Line #4 Film/PoltergeistIII


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/622160f05e5d4d50600f56a7f6dd972f.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:299:[[{{Tagline}} They're back, again!]]]]
3
4	->'''Tangina:''' Carol Anne and Donna are ''not'' in that room.\
5	'''Bruce:''' Well some goddamn thing is.\
6	'''Tangina:''' O yes. Anger, rage, evil -- ''they'' are in that room.
7
8	''Poltergeist III'' (1988) is the second of two sequels to the horror film ''Film/{{Poltergeist\|1982}}''.
9
10	Carol Anne (Creator/HeatherORourke) has now been sent to live with her aunt Pat (Creator/NancyAllen), uncle Bruce (Creator/TomSkerritt) and Bruce's teenage daughter Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle), in a high-rise apartment building in Chicago. She goes to a school for gifted children and has to have sessions with a psychiatrist who doesn't believe in any of the supernatural stuff, and who's convinced she's just making everyone believe things. But soon the malevolent spirits, in particular that of Kane, start following Carol Anne again and terrorizing the building. This particularly gets out of hand one evening when Pat and Bruce have to attend a social event and leave Carol Anne in the care of Donna.
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12	----
13	!!''Poltergeist III'' provides examples of:
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15	* AndStarring: The opening billing titles end with "And: Zelda Rubinstein as Tangina". She's the only person apart from protagonist Heather O'Rourke who appeared in all three films[[note]]the character of Rev. Kane did not physically appear on-screen in the first film, and in the second film was played by a different actor than in this film[[/note]].
16	* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Martin has a little sister called Marcy who's acting very nasty to ''everyone'' she interacts with--putting down and almost bullying Carol Anne, antagonizing Donna--and Martin is ''really'' fed up with her behaviour.
17	* ArcWords: "Outside, in!"
18	* ArtisticLicenseLaw: Doctor Seaton's maltreatment of Carol Anne is quackery at best and malpractice at worst. He antagonizes Carol Anne and her family, essentially bullying along with the harassing bullys at school. It's a wonder why he hasn't at least been fired by the school he works for.
19	* AssholeVictim: After everything Dr. Seaton puts Carol Anne through, you can't feel sorry for how [[spoiler:he's pushed down an elevator shaft to die by a ghost disguised as Donna]].
20	* BodyHorror:
21	** "Scott" literally tearing off half of "Donna"'s face (downplayed though since they then are revealed not to be these actual living people, but "ghosts" posing as them).
22	** Donna crawling out of [[spoiler:Tangina's dead body]]--see the NightmareFuel.PoltergeistIII page and its image.
23	* BrickJoke: At the beginning of the movie, when Carol Anne's "spelling game computer" asks her to spell "parakeet", Pat jokingly spells "B-I-R-D" back at it. At the end when a ghost version of Carol Anne appears to the other characters, carrying the spelling game computer, the computer asks to spell "parakeet" and then itself answers "B-I-R-D".
24	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Once again, the producers chose not acknowledge the existence of Carol Anne's sister, Dana, played by the late Dominique Dunne. When Carol Anne talks about her family, she mentions missing her parents and "even my brother" but doesn't mention Dana.
25	* ContinuityNod: Tangina says her necklace was a gift from [[Film/PoltergeistIITheOtherSide a powerful medicine man who walked with the spirits]].
26	* CoolUncle: Carol Anne looks up to Pat, the cool younger sister of her mother, but even more to her uncle Bruce (even though he's not the one who's her blood relative), who apparently is well-liked by everybody in the building, and who seems really fond of Carol Anne himself.
27	* DivideAndConquer: Tangina warns Bruce and Pat that Kane will repeatedly attempt this on them and that they must stick together. They manage it until the climax.
28	* DoNotCallMePaul: Pat insists on being called "Pat", as opposed to the "Trish" she apparently was called when growing up and she hates. Carol Anne has difficulty switching to this other/new name though (but not because of objections--she just is used to the habit of using "Trish" to address her aunt).
29	* EasyAmnesia: Presumably, someone was able to lock away Carol Anne's memories of Kane and his cult so he could not track her down in Chicago; or Carol Anne eventually "forgot" due to trauma. Unfortunately, Dr. Seaton undoes this protection and Carol Anne appears on Kane's radar due to her thoughts and memories about him being revived.
30	* EvilIsDeathlyCold: The first thing characters notice is off, is how cold it is in the building. It turns out it's colder inside the building than outside. Then ice appears out of nowhere in the building. And it (the cold, and the evil) gets worse from there.
31	-->'''Tangina:''' Can you feel the cold? He [Kane] is devouring the heat, the energy.
32	* ExtremelyShortTimeSpan: In contrast to the first two films, this one takes place over less than a day.
33	* TheFinalTemptation: Towards the climax, Carol Anne suddenly appears through a window and says she'll stay with Kane, but she promises Pat the others will be returned if Tangina's necklace is handed over. Pat refuses because she doesn't want to abandon Carol Anne, after all. Then it's discovered this was another ghost impersonating the child.
34	* FishOutOfWater: Carol Anne has difficulty adjusting to living in big-city Chicago (she lived in a California suburb in the first movie, and in an Arizona desert village in the second) and when being called out by Donna for wearing ridiculously warm cloting, she answers "Hey I'm not used to this [cold], I'm from California!"
35	* FlippingTheBird: When Donna and her friends sneak past the security camera, one of the boys puts up his middle finger at the camera.
36	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
37	** Right off the bat, images of Kane appear, first overlaid a skyscraper window washer employee, and then appearing on mirror reflections. This foreshadows that Dr. Seaton has been performing ongoing appointments with Carol Anne through hypnosis and counseling, and Kane has already found Carol Anne's general coordinates in Chicago due to Seaton tampering with Carol Anne's suppressed memories.
38	** Tangina, before she, Pat and Bruce go into Carol Anne's room, says to them "Let ''me'' take the chances". She later [[spoiler:sacrifices herself to save Carol Anne and her family]].
39	** Bruce and Pat are tricked by a ghost pretending to be Carol Anne, but Tangina intervenes. When Pat asks how she could tell it wasn't Carol Anne, Tangina admits surprise a blood relative couldn't. This apparently relates to ThePowerOfLove and foreshadows the way Pat turns on Carol Anne for much of the second half.
40	** During an attack, Tangina tells Bruce, "Outside in." He later realizes what she meant: Kane controls the inside of the building, but not the outside, which is how they can reach the top safely.
41	* GratuitousFrench: Bruce says to Carol Anne that Pat thinks being called Trish is "déclassé". When Carol Anne confusedly wonders what that means, he reverts to "Just call her Pat, will you". Carol Anne later repeats the word to a boy who's bullying her, even though she doesn't know what it means.
42	* HeelRealization: After Bruce disappears after entering a window, a ghost pretending to be Carol Anne appears and insists she doesn't want to be saved because no one loves her. Pat admits she does love Carol Anne and is sorry about what she's been saying about her.
43	* IdiotBall: Dr. Seaton clearly saw poltergeist activity in the scene where a coffee cup is flung through a one-way mirror, but he continued to insist that everything was a result of Carol Anne's manipulation. This leads to a plot line where definite poltergeist activity is happening all over the place but blame continues to be put on "manipulative" Carol Anne for being the cause of all the problems. After Dr. Seaton proposes this theory, it seems to be aunt Pat who believes it most in her attempts to place blame:
44	-->'''Pat:''' Your daughter's upstairs, a shivering, emotional wreck. Then you run out on me to chase after that evil little brat again. Don't you understand? Don't you see what [Carol Anne]'s doing? It's just like Dr. Seaton said.\
45	'''Bruce:''' Nothing Seaton said explains what happened tonight.
46	* ImColdSoCold: Donna, after [[spoiler:being brought back from the Other Side]], is shivering with cold and has to be put in a warm bath.
47	* ISurrenderSuckers: [[spoiler: Kane]] at the end of movie acts like he is giving up the fight, but you can hear his maniacal laugh at the end, suggesting that he is still at large. It's unclear if it's the former or if [[spoiler: Tangina's]] volunteering made her an UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom and [[spoiler: Kane]] got to complete his diabolical plan.
48	* {{Jerkass}}: Dr. Seaton... Not only is he actively trying to paint Carol Anne as a manipulative liar, and arguably not living up to the standards of his profession as a psychiatrist--he also witnesses Carol Anne being bullied at the school he's the head of, and instead of doing anything about that, just complains about him finding Carol Anne annoying.
49	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While initially portrayed throughout as a bitchy ChildHater, it's made clear towards the end that Pat does genuinely care about Carol Anne in her own way, she's just not as comfortable with raising children as Bruce is.
50	* KarmaHoudini: Despite being an evil abomination and the cause of at least dozens of deaths, Kane is ultimately led into the light by Tangina, seemingly getting a happy ending that plenty of others ''didn't''. The final scene lampshades him not really being 'gone', so who knows.
51	* MirrorMonster: At the beginning, while Pat is looking away to something else while sitting in her art studio, the audience sees in the mirror behind her how the statue next to her turns its head. Also, when Kane first starts showing up, we see him as a reflection in mirrors (or glasses). Played more exaggerated in the second half of the movie, when "monsters" not just are ''shown'' in mirrors, but actively grab good characters ''through'' mirrors into "the Other Side".
52	* MissingMom: Donna's mother is not in her life. It is unclear if her mother died, abandoned her, or if her father simply got full custody after a divorce. Pat tries to be a good stepmom and ParentalSubstitute for Donna, though.
53	* ObnoxiousInLaws: Zig-zagged with Bruce. Early on, he expresses a very low opinion of Steven and Diane, as he (initially) believes the two worked Carol Anne up with phony stories of ghosts, psychics, and witch doctors. On the other hand, he positively adores Carol Anne and does everything possible to make her feel at home.
54	* OffWithHisHead: At the end of the movie, once Pat decides she's had enough of [[spoiler:Kane, she decapitates Kane with a shovel. Subverted though because Kane is still a ghost, and thus can't be "killed" (seeing he technically already is dead) by being decapitated]].
55	* OutsideContextProblem: Dr. Seaton doesn't realize that Carol Anne forgetting about Kane is vital so that Kane remains lost in the hereafter and unable to haunt Carol Anne. While Tangina does [[WhatTheHellHero call him out]] for this, he had no idea what he was up against.
56	* ParentalSubstitute:
57	** In this film, Carol Anne has been sent by her family to live with her aunt and uncle in a different part of the country. Her aunt, being her mom's sister, is a bit colder towards her in comparison to her uncle, who in spite of only being related to Carol Anne by marriage ironically fills this role better of the two parental substitutes.
58	** Pat also is a substitute mother to Bruce's daughter Donna (she's her step-mother, and presumably Donna's mother doesn't live anymore).
59	* ThePowerOfLove: As Tangina explains to Bruce and Pat, their love for each other (and the children) is what ultimately will defeat Kane.
60	-->'''Tangina:'''Your love, your bond, your caring for these two children... is our most valuable weapon.
61	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Sadly, Creator/HeatherORourke, the girl who played Carol Anne, died suddenly on February 1, 1988, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poltergeist_III before post-production on the film was completed]]. As a result, the ending was hastily rewritten with Tangina offering herself as a sacrifice substitute to rescue the others kidnapped by Kane. A substitute actress filled in for Carol Anne, and her face is hidden from view as Tangina rescues them.
62	* ScullySyndrome: Carol Anne's psychiatrist, Dr. Seaton, insists that Carol Anne is "putting suggestions into everyone's minds" even when the supernatural things start happening in front of his own eyes. Sadly, this leads to Pat also turning against Carol Anne (see Idiot Ball above).
63	* SequelHook: The film ends with a flash of light and Kane being heard laughing evilly.
64	* ShaggyDogStory: This film undoes the defeat of Kane at the end of ''Poltergeist II'' due to Dr. Seaton making Carol Anne talk about him. Not only that, but the ending to III suggests that Kane did not cross over and may still be at large, making Tangina's efforts in vain or unintentionally helpful to Kane's schemes.
65	* ShutUpKirk: In the elevator, Pat says she wants to pack up Carol Anne's things and send her back home ASAP.
66	-->'''Bruce:''' It wasn't her fault.\
67	'''Kane:''' ''[appearing in a mirror]'' [[NoIndoorVoice YES, IT IS!]]
68	* SkepticismFailure: Bruce in the second half. Pat takes surprisingly longer, as noted elsewhere on this page.
69	* SkinnyDipping: Subverted; when Donna & friends go to the pool, one of the boys (tongue-in-cheekly) suggests going naked ("Who needs a suit?"), but this is promptly put down by another character ("''You'' do"). They subsequently take swimwear from the pool's stock room, and wear this when in the pool.
70	* TaughtByExperience: Kane succeeds in getting Carol Anne (as well as Donna), but Tangina says he also wants Bruce and Pat. She says he's learned that people left behind in the living world will do anything to save loved ones he's taken to the Other Side, and he wants to eliminate that possibility.
71	* ThickerThanWater: Peculiarly inverted. Carol Anne is Pat's blood relative (niece, by her sister), but from about half-way through the movie on, Pat starts to proclaim she can't wait to get rid of Carol Anne out of her life by sending her back to her parents as soon as possible, to call Carol Anne a "brat" and to basically totally abandon and walk out on Carol Anne; but Bruce, not Carol Anne's blood relative, is the one actually helping and saving her. Meanwhile, Pat seems to be much more concerned about Bruce's daughter (Pat's stepdaughter) Donna, than about Carol Anne.
72	* UnholyMatrimony: The mirror versions of Donna and Scott appear to have this going on, as they passionately kiss once they've reunited and seem to enjoy being evil together
73	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Tangina believes that Dr. Seaton forcing Carol Anne to talk about her experiences is what allowed Kane to find her. There were glimpses of trouble before the therapy scene, suggesting Seaton was already working on Carol Anne, but things start getting real afterwards and Tangina detects Kane finding his mark with certainty.
74	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Bruce, Carol Anne, and Donna all come back safe from the Other Side, but what happened to Scott? According to the actor who played Scott (Kip Wentz), he wasn't contacted by the director when re-shoots were done (this was the second ending, filmed in March 1988, a few weeks after Heather O'Rourke died) and he didn't find out that a new ending was shot until shortly before the film opened. The team outright admitted that in the haste to re-shoot, they simply forgot about him.
75	* WhiteVoidRoom: The [[WhatCouldHaveBeen original ending]] was supposed to show a progression through the apartment, where the environment goes from cold and icy, to more and more frosted over and blistery, until the FinalGirl reaches a bedroom, which has become the wintery center for the villain's rage, with nothing but a zero visibility blizzard surrounding the two as they stand amongst some frozen bodies that are strewn on and around some frozen furniture. No walls, just an expanse... as can be seen [[http://www.poltergeistiii.com/originalending.html here]] in general, and [[http://i46.tinypic.com/2z5jho7.jpg here]] in particular. However, the ending was re-shot in a hurried manner; it shows some frost and mist in a shadowy bedroom, but otherwise avoids this trope.

Context Film / PoltergeistIII