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Tom Skerritt, Nancy Allen, Heather O'Rourke, Zelda Rubinstein, Lara Flynn Boyle ... see more see more... , Richard Fire , Kip Wentz , Nathan Davis , Jane Alderman , Mindy Suzanne Bell , Joey Garfield , Stacy Gilchrist , Paul Graham , Roy Hytower , Phil Locker , Rober May , Maureen Mueller , Chris Murphy , Maureen Steindler , Meg Weldon , Alan Wilder , Conrad Allan , Jerry Birn , Christy Davis , Catherine Gatz , Mary Hogan , Laura Koppel , Lynn Koppel , Laurie V. Logan , Paty Lombard , Chris Montana , E.J. Murray , Sherry Narens , John Rusk , Sam Sanders , Brent Shaphren , Harold Taulbee , Meg Thalken , Dean Tokuno , Wendy Wolfman , Mark Zweigler , Shelley Andreas , Kipley Wentz

Evil spirits follow a young girl from the suburbs to the city in the second follow-up to the blockbuster horror film Poltergeist. Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O'Rourke) is now 12 years old and living ... read more read more...with Patricia and Bruce Gardner (Nancy Allen and Tom Skerritt), her aunt and uncle, in a high-rise apartment building in downtown Chicago. Carol Anne attends a school for gifted children, where the staff psychologist Dr. Seaton (Richard Fine) attributes her past troubles with noisy ghosts to mass delusions and hypnotic suggestions. However, Carol Anne isn't so sure that the explanation is that simple, especially since she still sees threatening apparitions in the mirrors of her apartment. Particularly troubling is the ghost of the wicked Reverend Kane (Nathan Davis), who is eager for Carol Anne to join him and his followers in the unknown world on the other side of the light. Sadly, Heather O'Rourke died due to surgical complications resulting from an intestinal blockage several months before Poltergeist III was released. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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16,968 ratings

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14% liked it

14 critics

PG-13, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Gary A. Sherman, Gary Sherman

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Flixster Reviews (591)

  • helpahorse
    October 13, 2011
    helpahorse
    Son of a fucking bitch. I meant to watch Exorcist 3 not Poltergeist 3. I just sat through this entire piece of suck ass. I didn't realize until it was over that I had mixed up the movie titles. Fuck me. 2 hours of my life WASTED. FUCK YOU POLTERGEIST 3!
  • liquidchick76
    June 18, 2011
    liquidchick76
    Yuck. Despite some marginally creepy moments, this flick is poo. It's also unsettling because I know poor Heather O'Rourke died making this turd.
  • SirPant
    September 30, 2009
    SirPant
    Although I kind of liked this film, I didn't see it as a Poltergeist film. Firstly, there isn't a poltergeist in it as such and secondly and structure that made the first two so popular was thrown out the window. The story is a bit dire, would Carol Anne's parents really get rid ... read moreof her after what the family had gone through? No, they wouldn't. Acting is also quite bad, apart from young Heather O'Rourke. Some of the effects are impressive, the girl coming out of a dead body was very impressive for sheer shock factor but alas, the mirror effects are over done and if you watch close enough, badly executed. I can?t help but think there are 3 really good films hiding in here that could have all been done so well but in the end it clashes together like a complicated mess. Watch out for blatant rip offs too, Christine, Shivers, Don't look now....shall I go on? Completist only. Sad about O' Rourke's death, she was a good little actress who would have gone far!
  • stormyweather980
    September 10, 2009
    stormyweather980
    "Poltergeist" is one of my all time favorite movies and definitely one of the best overall horror movies I've ever seen in every way. I haven't seen "Poltergeist 2" yet, but I did finally see "Poltergeist 3" and wasn't all that impressed with it. Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is ... read moreback in this sequel and she is still being plagued by evil spirits. In this movie, instead of hearing the demons calling her through television screens, a man calls her and acts through mirrors. A person can look at a mirror and see something that isn't actually happening at the same time as if they were to look away from the mirror. Carol Anne is visiting her aunt (Nancy Allen), uncle (Tom Skerritt), and her cousin (Lara Flynn Boyle) in "Poltergeist 3." The mirrors and the mischief eventually leads to a not so exciting goosechase in which everybody is on the loose trying to find Carol Anne.
    I thought "Poltergeist 3" was a decent sequel, but it wasn't by any means a great one. It has its good moments, but overall it's just not as groundbreaking or as exciting as the original movie. The acting and the special effects are satisfactory, though nothing to brag about. The plot isn't as exciting as the first movie in the series, but it's not all that bad. I think Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams would've been better to come back in this sequel instead of Tom Skerritt and Nancy Allen. And of course, "Poltergeist" was directed by Steven Spielberg and "Poltergeist 3" wasn't, so I guess nobody should really expect as much from this movie as they should the original. If you liked the first "Poltergeist" movie, I'd recommend watching "Poltergeist 3," but unless you absolutely have to have all the movies in the series, I wouldn't recommend buying it. NOTE: That was my Amazon review from the year 2001.
  • RCCLBC
    March 21, 2008
    RCCLBC
    Not the best of the trilogy, but worth seeing if you enjoyed the other two.
  • YosemiteSamFan
    July 14, 2007
    YosemiteSamFan
    Carole Ann is haunted by Kane the evil preacher in her new highrise apartment in Chicago. What the heck happened to the rest of her family? Why was she now living with her uncle and aunt (Tom Skerritt and Nancy Allen) in Chicago? What a bummer! We see Kane (new actor) and Tangina... read more the little psychic woman. Heather O'Rourke sufered a fatal illness during the production, so even she wasn't in the entire movie. They pulled together a surprisingly good movie. Let's pretend the excellent first film and mediocre second film didn't exist; this one would still be watchable. The story is a bit of a shambles; we're not always sure what is really happening. Like Alice in Wonderland, a lot of the strangness happens with mirror and reflections. There are excellent lighting and optical effects. It's somewhat unique having an entire condo building being haunted; you've gotta give it that. Almost every scene is filled with optical trickery of some sort.
  • deano
    March 12, 2007
    deano
    They're baaaaaack again and it's the final chapter for the evil Reverend Kane and his terror followers. Cool heart-pounding suspense and scary special effects. I felt really sorry for poor innocent young actress Heather O'Rourke who died so young during filming this movie product... read moreion.
  • fb100001266995067
    July 21, 2011
    fb100001266995067
    Easily and obviously the worst of the three. But not as bad as people make it seem
  • moviefan1725
    July 9, 2009
    moviefan1725
    There is a legacy surrounding the Poltergeist franchise. A legacy of mysterious on-set accidents, and unfortunate deaths of people involved with making the films. One of the, unfortunately, most famous deaths is of little Heather O'Rourke, who died before this film was even compl... read moreeted. It's a real life tragedy that mirrors the hardships her character, Carol Anne, endures through all three movies in this series. The filmmakers wanted to go in a different direction with this entry, opting to have the entire film take place within a Chicago high rise. They also stayed completely away from blue screen visual effects, and went with practical on-set effects involving make up, and extensive work with reflections and mirrors. The result is a very claustrophobic, and atmospheric movie that is visually remarkable. It also uses its visual trickery as a means of moving the story along. The story setup is solid, if unremarkable, and the acting is (mostly) workmanlike and believeable. Unfortunately after a very solid first 45 minutes, the movie disolves into a series of sequences where characters run up and down hallways and stairways, yelling the names of other characters. It's like the script ceased to exist, and the actors were told something like "Okay, you see Carol Anne being pulled into another dimension...run down the hall in a panic, and yell her name as many times as you can." I'm sure that someone out there has taken a count of how many times "Carol Anne" is yelled throughout the course of this movie. My money is over 200 times. Tragically, little Heather died before the film was completed. Instead of scrapping the film, the director chose to finish it without her. But filming the end of a film without your main actress meant that the original ending had to be scrapped, and the film completed by any means possible. This results in an ending that is nothing more than a simplistic cop-out. It really sinks the second half of the movie. While not as good as the first two films, it's still a guilty pleasure, and a decent ghost story in its own right.
  • jim222001us
    February 9, 2009
    jim222001us
    I feel bad that it was the little girl's last movie but it's awful. It acts as if her parents who loved her dearly in the last 2 couldn't handle evil spirits being after her. So they dumped her off to relatives. This one is just awful, did I say it was awful ?

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Critic Reviews

David Nusair
February 18, 2010
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews

...falls right in line with its entirely underwhelming predecessor... Full Review

Pete Vonder Haar
October 28, 2005
Pete Vonder Haar, Film Threat

I recall two emotions from seeing this: sadness at seeing Heather O'Rourke (who died during filming); and intense discomfort from the 12-pack of beer my friend and I chugged in the parking lot before ...

Alex Sandell
May 6, 2005
Alex Sandell, Juicy Cerebellum

Horrible. Rotten. Don't waste your time.

Rich Cline
July 11, 2004
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

unnecessary sequel

Stefan Birgir Stefansson
January 7, 2004
Stefan Birgir Stefansson, sbs.is

it has it's moments but to few of them Full Review

Fred Topel
July 14, 2003
Fred Topel, About.com

Okay follow-up. The mirror stuff is cool.

Clint Morris
September 17, 2002
Clint Morris, Moviehole

Sans the suspense of the first two movies, but still a worthy addition the ghoul series

Scott Weinberg
October 10, 2001
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com

One of the worst horror sequels ever made, and I've seen them all. Full Review

March 26, 2009
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

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