairways, yelling the names of other characters.

It's like the script ceased to exist, and the actors were told something like "Okay, you see Carol Anne being pulled into another dimension...run down the hall in a panic, and yell her name as many times as you can.

" I'm sure that someone out there has taken a count of how many times "Carol Anne" is yelled throughout the course of this movie. My money is over 200 times. Tragically, little Heather died before the film was completed.

Instead of scrapping the film, the director chose to finish it without her. But filming the end of a film without your main actress meant that the original ending had to be scrapped, and the film completed by any means possible.

This results in an ending that is nothing more than a simplistic cop-out. It really sinks the second half of the movie. While not as good as the first two films, it's still a guilty pleasure, and a decent ghost story in its own right.