Poltergeist (1982) is a memorable
supernatural horror film from co-producer/co-writer Steven Spielberg who
teamed with director Tobe Hopper (known for his cult horror classic The
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)). It was Spielberg's first smash hit as
a co-producer, who was paired with Frank Marshall (who later produced Who
Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)). It was the highest-grossing (domestic
) horror film of 1982 (bested by E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) at #
1), and the eighth highest-grossing film overall in the same year. This classic 'haunted house ghost story' is fascinating to watch, with its extraordinary special effects created by George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic team, and a screenplay by Spielberg, Michael Grais, and Mark Victor. However, in the early 80s, it was criticized for only receiving a PG rating (after the filmmakers protested its original R rating), given its intense scenes of horror - accentuated by the new Dolby sound system technology. In reaction (in part), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in 1984 created a new ratings category in between PG and R ratings - PG-13.
This Spielberg production was released at the same time as another suburban tale with visitors: E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). It could also be interpreted as a threatening, scarier version of director Spielberg's pre-E.T. film: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
Compared to both films, Poltergeist was the dark flip side for Diane and Steve Freeling (Williams and Nelson) in the Cuesta Verde housing development of suburban California, with ordinary objects that turned threatening (for example, a suburban tract dream home, a backyard tree, a favorite doll, a closet, and a TV screen). The famous poster reflected one of the more memorable, spookier moments of the film, with young 5 year-old Carole Anne (Heather O'Rourke) pressed against a television showing nothing but white noise, and saying, "They're here." Another tremendous trick scene was the one in which the camera slowly panned away from a kitchen table - and then returned to view a stack of chairs.
There were two less successful sequels in subsequent years. The only actors to reprise their roles in all three films were Heather O'Rourke and Zelda Rubenstein (as psychic Tangina):
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| Poltergeist (1982) | d. Tobe Hooper; with Steven Spielberg as co-producer and co-writer; the most commercially-successful film of all the Poltergeist films at $76.6 million; re-released in 1983 |
| Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) | d. Brian Gibson; with domestic revenue of $41 million, set one year after the original film |
| Poltergeist III (1988) | d. Gary Sherman (co-writer); with domestic revenue of $14.1 million; with the tagline: "He's Found Her" |
| Poltergeist (title unknown) | A "revisionist" re-make planned for release in May 2015 |
Many filmgoers have been intrigued by the seemingly-tragic legacy of the film, with the unexpected deaths of two of the stars:
- Dominique Dunne (in her last film role before her tragic strangulation murder at the age of 22 in November, 1982 by her obsessed boyfriend)
- Heather O'Rourke (the 12 year-old star died six years later in February 1988 from surgical complications related to intestinal blockage just before the second sequel's release)
The film opens with the playing of the National Anthem during a TV station's sign-off. The highly-pixeled image is from a close-up, magnified shot of a television screen. The picture goes 'dead' - it is in the middle of the night. The head of the household, Steve Freeling (Craig T. Nelson) has fallen asleep in the downstairs living room in front of the tube. The family dog visits and introduces each of the members of the sleeping Freeling family in the upstairs bedrooms of their suburban home - thirty-two year old wife Diane (JoBeth Williams), sixteen year old Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight year old Robbie (Oliver Robins), and young, five year old blonde nursery-schooler Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke).
In the famous image that advertised the film, the youngest daughter comes down the serpentine staircase from the second floor, walking through the flickering, strobe-effect lighting that is cast over the room. She sits in front of the fuzzy, snowy image of the television and imaginatively converses with strange entities - she believes that every inanimate object is anthropomorphic:
Hello? What do you look like? Talk louder, I can't hear you! Hey, hello! Hello, I can't hear you! Five. Yes. Yes. I don't know. I don't know.She awakens her parents and siblings, who stand in silence and watch her communicate with the grainy picture tube. She places her two palms on the glass.
They live in the peaceful Cuesta Verde Estates tract housing development - their house is indistinguishable from other subdivision homes. The bedroom of the two youngest children is decorated with other-worldly items - two Star Wars (1977) characters (R2D2 on the bedspread and a Darth Vader toy figure on the shelf), two related film posters, an Alien (1979) poster from the science fiction horror film, and CLUE - a classic who-dun-it board game.
Various events signal the greater threats to come. The family's canary bird "Tweety" unexpectedly expires - strangely, the only death in the film. The middle of a football game is suddenly switched to the 'Mr. Roger's Neighborhood' children's show - Steve is having an on-going battle of 'remote controls' with his nearby neighbor Ben Tuthill (Michael McManus). Carol Anne saves "Tweety" from being unceremoniously flushed down the toilet. She carefully prepares a cigar box for its burial, adding items:
(a piece of red licorice) For when he's hungry.At bedtime, a storm with thunder and lightning (signalled earlier by rolling cloud formations) strangely illuminates the gnarly, lifeless tree outside Carol Anne's and Robbie's window. Diane cautions her daughter about over-feeding the goldfish - an opportunity to mention co-producer Spielberg's earlier film, Jaws (1975): "They grow up to be sharks!" Scared of the dark, Carol Anne wants the closet light left on. That same evening, Steve is watching a film in their bedroom: A Guy Named Joe (1943). [It's an MGM fantasy film about an expired World War II pilot who comes back to Earth from heaven to help a young aviator. Years later, Spielberg directed the film's remake - Always (1989).] He's also rolling joints for Diane and reading Reagan:The Man The President. In the film, Spencer Tracy has just arrived in heaven and asked quizzically: "You mean this is for good?" Diane is smoking pot, getting high, reading a book on Jungian psychology and metaphysics, and pondering the dangers of sleep-walking:
(a polaroid picture of Carol Anne, Robbie, and the family dog) For when he's lonely.
(a yellow napkin) And for when it's nighttime.
Nocturnal somnambulism. You know what? You know what? I will bet you anything it's genetic. I mean, Carol Anne last night, and all last week, you know, and me when I was ten...You know, I once slept-walked four blocks. And I fell asleep in the back of this guy's car. He drove all the way to work before discovering me. Oh God, I woke up. I started screaming. People came running from everywhere. They called the cops. The cops came. They took this poor dude downtown. My father...Big Ed has me examined for like bruises and hickies. Oh you name it. Oh God, I was so embarrassed. Oh s--t, Steven, what if we, like, dig the pool, you know, and Carol Anne sleepwalks and she falls into it before there's any water?A seemingly harmless, half-sized clown doll with a red bulbous nose and a malevolent grin sits in a chair in the middle of the children's room - it centralizes all Robbie's fears during the stormy night. He covers the doll with his jacket so its ominous stare won't scare him - the back of his jacket, with the Star Wars character Chewbacca, replaces the clown's grin. Fearful of the storm that's "getting closer," Robbie retreats to his parents' bedroom for reassurance. His father returns to his bedroom with him - the young boy is nervous that the tree may be alive:
Robbie: I don't like the tree, Dad.Both younger children eventually retreat to their parents' bed. Again, the television is left on - at 2:37 am, the National Anthem plays (accompanied by patriotic symbols of democracy in the nation's capital), followed by snowy static. [Note: Was the number 237 a reference to Room 237 in Kubrick's The Shining (1980)?] Carole Ann crawls across the bed toward the inviting screen and positions herself in its flickering glow. A eerie, mysterious, ghostly green strand of light emanates from the image - the TV screen becomes a gateway to the spirit world. The strip of light snatches out at her, snakes its way around the bed, and then blasts a beam of light at the opposite wall, burning a hole and creating violent shaking in the room. In a memorable line, Carol Anne turns back at everyone and announces a warning:
Steve: It's an old tree. It's been around here a long time. I think it was here before my company built the neighborhood.
Robbie: I don't like its arms. (whispering) It knows I live here, doesn't it?
Steve: It knows everything about us, Rob. That's why I built the house next to it, so it could protect us...It's a very wise old tree.
Robbie: It looks at me. It knows I live here.
They're here.The next day, as a bulldozer prepares to dig a hole for their swimming pool, the machine unearths the cigar box grave of the canary bird - a foreshadowing of the future. Steve believes there was a damaging "6.5" earthquake during the night - Dana suggests: "Maybe the faultline runs just directly under our house." The children eat breakfast in a kitchen nook, while Diane half-watches Gene Shalit's 'Critic's Corner' on The Today Show. Carol Anne explains what she meant by "They're here" -
Diane: Well, who did you mean? Who's here?Suddenly, other odd paranormal events begin to occur in their house. Robbie's milk glass breaks in his hand. Robbie's fork and spoon are unusually bent and twisted. Carol Anne switches the TV channel to a station with static, and stares at the snow. Her mother thinks her habit is unhealthy: "Oh honey, you're gonna ruin your eyes. This is no good for you." She turns the channel back to another channel playing a violent combat film. When Diane returns to the kitchen, all the breakfast chairs have been mischievously pushed away from the table. Her daughter startles her and Diane reacts: "Don't do that honey! You wanna see Mommy lying in a cigar box covered with licorice?" She turns her back for just a few moments, walks to the cabinet under the sink, [the panning camera follows her with one long take], and then turns back toward the table - the chairs have repositioned themselves in a balanced configuration atop the table.
Carol Anne: The TV people.
The next scene transition is crisp and neat - Steve is showing an prospective couple of buyers the same kitchen configuration in "Phase Four" of the housing development. He is the "best rep" of the real estate company that cleared the land. As part of his sales pitch, he explains how he himself lives in Phase One, built earlier: "We were the first family to set up housekeeping in the Cuesta Verde Estates...We had to pass through my neighborhood to get here."
By evening, more unusual events have occurred and Diane excitedly demonstrates for her shocked husband how the paranormal forces can first slide furniture, and then Carol Anne, across the kitchen floor. To her, the phenomenon is amusing and entertaining:
It's like, it's like, there's this tickling, you know, right in here. And it starts to pull you. The tickling pulls you. And all of a sudden, it's like there's no air except that you can breathe.When they speak to their neighbors the Tuthills, the Freelings are the only ones being attacked by biting mosquitos. They feel foolish explaining what's happening in their home: "Somethin's funny goin' on here next door. Somethin', uh,...We were wondering if maybe you had experienced any disturbances lately?...Oh you know, like dishes or furniture moving around by themselves." They decide that they will call for help, but aren't quite sure where to turn: "I already looked in the Yellow Pages. Furniture movers we got. Strange phenomenon, there's no listing."
Another dramatic storm threatens the community that evening - the arm branches of the tree outside Robbie's window become animated, crash through the glass, and seize him from his bed. [This scene was inspired by Spielberg's own childhood memories.] As the Freelings are diverted from the bedroom to go outside to rescue their son from the grasp of the tree, a menacing tornado similar to the one in The Wizard of Oz (1939) approaches. Strange noises emanate from the blinding brightness of Carol Anne's closet - toys, stuffed dolls, furniture, and other objects are sucked into the white-light. As she holds onto her bedboard, her legs dangle vertically in mid-air. The grinning doll is pulled through the air into the void - Carol Anne can't resist the strong forces and she is sucked in too. The bedroom is stripped bare. Outside, the tree half-devours Robbie, but he is rescued by his father, just as the gnarly tree is whisked away in the swirling eye of the tornado.
When the family returns upstairs, Carol Anne has disappeared - she has been kidnapped into the spirit world which has found a gateway through the bedroom closet. The parents panic, fearing that she has been drowned in the muddy hole being dug for a swimming pool next to the house. Her metallic, echoing voice can be heard behind the grainy picture screen of the television in their bedroom: "I can hear you Mommy. Where are you?"
With a psychotic look on his face and with dark circles under his eyes, Steve consults with Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight) who heads a team of parapsychologists at a local college: Ryan (Richard Lawson) and Marty (Martin Casella):
Dr. Lesh: Would your family welcome a serious investigation of these disturbances by someone who can make first-hand observations?In a first-hand observational tour of the Freeling house, the team of parapsychologists are told that Carol Anne's room is "locked up from the rest of the house...We don't go in the room anymore." Before they enter the locked room, the investigators describe other modest paranormal episodes they have observed and witnessed for themselves:
Steve: Dr. Lesh, I don't care about the disturbance, the pounding and the flash, the screaming, music. I just want you to find our little girl.
Ryan: Mr. Freeling, we'll record any psycho-tronic energy or event.When Steve opens the door to the children's bedroom, the space is swirling with psychotronic energy displayed with marvelous special effects - a lamp, lampshade, records, books, and toys are in mid-air circling around the beds. The base of a table lamp inserts itself into a lampshade and turns itself on. A book flutters its pages at them. A student's circle-drawing tool flies dangerously into Dr. Lesh's awe-struck face. A spinning record plays.
Dr. Lesh: Yes. Ryan photographed an extraordinary episode on a case in Redlands.
Ryan: That's right. It was a child's toy. A very small matchbox vehicle just rolled seven feet across a linoleum surface. The duration of the event was seven hours.
Steve: Seven hours for what?
Ryan: For the vehicle to complete the distance. Of course, this would never register on the naked eye. But I have it recorded on a time-lapse camera. It's fantastic.
A trembling Dr. Lesh struggles to drink tea from a teacup after their tour. According to her, "the determination as to whether your home is haunted is not very easy." A heavy teapot slides across the table in front of her, mocking her statement. "What I meant to say was, it might very well be a poltergeist intrusion instead of a classic haunting." Ryan extends his hand to feel the energy: "It's electrical. You can smell the charge." The researchers describe other-worldly poltergeist - malevolent spirits that infest the house:
Dr. Lesh: Poltergeist are usually associated with an individual. Hauntings seem to be connected with an area, a house usually.The half-skeptical researchers want to record the spirits with video cameras and audio recorders, and find some scientific reason for the disturbances, but they have little luck. Diane and Steve attempt to speak to Carol Anne's voice through a particular channel on their television. Their daughter responds: "Mommy, where are you?...I can't find you, I can't! I'm afraid of the light, Mommy. I'm afraid of the light." With Dr. Lesh's urgings about the danger of the 'light,' Diane warns: "Stay away from the light. The light is dangerous. Don't go near it. Don't even look at the light." Objects are regurgitated from a spot on the living room ceiling with accompanying clouds of smoke and light - wristwatches and other items of jewelry covered with dusty slime fall to the floor.
Marty: Poltergeist disturbances are of fairly short duration, perhaps a couple of months. Hauntings can go on for years.
Diane: Are you telling me that all of this could just suddenly end at any time?
Dr. Lesh: Yes, it could, unless it's a haunting. But hauntings don't usually revolve around living people.
Diane: Then we don't have much time, Dr. Lesh, because my daughter is alive somewhere inside this house.
Even more disturbing is Carol Anne's next horrible revelation: "Mommy, there's somebody here...Mommy, somebody's coming. Mommy, Help me, please!...Get away from me. Leave me alone." At the foot of the stairs, Diane feels ecstasy as her young daughter moves through her and leaves an imprint: "She just moved through me. My god, I felt her. I can smell her. It's her...She's all over me...She went through my soul." A loud pounding and growling noise followed by a blast of wind move powerfully through the room. Marty, who has gone upstairs to check if the voice emanates from a CB transmitter somewhere in the house, emerges from the upstairs with a bruise on his side: "Something took a bite out of me."
Later that night, the three researchers whisper to each other about the passageway that brought the supernatural, unfriendly spirit into the house:
There's been some ionization flux. I'd like to make sure they're not caused by humidity coming from structural leakage, but I'm not goin' up there to find out. We have got much more than the paranormal episode taking place here. There's measurable physical signs in this house that goes far beyond any of the creaking doors or cold spots I've ever experienced. The voices on television - where is it coming from? The absence of a signal on the channel that is not receiving a broadcast means that it is free to receive a lot of noise from all sorts of things - like short wave, solar disturbances, car ignition sparkings, outer space - or inner space. Yes, what if these people had an aerial by location in their own living room. If that is the way out (he points up at the living room ceiling), then maybe somewhere in this house, there's a way in.To Diane, Dr. Lesh admits embarrassingly her primitive fear of the forces she doesn't understand but is attracted to in her profession:
Parapsychology isn't something you master in. There are no certificates of graduation. No licenses to practice. I am a professional psychologist who spent most of my time engaged in this ghostly hobby, which makes me I suppose the most irresponsible woman of my age that I know...I'm absolutely terrified. It's all the things that we don't understand. I feel like the proto-human coming out of the forest primeval and seeing the moon for the first time and throwing rocks at it.
Robbie plants a fanciful solution in Steve's mind when he suggests a creative method to retrieve his sister from the spirit world: "If I got killed, could I visit her and show her how to get back here? You could tie a rope around me and hold it tight. Then somebody could come and get us and we could live somewhere else." Dr. Lesh explains the reasons why ghosts or spirits of departed humans can become malevolent:
Dr. Lesh: Some people believe that when you die, your soul goes to heaven.While everyone is sleeping in the downstairs living room, Marty searches in the refrigerator for something to eat. A raw piece of beef steak that he removes and sets down slowly inches its way across the kitchen counter. The chicken drumstick he has been chewing drops from his mouth to the floor - it is swarming with maggots. As he washes his mouth out in the bathroom, he has a morbid, hallucinatory experience. He watches his face deteriorate in the haunted mirror - in horror, he claws at his face and peels back the rotting flesh with his fingers, pulling off gobs of skin down to the bone [reminiscent of the Nazis' fate in Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). The hands in the scene actually belonged to co-producer Spielberg]. After a sudden flash of light, his face is restored back to normal.
Robbie: When Grandpa was dying, I looked at him at the last moment. And I was watching. But I didn't see anything go up out of him.
Diane: Well, his soul is invisible Robbie. You couldn't see it.
Robbie: But how come Grandpa's there on television with Carol Anne?
Dr. Lesh: Some people believe that when people die, there's a wonderful light as bright as the sun, but it doesn't hurt to look into it. All the answers to all the questions that you ever want to know are inside that light. And when you walk to it, you become a part of it forever. And then, some people die but they don't know that they've gone.
Robbie: They think they're still alive?
Dr. Lesh: Yes. Maybe they didn't want to die. Maybe they weren't ready. Maybe they hadn't lived fully yet or they'd lived a long, long time and they still wanted more life. They resist going into that light however hard the light wants them. They just, they just hang around, watch TV, watch their friends grow up, feeling unhappy and jealous and those feelings are bad. They hurt. And then, some people just get lost on the way to the light and they need someone to guide them to it.
Robbie: Is this why some people get angry and throw things around - like in my bedroom?
Dr. Lesh: Yes. Just like in school. Like some kids are nice to you, some kids are mean.
Robbie: I got beat up once by three kids. They took my lunch money. Maybe they got hit by a truck and they're upstairs right now.
Sensors record vibrations and other movements. The remote video-camera directs its lens toward the upstairs room, where smoke and bright lights materialize. A spooky apparition with swirling, wispy tendrils descends the staircase, surrounded by lights and wind. The ghost whisks itself up and through the ceiling. A playback of the recording reveals numerous, blindingly-bright spirits parading down the stairway:
Robbie: Who are all those people?Ultimately, Dr. Lesh has the first-hand evidence she sought - the jewelry and videotapes: "I'm gonna have to display these, you know." Both Freelings reject publicity from popular TV shows:
Dr. Lesh: They're so alone. So alone.
Robbie: Where are they coming from?
Diane: I don't know.
Steve: Oh please, not on 60 Minutes.Dr. Lesh departs with Marty, but proposes further help. Mr. Teague (James Karen), Steve's boss, inquires about his absence during a visit in the plagued house. The piano moves, and the front-door light malfunctions - so Steve ushers him outside. The two of them take a drive to a view point above the developments, where new housing tracts are being planned:
Diane: Or That's Incredible.
Mr. Teague: One of your children was born in your house, huh?The proposed location for Steve's new home rests next to a vast cemetery: "Not much room for a pool, is there?" he surmises. Teague reassures him: "We own all the land. We've already made arrangements for relocating the cemetery." Steve is flabbergasted that a sacred graveyard would be disturbed for further development by the greedy real estate company. An explanation for Carol Anne's abduction arises - developers built their own house over a bulldozed, sacred Indian burial ground:
Steve: Carol Anne.
Mr. Teague: I understand that she's missed a lot of school...I didn't see her.
Steve: She's around.
Mr. Teague: Listen, I wonder if you'd mind if I asked you a question? Are you thinking about leaving Cuesta Verde?...(He marks a spot on the hillside) How's that spot for a bay window, huh?
Steve: Yeah, well, it's pretty nice if you're living up here, but uh, not so great down there in the valley havin' to look at a bunch of homes cutting into the hillside.
Mr. Teague: But you don't have to live in the valley anymore.
Steve: What are you saying?
Mr. Teague: We're starting Phase Five right here where we're standing. All of this can be your master bedroom suite. That can be your view. Interested?
Steve: Oh, Mr. Teague, you know, that's a generous offer. I'm just not a developer.
Mr. Teague: You're responsible for 42 percent of sales. That's almost half of everything down there. Almost 70 million dollars worth of dwelling and properties. Now that's a whole generation of security that nobody can put a price-tag on. Now look, I know we should have made you a full partner three years ago. Well, I don't want to lose you now.
Steve: Oh you're kidding. Oh come on. That's sacreligious, isn't it?Dr. Lesh recommends a professional exorcist and "extraordinary clairvoyant" named Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein), a midget-sized, plump woman: "She's cleaned many houses. Her gifts have been documented..." The psychic's first pronouncement reveals her extra-sensory powers: "This house has many hearts." She confidently and calmly comforts Diane: "Your daughter is alive and in this house." Tangina asks about "the last incident of bi-location," and bolsters the strength of Diane - the mother-figure:
Mr. Teague: Oh, don't worry about it. After all, it's not ancient tribal burial ground. It's just people. Besides, we've done it before.
Steve: When?
Mr. Teague: In '76, right down there.
Steve: Cuesta Verde?
Mr. Teague: All three hundred acres. Well, let me tell you, it was quite a deal!
Steve: No, no. But I never heard anything about it, though.
Mr. Teague: That's not the sort of thing one goes around advertising on a billboard or on the side of a bus. What are you worried about? Friends and relatives can visit their loved ones in Rockston Memorial Park - it's only five minutes further, for Christ's sake.
Tangina: I'd give my strongest feeling. The point of origin is in the child's closet upstairs.In a spellbinding monologue, the eccentric Tangina speaks of Carol Anne's relation to the unseen spirits that have pulled her into their sphere:
Diane: Yes, I believe that too.
Tangina: Honey, are you gonna be strong for me and for your daughter? I can do absolutely nothing without your faith in this world and your love for the children.
Diane: I will, believe me I will.
Tangina: And will you do anything I ask, even if it comes contrary to your beliefs as a human being and a Christian?
Diane: Yes, I promise, please.
There is no death. There is only a transition to a different sphere of consciousness. Carol Anne is not like those she's with. She's a living presence in their spiritual, earth-bound plane. They're attracted to the one thing about her that's different from themselves. Her life-force - it is very strong. It gives off its own illumination. It is a light that implies life and memory of love and home and earthly pleasures, something they desperately desire but can't have anymore. Right now, she's the closest thing to that, and that is a terrible distraction from the real light that has finally come for them. Do you understand me? These souls who for whatever reason are not at rest are also not aware that they have passed on. They're not part of consciousness as we know it. They're in a perpetual dream state, a nightmare from which they cannot wake. Inside this spectral light is salvation - a window to the next plane. They must pass through this membrane with friends who are waiting to guide them to new destinies. Carol Anne must help them cross over, and she will only hear her mother's voice. Now, hold onto your selves. There's one more thing - a terrible presence is in there with her. So much rage, so much betrayal. I've never sensed anything like it. I don't know what hovers over this house, but it was strong enough to punch a hole into this world and take your daughter away from you. It keeps Carol Anne very close to it and away from the spectral light. It lies to her. It says things only a child can understand. He's been using her to restrain the others. To her, it simply is another child. To us, it is the Beast. Now let's go get your daughter.Three ribbons, handkerchiefs, numbered tennis balls, thick rope, and bath water are prepared. Carol Anne is summoned by her mother's voice and then by her father's authoritative, angry demeanor. Against her own instincts, Diane commands her daughter to "run to the light, Carol Anne. Run as fast as you can...Mommy is in the light...Mommy is waiting for you in the light." The door to the bedroom is opened - blinding blue strobe-lights flash from within the closet. Tangina instructs Ryan to "go downstairs and wait by the target" and Steven to "give me the tennis ball marked number one." She discovers a passageway between the closet through the living room ceiling when she tosses the ball into the closet and it returns by way of the living room.
Steve tosses a handful of rope into the closet - the end of it, covered with pinkish slime, falls at Ryan's feet from the living room ceiling. Although Tangina volunteers to go in, the rope is tied around Diane's waist. With Steve lowering her into the upstairs closet, and Ryan pulling the other end of the rope in the living room, Diane is guided through the closet into the channel of the twilight other-world. A spell is cast by the clairvoyant: "Cross over, children. All are welcome. All welcome, go into the light...There is peace and serenity in the light."
In one of the truly scary moments in the film, Steve panics and pulls on the rope - the hideous, giant head of the Beast roars at him from the closet door - he drops the rope holding Diane and the enraged creature retreats. Clutching Carol Anne in her arms and grasping the rope, Diane plummets from the ceiling to the living room floor - both are covered with a reddish, slimy, jelly-like afterbirth. She has successfully plucked her daughter from the jaws of death. The bath water revives them. Tangina prematurely and smugly boasts to the video camera recording the events about the extraction:
This house is clean.A moving van is being packed with boxes of the Freelings' belongings - they are moving away permanently. Another inanimate object almost 'kills' Steve - he stumbles over Robbie's bicycle in the front yard. Diane has white curls of hair at her temples from the harrowing ordeal. They are "leaving tonight for sure." Diane is taking a soothing bath and the younger children rest in the serene, silent and peaceful house.
The paranormal events commence again: the frightening, grinning clown doll vanishes from its customary chair, grabs Robbie, pulls him under the bed and attempts to strangle its owner. Another invisible spirit traumatizes Diane - the malignant force bounces her on the bed, hurls her against the bedroom wall, and drags her across the ceiling [a macabre version of Fred Astaire's incredible dance on the ceiling and walls in Royal Wedding (1951)]. The closet comes to life with more virulence than before - there's oozing, gooey slime, white-hot light, and more sucking power. The Beast bars Diane from entering her children's bedroom door - she screams: "No, don't touch my baby."
In a memorable terrifying conclusion - a finale of nightmarish horror, the distraught mother runs outside into the yard for help - in the rain - and makes a wrong step. She slips into the muddy, excavated pit next to the house, dug for their swimming pool. She slides down the slippery slope into the dirty water - she surfaces with skeletal faces of corpses (with silent, screaming expressions) rising behind her. Coffins, with partly decomposed, rotting corpses, implode from beneath the ground.
Diane scrambles to escape, but the mud prevents her from getting a grip, and she slides back into the macabre swimming pool of death. Her neighbors pull her out, and she rushes back upstairs to her children's bedroom. In the corridor, the perspective of the passageway lengthens, and as she runs toward the bedroom door, the distance increases. With a desperate assault, she finally reaches the room, which is being sucked into the grotesque maw of the Beast. By grasping hands in a chain, she pulls her young children from the threatening jaws. More coffins explode through the floor of the house and in the yard, opening up and exposing more skeletal remains.
Steve condemns his boss for lying to him about Phase One of the Cuesta Verde Estates development:
You s-o-b. You moved the cemetery but you left the bodies, didn't ya? You s-o-b. You left the bodies and you only moved the headstones. You only moved the headstones. Lies. Lies.[The vengeful ghosts are upset because the house (and the entire subdivision) was built by crooked, greedy land developers over the site of an "ancient tribal burial ground" - a sacrilegious violation of their sacred space - the cemetery was moved with its headstones, but the bodies were left in the ground.] The Freelings recover Dana (who screams "What's happening?"), reclaim their family, and escape in the family car with the dog through a dangerous gauntlet of obstacles as more skeletal corpses burst from underneath. There is nothing left on the plot of ground that was the Freeling's house after it implodes. They drive by the ironic sign: "You are now leaving Cuesta Verde - We'll miss you!" Another hotel marquee at their Holiday Inn announces: "WELCOME DR. FANTASY & FRIENDS." Tired, the evicted family finds refuge in a room there. Steve shuts the door - after a moment, he opens it and shoves the room's TV out onto the balcony for the night.
After the credits have played and blackness fills the screen, giggling children's voices fill the soundtrack, and then slowly diminish.
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