Poltergeist III (1988)

March 25, 2025 12:23 PM

[TRAILER] Psychically attuned youngster Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is sent to live in Chicago with her Uncle Bruce (Tom Skerritt), her Aunt Pat (Nancy Allen), and her cousin Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle). But that doesn't mean that she's escaped the apparitions that have haunted her in the past. When she starts experiencing terrifying visions, her school psychologist believes that they're figments of her imagination. But this becomes hard to believe when ghostly foes start inhabiting the mirrors in her relatives' high-rise apartment.

Also starring Zelda Rubenstein.

Directed by Gary Sherman. Written by Gary Sherman, Brian Taggert. Based on characters by Steven Spielberg. Produced by Barry Bernardi for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Cinematography by Alex Nepomniaschy. Edited by Ross Albert. Music by Joe Renzetti.

15% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

posted by DirtyOldTown (7 comments total)

Bringing on the director of the superlative Dead and Buried? Great choice.

Switching things up to apartment horror? Cool idea.

Making excellent use of both the Hancock Building and Water Tower Place? Cool.

Bringing back Zelda Rubenstein? Always good.

Lara Flynn Boyle? Excellent. Tom Skerritt, Nancy Allen? I can see that.

Leaning in hard to "the other side of the mirror" imagery? Sounds good.

But this isn't good. It has a few gonzo sequences, like LFB erupting from Zelda's body.

But the new actor cast as Kane is one note and boring, the script drags, the absence of the family is felt keenly, and the lackluster attempts to replace that with stepparent/adoptive parent drama are half-hearted at best.

This is generally watchable without being that good at all.

Poor Heather O'Rourke was already dying of giardiasis and a bowel deformation during the making of this and they didn't even know.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:28 PM on March 25 [1 favorite]

huh, I didn't even know this movie existed. I mean the original is a classic, I'm not even sure if I saw PII, but this. 15%...sheesh.
posted by supermedusa at 1:37 PM on March 25

what was the purpose of the trailer? "it gave nothing away.. there was nothing to give away"
posted by ginger.beef at 3:17 PM on March 25

Was there a subtext to this film? Poltergeist was, in part, about the terrors of home ownership. (Dad's a realtor and got the house as part of his job.) The house turning into something all-consuming and monstrous is what every homeowner frets about.

Poltergeist II was about Dad reclaiming his manhood. He had failed to protect his family in P1, so P2 was giving him a chance to prove himself.

Was P3 about anything other than spooks? Having an apartment next to bad neighbors, maybe? Or fear of a condo conversion?
posted by SPrintF at 5:20 PM on March 25

I think that they may have thought it was finding familial connections when family structures change (adoptive parents/guardians, stepparents/stepchildren/second marriages). But it really felt like they sort of yadda-yadda'd that.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:10 AM on March 26 [2 favorites]

I know this is not a good movie, or even an especially entertaining one, but I have a soft spot for it because I saw it when I was little. At six years old, I was at some random house in the neighborhood full of kids running around, watching this movie, and playing Dig-dug on a PC. Good times!
posted by mustard seeds at 1:05 AM on March 27

This movie was a giant source of childhood fears for me. I saw it when my family was staying in a hotel and my dad thought the kids were well asleep (nerp) when he watched it on the free HBO in the room very quietly. Parking garages, large puddles and large glass windows became huge sources of anxiety because I thought they were part of the MO of ghosts, which I was already afraid of. In my 20s I rented it because I wanted to actually see how “bad” it was and I had to quit during the first scene with the hallways of doors/mirrors. So to me it’s still one of the scariest movies of all time. I turn 40 this year. Maybe I’ll try to watch it 3+ decades removed and see how it hold up.
posted by lizjohn at 4:25 PM on March 27