50 Fun Facts About Poltergeist

Who is credited as director of the 1982 film Poltergeist?

Spielberg wrote the story and produced but was contractually barred from directing while making E.T. The Directors Guild later investigated whether Hooper's credit was being undermined.

Steven Spielberg could not direct Poltergeist because he was contractually tied up making which film?

The two films opened a week apart in June 1982, and Poltergeist lost all three of its Oscar nominations to E.T.

Poltergeist grew out of a scrapped Spielberg project conceived as a horror sequel to which of his films?

The project was called Night Skies. Hooper was less keen on the sci-fi angle and proposed a ghost story instead; the alien side became E.T.

What is the name of the planned California community where the Freeling family lives?

Steve Freeling sells houses in the development, which turns out to have been built over a cemetery whose gravestones, but not bodies, were relocated.

How old is Carol Anne Freeling in the original Poltergeist?

Her siblings are eight-year-old Robbie and sixteen-year-old Dana. Heather O'Rourke, who played her, was six when the film came out.

Carol Anne first communicates with the spirits through which household object?

She talks to the post-broadcast static late at night, and later announces 'They're here' after an earthquake shakes the family awake.

What two-word line does Carol Anne deliver as the family is shaken awake by a quake?

The line became one of the most quoted in horror history and appears on the film's poster.

During the thunderstorm, Robbie is dragged out of his bedroom window by what?

The tree tries to devour him before being sucked into a tornado. The clown doll gets its turn later, in a scene Scary Movie 2 parodied.

Who is the parapsychologist who arrives with assistants Ryan and Marty to investigate the Freeling house?

She was played by Beatrice Straight, who had won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Network in one of the shortest winning performances ever.

Which actress played Dr. Lesh, having earlier won an Oscar for Network?

She won Best Supporting Actress for her scene as William Holden's betrayed wife. She was also a Tony winner.

What is the name of the diminutive spiritual medium Dr. Lesh calls in?

Zelda Rubinstein, who stood 4 ft 3 in, played her in all three original films. Her closing verdict, 'This house is clean', is proved spectacularly wrong.

What does Tangina call the powerful demonic presence holding Carol Anne captive?

The sequel reveals it to be the spirit of Henry Kane, an insane 19th-century preacher who led an apocalyptic cult.

The entrance to the spirits' dimension is in the children's closet; where is the exit?

Diane and Carol Anne drop through it onto the living room floor covered in ectoplasm.

Steve learns from his boss that the housing development was built on top of what?

Only the headstones were moved. Bodies erupt from the muddy swimming-pool excavation in the climax; the burial-ground idea is a common misremembering.

Where does the Freeling family check in at the end, and what does Steve immediately remove from the room?

A sign there reads 'Welcome Doctor Fantasy and Friends', an inside joke: producer Frank Marshall performs magic for crews under the name Dr. Fantasy.

Poltergeist received three Academy Award nominations and lost every one of them to which film?

The categories were Original Score, Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects. It did win the BAFTA for Best Special Visual Effects.

Who composed the score for Poltergeist?

He earned an Oscar nomination for it but lost to John Williams. His only win came in 1977 for The Omen.

The MPAA originally gave Poltergeist which rating before Spielberg and Hooper had it changed on appeal?

It ended up rated PG. The PG-13 rating did not exist until 1984, prompted partly by Spielberg's Temple of Doom and Gremlins.

Which studio released Poltergeist on June 4, 1982?

It finished as the eighth-highest-grossing film of 1982 and the year's top horror film with about $76.6 million domestically.

Roughly how much did Poltergeist gross in the US, topping 1982's horror films?

That put it eighth overall for the year, behind E.T., Tootsie and An Officer and a Gentleman among others.

Which actor, later Coach's Hayden Fox and the voice of Mr. Incredible, played Steve Freeling?

He won an Emmy for Coach and later played Zeek Braverman on Parenthood.

JoBeth Williams, who played Diane Freeling, made her feature debut in which 1979 Best Picture winner?

She played Dustin Hoffman's girlfriend, memorably quizzed by his son after walking to the bathroom nude. She later starred in The Big Chill.

The famous shot of Diane being dragged up the bedroom wall and across the ceiling was achieved how?

The same trick Fred Astaire used for his ceiling dance in Royal Wedding decades earlier.

Where did the Chicago Film Critics Association rank Poltergeist among the scariest films ever?

One scene also made Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments countdown.

The novelisation of Poltergeist, which extends the crawling-steak scene, was written by whom?

The book adds a benevolent spirit called the Waiting Woman and has Marty skeletonised by spiders and rats rather than tearing his own face off.

Who directed Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)?

Despite negative reviews it earned nearly $75 million worldwide and, like the original, picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects.

In Poltergeist II, 'the Beast' is the spirit of an insane 19th-century preacher named what?

Julian Beck's gaunt performance was his last.

Julian Beck, who played Reverend Kane, was best known for co-founding which avant-garde New York company?

He founded it with Judith Malina in 1947 and co-directed it until his death in September 1985, before the film's release.

In Poltergeist II, Steve becomes possessed after drunkenly swallowing what?

The possessed worm scene, and the creature Steve then vomits up, was designed with input from H. R. Giger.

Will Sampson (Poltergeist II's Taylor) was best known as Chief Bromden in which film?

He was on the rodeo circuit as a bronco buster when the producers went looking for a large Native American actor. He also played Ten Bears in Josey Wales.

Poltergeist III (1988) is set in an apartment in which real skyscraper?

Carol Anne is staying with her aunt Pat and uncle Bruce. Kane attacks through the building's mirrors, letting reflections act on their own.

Which two actors play Carol Anne's aunt and uncle in Poltergeist III?

Gary Sherman co-wrote and directed. Only O'Rourke and Rubinstein returned from the earlier films.

Through what does the villain Kane primarily attack in Poltergeist III?

He also drains the high-rise of heat. Tangina uses telepathy to tell Carol Anne to break the mirror in her room.

Heather O'Rourke died on February 1, 1988, at what age?

The cause was ruled congenital stenosis of the intestine complicated by septic shock. Poltergeist III was released four months later.

Before Poltergeist, Heather O'Rourke had a recurring role as Heather Pfister on which sitcom?

She also played Melanie on Webster. Spielberg reportedly spotted her in the MGM commissary.

Dominique Dunne, who played eldest daughter Dana, was murdered in October 1982 by whom?

John Thomas Sweeney strangled her on the driveway of her West Hollywood home; she died five days later. Her death is central to the 'Poltergeist curse' legend.

Zelda Rubinstein, who played Tangina, later spent two seasons on which David E. Kelley series?

Born in Pittsburgh in 1933, she earned a bacteriology degree before acting and stood 4 ft 3 in at her tallest.

The director of Poltergeist was hired largely on the strength of which 1974 film he had made?

He also directed the 1979 Salem's Lot miniseries and later Lifeforce and Invaders from Mars. He died in 2017.

Who directed the 2015 remake of Poltergeist?

Raimi produced. It stars Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt as the Bowen parents, and was shot in Toronto in late 2013.

In the 2015 remake, Jared Harris plays Carrigan Burke, who has what job?

He is the ex-husband of the paranormal researcher the family calls in, and he anchors a rope in Maddy's room to enter the vortex.

Poltergeist: The Legacy, the 1996 TV series sharing only the title with the films, premiered on which network?

After three seasons Showtime cancelled it and the Sci-Fi Channel picked it up for a fourth. Its hero, Derek Rayne, runs a secret society house on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.

The word 'poltergeist' comes from German words meaning what?

Poltern means to rumble or make noise and Geist means ghost. The word did not enter English until 1838.

The Enfield poltergeist case of 1977-79, dramatised in The Conjuring 2, centred on sisters with which surname?

Janet, 11, and Margaret, 13, lived in a council house at 284 Green Street in north London. Their mother first called the police about moving furniture in August 1977.

The Bell Witch poltergeist legend tormented a farming family in which state from 1817 to 1821?

John Bell Sr.'s farm lay on the Red River near what is now Adams, in Robertson County. The entity supposedly spoke, moved objects and shape-shifted.

Where in Simi Valley was most of Poltergeist's principal photography shot?

Filming wrapped in the first week of August 1981; Hooper then spent ten weeks editing while Spielberg supervised effects at ILM.

Who directed the special effects that ILM produced for Poltergeist?

The work won the BAFTA for Best Special Visual Effects but lost the Oscar to E.T.

Which 1943 Spencer Tracy film plays on the Freelings' bedroom TV?

It was a childhood favourite of Spielberg's, who remade it as Always in 1989; it is also a film about the afterlife.

Where did 'They're here' land on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list?

The film itself ranked 84th on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills and made The New York Times' Best 1000 Movies Ever Made.

Who produced Poltergeist alongside Steven Spielberg?

Spielberg also shares the writing credit with Michael Grais and Mark Victor, from his own story.

Which technique makes the hallway seem to stretch as Diane runs toward Carol Anne's room?

The camera pulls back while the lens zooms in, creating the illusion of expanding space.