Where the hell did Scott go?!
One of the (many) bizarre things about "Poltergeist III" is the fact that Scott (Kipley Wentz), Donna's (Lara Flynn Boyle) boyfriend, never came back from the "Other Side" at the end of the film. Early on, he was taken away into the puddle along with Donna and Carol Anne. Later, he appears to come back after being shot up from the frozen pool (above). However, it turns out that this Scott is the "evil one"-a possessed mirror reflection who later takes the elevator upstairs to the 70th floor to meet the "evil Donna" (pic below). He then rips her face open, and his fingers crack as well, revealing the undead beneath.
However, at the end of the film, in the re-shot ending, when Bruce, Donna, and Carol Anne come back, Scott is nowhere to be seen! What's going on? Was Scott left on the Other Side? There have been numerous explanations given for this. In the original ending, Scott did come back.
1. Director Gary Sherman claims actor Kipley Wentz was "on the east coast" and was not available for shooting when they filmed the new ending after Heather died.
2. Kipley disputes this, saying he was in LA going to USC. The re-shoot took place in the same city-at the MGM Studios. He says no one ever called him about being in the re-shoot.
3. Producer Barry Bernardi told Kip jokingly at the film's premiere in Chicago that Scott was being left "out there" for "Poltergeist IV." When pressed, Barry said things "had been really crazy, and they were just trying to deal with it as quickly as possible."
4. One of the stars of P3 (likely Tom Skerritt) said that Kip's abscence from the new ending was an "oversight" stemming from the emotional and logistical turmoil after Heather's death, and that since the budget had run out at that point, "Scott" was not deemed essential enough to the movie for the studio to go through the expense and complication of arranging another re-shoot with Kip present.
The most likely explanation in my view is that the execs decided it might confuse the audience if they saw Scott coming up from the pool and then saw him again at the end coming back with the family. They may have decided to make the Scott who emerges from the pool the "real one" and the one who walks out of the elevator the "fake one." This could have worked, since you don't see Scott actually leaving his apartment to get into the elevator. However, it becomes obvious there is something not quite right with this Scott when he's being hypnotized by Dr. Seaton. He sees Tangina and freaks out, saying "Keep her away from me!!"
Actor Kipley Wentz actually planned on doing a one man show at one point called "Saving Scott:"
from:
So
I'm wavering a bit on my choice of one-man shows to develop. The idea I
proposed for the workshop I'm beginning on Monday is called (working
title) "Saving Scott". Many of you probably have heard this story
before, but when I was 18, I got a lead role in Poltergeist III. I
played Lara Flynn Boyle's boyfriend, "Scott", and the two of us were
sucked to "the other side" trying to save Carol Anne and were replaced
by our evil twin reflections. Seriously.
Anyway,
between the time the movie was wrapped and it's release date, the star,
Heather O'Rourke tragically died at age 11. That's a long story that we
don't need to cover here.
So,
long story short... in the original script our evil twins were running
around Chicago wreaking havoc and killing people. At the climax of the
movie, there is an epic battle and of course, we're all saved and it's a
happy ending.
HOWEVER...
due to Heather's death, the ending of the movie was reshot and... lo
and behold... nobody bothered to call ol' Scotty Boy. So I'm sitting
there at the premiere and there's the big climactic battle and everybody
is saved, the ENTIRE CAST is there at the end... except me. Scott was
nowhere to be seen. They just left him out there on "the other side".
The credits rolled, I scratched my head, and someone behind me whispered, "Wait... what happened to that dude?"
Enter: the internet, and a whole new generation of Poltergeist III fans. Seriously.
And the question has grown into a full-blown conspiracy: What the heck happened to Scott?!
Several
years ago, the director gave an interview in which he said that I had
been "on the East Coast at school" and was "unavailable for shooting".
This is a total fabrication. I was in LA, attending USC. I had just seen
everyone at Heather's funeral weeks before. I was a pall bearer.
But,
people with way too much time on their hands have run with this, making
me the scapegoat for this weird, lame ending. I was unaware of these
internet chats happening until a couple years ago, at which point I
started logging on to chat rooms and trying to set the record straight. I
was there, I was available, I was never called.
This
of course has only fueled the "controversy" and whipped 12 year old
girls and boys into a conspiracy frenzy. The chat rooms are abuzz with
points and counter points, quotes from articles, photos, transcripts of
television reports, and more. I have been accused more than once of
participating in some shady sort of coverup. What I'm covering up and
for whose benefit hasn't yet been explained, but I must be up to
SOMETHING explains LizzyGrrl98476.
In
any event, what nobody else but me seems to consider is the fact that
poor Scott has been stuck out there on "the other side" for the last 16
years. Meanwhile ttocS has been running free in our world, no doubt
campaigning for George Bush.
As
for me, I've suffered the results of my own evil impulses and also felt
as though some of my most endearing qualities disappeared into the
ether with what was, in all seriousness, a tragic and horrible
experience that has had an enormous impact on my adult life. In essence,
my "good" qualities were stolen to "the other side" and have been
frozen in hellish limbo for almost 20 years.
Imagine
poor, puffy-haired Scott over there on "the other side", stuck in his
stupid 1987 horror-movie fashion. Imagine evil Scott running amok in our
world. And there I am, stuck in the middle.
It's time to Save Scott.
Here's
another link to Kipley's web site, with a great background interview of
how he got the role in P3, what it was like after Heather died, etc:
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