Poltergeist (1982)

Poltergeist
Directed By	Tobe Hooper, Steven Spielberg (uncredited)
Produced By	Frank Marshall Steven Spielberg
Written By	Story Steven Spielberg Screenplay Steven Spielberg Michael Grais Mark Victor
Starring	Craig T. Nelson JoBeth Williams Beatrice Straight Dominique Dunne Oliver Robins Heather O'Rourke Zelda Rubinstein
Music By	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Matthew F. Leonetti, ASC
Editing By	Michael Kahn Steven Spielberg
Distributed By	United Artists
Release Date	June 4, 1982 (U.S.) June 5, 1982 (Canada) August 5, 1982 (AUS) September 16, 1982 (UK)
Runtime	114 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10,700,000
Gross	$76,606,280 (USA) $121,706,019 (Worldwide estimate)
Followed by	Poltergeist II: The Other Side

Poltergeist is an American horror film, directed by Tobe Hooper, produced by Steven Spielberg, and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on June 4, 1982. It is the first and most successful of the Poltergeist film trilogy, and was nominated for three Academy Awards.

The film was ranked as #80 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments and the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 20th scariest film ever made. The film also appeared on American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding movies.

Plot

Steven and Diane Freeling, their children Dana, Robbie, and Carol Anne, are living a quiet life in a California suburb where Steven is a real estate agent selling for the development where they live.

One night after all are asleep, the national anthem and the shutting down of a TV station for the night begins and then turns to television "snow".

Carol Anne is the only one to hear faint whispering from the living room television set on static. She strolls hypnotically down the stairs to the TV where you can groups of seemingly benign spirits begin communicating with five-year-old Carol Anne through the static and whispers on the family's television set

A number of other bizarre occurrences follow, including an earthquake, that only the Freelings house is effected by, glasses and utensils, that spontaneously break or bend, and the ominous announcement by Carol Anne that the ghosts are there with them. Diane begins to realize the presence of beings in her home, which fascinates her. But when she brings these things to Steven's attention, he is disturbed and worried.

One night, during a rainstorm, a gnarled tree comes to life and grabs Robbie through his bedroom window. However, this is merely a distraction used by the ghosts to get Carol Anne's parents to leave her unattended. While Diane and Steven rescue Robbie, Carol Anne is sucked through a portal in her closet. The horrified Freelings realize she has been taken after they begin to hear her communicating through a television set.

A group of parapsychologists from UC Irvine, Dr. Martha Lesh, Dr. Ryan Mitchell and Dr. Martin Casey, come to the Freeling house to investigate. Steven gives them the rundown on the situation as they ask to see the entry point of the incident, the children's bedroom.

As Steven prepares to unlock the door, Ryan proudly boasts that he has video of a child's toy matchbox vehicle taking 7 hours to roll across a floor, and how incredible it is on time lapse. Steven nods uninterested as he opens the door to complete chaos. The spirits, whatever true demeanor, are not happy with their first time on display. One bed is spinning while Carol Anne's clown doll is laughing manically. A floating lamp plugs itself in. Several toys approach the group to either tease or threaten. A math compass flies towards doctor Lesh before using it's needle to play a child's record.

They determine that the Freelings are experiencing a poltergeist, rather than a true haunting. Poltergeists center themselves around an individual rather than a location. Dr. Lesh explains that the spirits have not moved on to "the light" after death, but are stuck between dimensions. They have taken Carol Anne, Lesh says, because as an innocent 5-year-old, her "life force" is as bright to them as the light, and they believe she is their salvation.

In the living room, as it gets dark (Presumably because signals of any kind are strongest at night.) Diane turns to the channel she can hear Carol Anne best on. After a few unsuccessful tries she says hello to her father. Diane knows that Carol Anne is naive about what's happening and attempts to get any clues from the girl using a motherly soft demeanor. The mood in the room changes when Carol Anne mentions being afraid of a light. As Diane believes it's a portal of sorts home as Dr. Lesh informs her not to coax her into it. That it's the way to the other side. Marty, strangely still unconvinced after all he's seen, investigates the television and thinks there may be a chance it's simply a CB radio and a hoax. After Marty leaves for upstairs Carol Anne tells her mother there's someone unknown there with her.

Later that night Robbie and Dr.Lesh have an in depth, enlightened discussion about death, and what the spirits want.

Robbie's side of the conversation suddenly is caught by Steven as Robbie describes a childlike (but feasible) plan in which they tie a rope around him to go and grab Carol Anne from upstairs. Diane tells Robbie to get some sleep. He tells them all goodnight, including Carol Anne as quiet static murmurs on the TV set.

After most of the group in the living room are fast asleep, Marty informs Ryan that he's going to forage for something to eat in the kitchen. After finding a steak, it starts to burst open with maggots on the kitchen counter. A chicken leg Marty was eating falls from his mouth and puts him into shock to see more maggots along with it on the floor. He rushes to the bathroom and vomits in the sink and splashes water on his face to compose himself. The bathroom light gives a strange color and hum as Marty looks into the mirror and sees a sudden bloody gouge on his face. For no known reason then his own he decides to claw at it. He continues and gradually is tearing apart his own face to the bone. His exposed skull gives a hiccuped growl and then suddenly after a flash of light, Marty looks to his reflection and realizes he was hallucinating.

Ryan meanwhile monitors the equipment for any sudden changes in the houses environment. He is oblivious to a sudden flux on the meters as his Walkman and sketching pad preoccupy him. An EKG like meter starts erratically giving readings. A computer controlled video camera programmed to focus on disturbances begins to scan up the stairway as the children's bedroom door opens. Light and mist start to appear. Marty, still in trembling fear, motions to Ryan. A brilliantly lit and almost angelic female apparition surrounded by bright orbs begins to descend down the stairs slowly. Everyone in the room rouses and are frightened except for Ryan, who has a look of wonder and excitement in his expression. Steven panics as it ascends up into the ceiling and vanishes.

Ryan, very excited and impatient, rolls it back just enough to see the last few seconds to discover that the orbs following the "Glowing Woman" were on closer view spirits of human beings. Although distorted almost like a photo negative, they can make out faces with bodies, and even clothing of different time periods. As they walk past the camera, they are seen observing the living group and the surroundings. Dr. Lesh comments that they are "So lonely, so alone." Being a peaceful and curious visit, it might be a cry for help.

After these series of paranormal episodes, Robbie and Dana are sent away for their safety. Dr. Lesh informs Diane that she's leaving Ryan with the family for support and that Marty (obviously petrified after being the most victimized of the group) won't be returning. She embraces Diane and tells her she will be back, and with help.

Later that day, Steven is approached by his boss, Lewis Teague, about a promotion. The new project will involve selling lots on a newly acquired hilltop parcel of land that currently houses a cemetery. When Steven balks at the idea of relocating the graveyard, his boss shrugs it off, explaining that the company had done it before, in the very neighborhood where Steven now lives. (Before the conversation, Teague mentions in casual passing that Carol Anne was born in the Freeling house. A plot exposition to reenforce why the spirits are attracted to her.)

Dr. Lesh and Ryan soon return with a spiritual medium, Tangina Barrons, a little person who Steve makes jokes about her size and psychic ability, and is humorously proven that he's wrong about the latter. She informs Diane that Carol Anne is alive and in the house. She also explains that, in addition to the peaceful lost souls inhabiting the house, there is a single malevolent spirit she calls the "Beast," that is using Carol Anne to keep the spirits away from the light so he can thrive on them for power.

The assembled group discovers that while the entrance to the other dimension is through the children's bedroom closet, the exit is through the living room ceiling. They send Diane to rescue Carol Anne, tying her to a rope that they've managed to thread through both portals. As Tangina coaxes the agonized spirits away from Carol Anne and instead to the light, Diane retrieves her daughter and they emerge through the living room ceiling, falling to the floor. Tangina announces that the spirits are gone.

However, while the spirits have moved on peacefully, the Beast has not. Now wanting revenge after losing the life force of both the spirits and Carol Anne. On the family's final night in the house, the Beast ambushes Diane and the children. Locking the children in their room and attacking Robbie with the thing he fears most, the clown doll. The Beast then attempts to sexually assault Diane. After breaking free she makes her way to the children's room. Blocking the door to the room, The Beast finally makes it's revealed appearance. That of a ghostly skull with 4 praying mantis like legs. She panics and rolls down the stairs while The Beast manages to electrify the railings to prevent her from ascending back up. Diane runs to her neighbors for help, and in the process, slips and falls into the unfinished swimming pool, from which coffins and rotting corpses erupt. Her neighbors, terrified by the ghostly energy blazing from the house, refuse to help. Diane pulls Robbie and Carol Anne out from the house, and Dana returns from a date to find coffins and dead bodies exploding from the ground throughout the neighborhood.

As Steven returns home to this mayhem, he realizes that, when Teague relocated the cemetery under the subdivision, he'd done it on the cheap and only moved the headstones. Teague appears soon after, joining the Freelings' neighbors in their horror at the Freeling house's explosive possession. An enraged Steven confronts him with the fact that by leaving the bodies in unmarked graves and building houses on top of them, Teague had desecrated their burial grounds. As the Freelings drive away in terror, the house itself implodes into another dimension, to the astonishment of onlookers. Teague knows now he faces a dark future because of these events.

The family flees from town and checks into a Holiday Inn for the night outside the town. Taking no chances, Steven puts the television outside on the balcony.

Cast

• Craig T. Nelson as Steve Freeling
• JoBeth Williams as Diane Freeling
• Dominique Dunne asDana Freeling
• Heather O'Rourke as Carol Anne Freeling
• Zelda Rubinstein as Tangina Barrons
• Beatrice Straight as Dr. Martha Lesh
• Lou Perryman as Pugsley (AKA Bluto the coffee thief.)
• Oliver Robins as Robbie Freeling
• William Hope as Dana's Boyfriend In Car (cameo) (uncredited)
• Michael McManus as Ben Tuthill
• Virginia Kiser as Mrs. Tuthill
• Martin Casella as Dr. Martin Casey
• Richard Lawson as Dr. Ryan Mitchell
• Clair E. Leucart as the Bulldozer Driver
• James Karen as Frank Teague
• Dirk Blocker as Jeff Shaw

Film Stills

Production

Creative relationship

A clause in his contract with Universal Studios prevented Spielberg from directing any other film while preparing E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Time and Newsweek tagged the summer of 1982 "The Spielberg Summer" because E.T. and Poltergeist were released a week apart in June. As such a marketable name, some began to question Spielberg's role during production. Suggestions that Spielberg had greater directorial influence than the credits suggest were aided by comments made by the writer/producer:

"Tobe isn't... a take-charge sort of guy. If a question was asked and an answer wasn't immediately forthcoming, I'd jump in and say what we could do. Tobe would nod agreement, and that become the process of collaboration."

The Directors Guild of America "opened an investigation into the question of whether or not Hooper's official credit was being denigrated by statements Spielberg has made, apparently claiming authorship." Co-producer Frank Marshall told the Los Angeles Times that "the creative force of the movie was Steven. Tobe was the director and was on the set every day. But Steven did the design for every storyboard and he was on the set every day except for three days when he was in Hawaii with Lucas." However, Hooper claimed that he "did fully half of the storyboards."

The Hollywood Reporter printed an open letter from Spielberg to Hooper in the week of the film's release.

"Regrettably, some of the press has misunderstood the rather unique, creative relationship, which you and I shared throughout the making of Poltergeist.

I enjoyed your openness in allowing me... a wide berth for creative involvement, just as I know you were happy with the freedom you had to direct Poltergeist so wonderfully.

Through the screenplay you accepted a vision of this very intense movie from the start, and as the director, you delivered the goods. You performed responsibly and professionally throughout, and I wish you great success on your next project.^[7]"

Several members of the Poltergeist cast and crew have over the years consistently alleged, that Spielberg was the 'de facto director' of the picture, while other actors have claimed Hooper directed the film. In a 2007 interview with Ain't It Cool News, Rubinstein discussed her recollections of the shooting process. She said that "Steven directed all six days" that she was on set: "Tobe set up the shots and Steven made the adjustments." She also alleged that Hooper "allowed some unacceptable chemical agents into his work," and at her interview felt that time "Tobe was only partially there." In an interview with Deadpit Radio, Lou Perryman stated "Tobe directed me and everything I saw while I was there, he directed". Oliver Robbins (who played Robbie) said that Tobe Hooper was the director. Craig T. Nelson also confirmed Hooper as the director, strongly influenced by Spielberg.

Production Stills

Home video release

In 1997, MGM released Poltergeist on DVD in a snap case, and the only special feature was a trailer. In 1998, Poltergeist was re-released on DVD with the same cover and disc as the 1997 release, but in a keep case and with an eight page booklet. In 1999, it was released on DVD again by Warner Home Video in a snap case with the same disc, but a different cover. Warner Home Video tentatively scheduled releases for the 25th anniversary edition of the film on standard DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray in Spain and the US on 9 October 2007. The re-release claimed to have digitally remastered picture and sound, and a two-part documentary: "They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists", which makes extensive use of clips from the film. The remastered DVD of the film was released as scheduled but both high-definition releases were eventually canceled. Warner rescheduled the high definition version of the film and eventually released it only on the Blu-ray disc format on October 14, 2008.

The Blu-ray disc release still had the "25th Anniversary Edition" banner even though this particular release was a full year behind the actual anniversary of the film. The Blu-ray disc release was packaged in collectible, non-standard Blu-ray disc packaging Warner Home Video calls "digibook" which is supposed to resemble a coffee table book and contains pictures from the film on its pages.

A six disc prototype, from the abandoned 20th Anniversary Special Edition, surfaced on eBay a few years ago and still crops up from time to time. Special features included The First Real Ghost Story and The Making of Poltergeist featurettes, screenplay, several photo galleries and Fangoria interviews, and the documentaries E! True Hollywood Story, Hollywood Ghost Stories and Terror in the Aisles. The 6th disc was a copy of the original motion picture soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith.

Trivia

• Obviously a tongue-in-cheek move, The Beast's roar is the exact same sound file as the MGM lion.
• The dog`s name "E Buzz" comes from a sketch on Saturday Night Live with Dan Akyroyd as "E Buzz Miller", a pimp who critiques naked Victorian art.
• In reality, Craig T. Nelson and Jo Beth Williams were only 14 and 11 years older than Dominique Dunne, who plays their teen-aged daughter.
• When Diane tells Carol Anne to stop watching the static because it will hurt your eyes, she turns on a movie, a war film called "Go For Broke" (1951), the film clip has a famous audio bit called the Wilhelm Scream.
• In a deleted scene the form of The Beast was originally revealed in Ryan's video footage. The face of a cruel old man known later as Reverend Henry Kane evolves into The Beast. In the original trailer Diane is watching the screens and yelling "That thing is in there with my baby!"
• The house used to film this movie is located in Simi Valley, California where it still stands today. The family who owned it still live there today.
• The swirling, flickering lights coming from the closet during the rescue scene were achieved using a very simple effect by having an aquarium full of water in front of a spotlight. Then a fan blew on the surface of the water to make it swirl.
• The Rams (then Los Angeles Rams) vs. Saints football game seen near the beginning of the film is taken from a Monday Night Football game in 1980.
• During the scene where Robbie is being strangled, the clown`s arms became extremely tight and Robbins started to choke. When he screamed out, "I can`t breathe!" Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper thought that the boy was ad-libbing and just instructed him to look at the camera. When Spielberg saw Robbins`s face turning purple, he ran over and removed the clown`s arms from Robbins`s neck.
• Jo Beth Williams was hesitant about shooting the swimming pool scene because of the large amount of electrical equipment positioned over and around the pool. In order to comfort her, Steven Spielberg jumped in the pool with her to shoot the scene. Spielberg told her, "Now if a light falls in, we will both fry." The strategy worked and Williams got in the pool.
• To make the stair spirits movements seem more ethereal when they appeared on the monitor, the director had the actors walk very slowly backwards then reversed the film. The same effect was used for the entire family in the opening scene.
• Jo Beth Williams revealed that the production used real human skeletons when filming the swimming pool scene. Many of the people on the set were alarmed by this and led others to believe the "curse" on the film series was because of this use. Craig Reardon, a special effects artist who worked on the film, commented at the time that it was cheaper to purchase real skeletons than plastic ones as the plastic ones involved labor in making them.
• 2008 paid an homage to Poltergeist (1982) in a DirecTV commercial. Craig T. Nelson reprised the role of Steve Freeling, complaining to Carol Anne and the audience that the static on the TV set is just bad cable reception and quips "Not getting rid of cable. THAT'S gonna come back to haunt me!" Heather O'Rourke's family were pleased with the ad, for keeping her memory alive.
• The theme music is known as "Carol Anne's theme". It was originally titled "Bless this House" and was written like a lullaby as a contrast to the horror in the film. There are lyrics which can be found on the Internet.
• The crawling steak was done by using a real steak which was laid over a slot cut between the tiles in the counter top. Two wires were fastened to the bottom of the steak and a special effects operator, hidden under the counter, simply moved the wires to make the steak crawl like a caterpillar. A similar operation was done when Diane presents to Steven

the chairs that move across the room by themselves. A wire was fastened to one of the chair's legs under the set. An operator first wobbled the chair with the wire, then dragged the chair across to its destination.

• On top of the master bedroom television set sits an Atari Video Computer System console with its two joysticks; later known as the Atari 2600. (Why was it in the parents room?)
• The cemetery Steve and Teague are talking in front of has a tree identical to the one that tried to eat Robbie; a subtle clue that the Freeling house was built over a cemetery.

Reception

Poltergeist was a box office success worldwide. The film grossed $76,606,280 in the United States, making it the highest-grossing horror film of 1982 and 8th overall for the year.

Poltergeist was well received by critics and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1982. Douglas Brode compares the "family values" in Poltergeist to the Bush/Quayle 1992 reelection campaign. Andrew Sarris, in The Village Voice, wrote that when Carol Anne is lost the parents and the two older children "come together in blood-kin empathy to form a larger-than-life family that will reach down to the gates of hell to save its loved ones." In the L.A. Herald Examiner, Peter Rainer wrote:

Buried within the plot of Poltergeist is a basic, splendid fairy tale scheme: the story of a little girl who puts her parents through the most outrageous tribulation to prove their love for her. Underlying most fairy tales is a common theme: the comforts of family. Virtually all fairy tales begin with a disrupting of the family order, and their conclusion is usually a return to order.

Over 30 years after its release, the film is regarded by many critics as a classic of the horror genre and maintains an 86% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Poltergeist was selected by The New York Times as one of The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made. The film also received recognition from the American Film Institute. The film ranked number 84 on AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills list, and the tag line "They're here" was named the 69th greatest movie quote on AFI's 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes.

Reissues and sequels

The film was reissued on October 29, 1982 to take advantage of the Halloween weekend. It was shown in theaters for one night only on October 4, 2007 to promote the new restored and remastered 25th anniversary DVD, released five days later. This event also included the documentary "They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists," which was created for the new DVD.

The film spawned two sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III. The first retained the family but introduced a new motive for the Beast's behavior, tying him to an evil cult leader named Henry Kane, who led his religious sect to their doom in the 1820s. As the Beast, Kane went to extraordinary lengths to keep his "flock" under his control, even in death. The original motive of the cemetery's souls disturbed by the housing development was thereby altered; the cemetery was now explained to be built above a cave where Kane and his flock met their ends.

Carol Anne is the sole original family member featured in Poltergeist III, which finds her living in an elaborate Chicago skyscraper owned and inhabited by her aunt and uncle. Kane follows her there and uses the building's ubiquitous decorative mirrors as a portal to the Earthly plane.

In 2008, MGM announced that Vadim Perelman would helm a remake, to be written by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White. The film is set to debut in 2015 with two trailers now released.

Curse Assumption

The franchise is often said to be cursed, because several people associated with it, including stars Dominique Dunne and Heather O'Rourke, died prematurely. "The Poltergeist Curse" has been the focus of an E! True Hollywood Story. It's known to be nothing more than an urban legend seeing as Dunne was murdered in a domestic dispute much later and another two died of natural causes filming the sequel and not the original film, one was well aware of it while filming.

Misconceptions

• The film has long had a wrongly misconstruing plot detail that the land was Indian burial ground and not a graveyard. This is most likely in part to Teague's line to Steven about relocating the cemetery up the hill from the Freeling house, "Besides, it's not ancient tribal burial ground, it's just people."

• Another often and rather amusing mistake is some people believe Carol Anne's spirit was actually trapped inside the television and not just communicating through it.

Cultural impact

Poltergeist has been referenced in several films, television shows and music videos.

• An episode of Family Guy called "Petergeist" parodied the events in Poltergeist. Peter builds a multiplex in his backyard and discovers an Indian burial ground. When he takes an Indian chief’s skull, a poltergeist invades the Griffins’ home. The episode also used some of the same musical cues heard in the film. Composer Ron Jones "spent months" studying and recreating the original music sheets from the 1982 horror film Poltergeist.^[3] The photocopies of the music sheets cost Jones US$400. It Recreated five scenes, including baby Stewie saying, "They're here", the portal in the closet, a hallucinating Peter ripping his face off to reveal that of Hank Hill from King of the Hill, the house imploding, and Stewie being able to communicate through the TV. However, the clown is replaced with Ronald McDonald, and after Lois leaves the television outside, Peter pushes the television back and leaves Meg outside.

• In the American Dad! episode "The American Dad After School Special", Francine discovers a pool filled with food, just like Diane's discovery of the pool hole filled with coffins and dead bodies. Hayley yells, "What's happening?!", just like Dana did in Poltergeist.
• At the end of the first Simpsons Treehouse of Horror installment, "Bad Dream House", the house in which the Simpsons move turns out to be haunted. After repeated failed attempts to scare them away, it implodes in a way similar to that of the house at the end of Poltergeist, rather than spend life with the Simpson family. In Treehouse of Horror VI's Homer³, Homer enters the third dimension and communicates with his family in a reverberating voice similar to that of Carol Anne's when she speaks through the television. In an attempt to rescue Homer, Bart enters the dimension with a rope tied around him, similar to the manner Carol Anne is retrieved by Diane.
• South Park has referenced the film several times. In "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", Cartman makes Dr. Nelson say "Carol Anne - don't go into the light" during the fight with him. In the episode "Spookyfish", a pet store built over unmoved bodies in a former cemetery causes a vortex behind a closed door akin to the rift in Carol Anne's bedroom closet. In the episode "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", Chef's mother exorcises Kenny's soul out of Cartman then states, "This child is clean," a parody of Tangina's line, "This house is clean" in the film. The episode "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes", the boys are told to break a mirror to bring down the Wall-Mart store, just as Tangina told Carol Anne to do to get away from Kane in Poltergeist III. Once Stan and Kyle break the mirror, the store implodes and disappears into another dimension just as the Freeling house does at the end of Poltergeist. A doctor resembling Tangina Barrons appears when Ike is possessed by Michael Jackson in the episode "Dead Celebrities".
• In The X-Files episode "Shadows", Mulder and Scully were discussing what had taken over their car and caused them to crash. Mulder believes that a young woman they had just visited had caused the crash via psychokinetic powers. When Scully questions Mulder's beliefs, Mulder also says it could be a poltergeist. Scully then mocks him by saying, "They're here!" Mulder replies, "Yes, they just might be."
• In the Wonderfalls episode "Lying Pig", Jaye's brother declares "This trailer is clean, kind of" after helping her remove all of the talking objects à la Zelda Rubinstein. In the Chilly Beach episode "Polargeist", a direct spoof of the first film, Dale discovers ghosts in his house and is abducted into the spirit world through his beer fridge.
• In the music video for the Spice Girls song "Too Much" Emma Bunton recreates a scene from the movie.
• In Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Jim Carrey having just diagnosed that Roger Podactor was murdered instead of having committed suicide remarks: "I have exorcised the demons!" He also later adds "This house is clean." The second quote is directly from Poltergeist although spoken incorrectly as "This house is clear.".
• In the April 19, 2007 episode of Supernatural, Dean explains to his brother the curse of the set of Poltergeist. Also in a first season episode called Home, Dean makes a reference to Missouri Mosley cleaning out their old house of a poltergeist by commenting on her doing her "whole Zelda Rubinstein thing," a reference to the actress who portrayed Tangina Barrons in all three Poltergeist films. In the fifth season episode "Dark Side of the Moon", Castiel tells Sam and Dean "Don't go into the light" and Dean then refers to Castiel as Carol Anne."
• In an episode of Roseanne, Roseanne's sister Jackie cleans the house thoroughly to get it ready for the homecoming of Darlene's baby. After cleaning, she says, "This house is clean" in a voice that imitates Tangina's when she says the line in the movie.
• Scary Movie 2 parodies the clown scene by having Ray (Shawn Wayans) sexually assault him under the bed. It also parodies the scene with the tree that grabs Robbie, but replaces the tree with a giant cannabis plant.
• Comedian and actor Eddie Murphy references the film in his stand-up HBO special, Delirious. He jokes about her possibly just being in the TV and simply changing the channel to get her out.
• "Virtualodeon", an episode of The Garfield Show, includes references to Poltergeist, including the presence of an alien-hunting female character who says the famous line from the film, and the emergence of alien creatures out of Jon's television.
• Fashion designer Marc Jacobs has a tattoo of the film's poster on his upper back.

See also

• Night Skies
• Poltergeist: The Legacy

External links

• Poltergeist at the Internet Movie Database
• Template:Amg movie
• Template:Rotten-tomatoes
• Poltergeist Online