FILM · 1982 · USA
Poltergeist
- Directed by
- Tobe Hooper
- Runtime
- 114 min
- Studio
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, SLM Production Group
86 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.
86 Interesting Facts About Poltergeist
Interesting Facts (15)
- #001
The story grew out of something that happened in the late 1800s. Denver, Colorado wanted to build a large park on land that held a cemetery, so the city put the relocation out to bid and gave the job to the lowest bidder. About a third of the way in, the contractor started moving only the headstones. By the time one of his own employees let word slip, the city was close to finishing. The contractor was arrested, but the damage was done: the city couldn't afford to tear down what had been built and dig up the cemetery, so it completed the project and left the unmarked graves where they were. The park is Cheesman Park; the graves lie beneath the Greek Pavilion at its eastern end and stretch south to 8th Avenue.
- #002
At about 43 minutes, Steve gives the parapsychologists his family's ages: his eldest daughter Dana is 16 and his wife Diane is 32. Many viewers take that to mean Diane had Dana at 16, but the novelization explains that Diane is Steve's second wife and Dana is actually her stepdaughter. Listen closely and Steve says "Our daughter, Dana," not "My daughter, Dana,…".
- #003
Filming the scene in which a wind machine hurls toys into the closet behind her, Heather O'Rourke had to cling to the headboard, and the little girl broke down. Producer Steven Spielberg halted everything, picked her up and promised she would never have to do that scene again.
- #004
James Karen was the face of Pathmark supermarkets in their commercials at the time, and the way his character treats the Freelings earned him hate mail from people vowing never to shop there again.
- #005
At about the 34th minute, while Diane is describing to Steven how it feels when a spirit pulls you toward the ground, the scene cuts away mid-sentence to the neighbors' doorstep. In the original cut Steven said he hated Pizza Hut; after Pizza Hut objected, the scene was re-edited.
- #006
The house that finally implodes into a black hole was a model about one and a half meters across that took several weeks to build. It was mounted on an industrial-strength vacuum generator with the camera directly above it, the front door facing straight up into the lens, and about 100 wires were attached at points all over the structure, running out through the back of the house and the vacuum's collection bag. The camera was switched on and took 15 seconds to reach the required 300 frames per second; then the vacuum was started, the wires were yanked, and several SFX crew members blasted the house apart with shotguns. The whole thing was over in about two seconds, and nobody knew whether they would have to do it again until the film was developed. Luckily the first take worked. The footage went to Steven Spielberg, who was shooting E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and the projectionist he handed it to assumed it was E. T. dailies and was stunned by what he saw. Spielberg had what was left of the model encased in perspex, and it now sits on top of his piano. The model was worth well over $25,000.
- #007
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) first gave the film an R rating for its scenes of a child in danger, even though there is very little blood in it. On appeal it was brought down to PG. The PG-13 rating, which it would surely have received without any trouble, didn't exist until two years later.
- #008
At about 1 hour 13 minutes, the tree in the cemetery behind Steve and Teague's conversation is the same tree that tries to eat Robbie, a quiet hint that the Freeling house sits on a cemetery.
- #009
Steven Spielberg first offered Tobe Hooper the script for E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). When Hooper passed, Spielberg handed him this film's script, which hadn't been written yet, and directed E. T. himself.
- #010
The clown puppet from the film is on display at Planet Hollywood in Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas.
- #011
At about 1 hour 40 minutes, the scene of Diane being attacked in the bedroom by an invisible force was shot inside a rotating box with the camera fixed in place, which made it look as if she were being dragged up the wall and onto the ceiling.
- #012
While Tobe Hooper, Steven Spielberg and the writers were shaping the script, Carol Anne was originally going to die in the first act and haunt the house in the second. That was judged too dark, and she was abducted by the ghosts instead. Many other dark elements went too, because Spielberg wanted a PG so the film could play as a double feature with E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), released at the same time; in the end the only death is Tweety the bird's, and there are just a few injuries.
- #013
When Diane runs upstairs to rescue Robbie and Carol Anne, the corridor seems to stretch on forever. The technique is known as a retrozoom, dolly zoom, zolly or the Vertigo effect: the lens zooms out while the camera tracks in, or zooms in while it tracks out. Because the two movements cancel each other, the subject stays the same size in the frame while the background's perspective shifts.
- #014
For a horror/thriller, it's notable that no murder or death happens on screen.
- #015
Zelda Rubinstein said in interviews that she disliked Tobe Hooper because she could see he had a drug problem.
Production Story (31)
- #016
Two of the fears that torment Robbie come from Steven Spielberg's own childhood terrors: a fear of clowns and the tree outside his window. Spielberg skillfully weaves these personal fears into the film, managing to give the audience chills as well.
- #017
The story is inspired by a real event that took place in Denver in the late 1800s. The city wanted to build a large park on land that contained a cemetery, and after a bidding process awarded the relocation job to the contractor with the lowest offer. However, to cut costs, the contractor moved only the headstones and left the bodies in place. By the time the truth came out, it was too late, and Cheesman Park still stands today with unnamed graves beneath it.
- #018
In the scene where Diane tells Steven that the spirits dragged her across the floor, the conversation is cut short and the two appear at the neighbor's door. Steven was actually saying here that he hated Pizza Hut, but the scene was re-edited after Pizza Hut's reaction.
- #019
Although the film contains no violence, it was initially classified R by the MPA because of scenes in which children are in danger. Following an appeal, it was lowered to PG. The PG-13 rating would not arrive until two years later; had the film been made today, it would most likely have received that rating.
- #020
Spielberg shot Poltergeist and E.T. almost back to back. Filming on Poltergeist ended in August 1981; a few weeks later he began E.T. Meanwhile, Tobe Hooper spent ten weeks working on the edit. Spielberg supervised the visual effects of both films simultaneously at ILM. When post-production began in early 1982, control was entirely in Spielberg's hands: the final cut, the sound mix, the effects and the choice of Jerry Goldsmith as composer were all his decisions. The two films were released in the summer of 1982 a week apart; Spielberg summed up the situation by saying, "If E.T. was a whisper, Poltergeist was a scream."
- #021
The Beast, which appears twice in the film (the face in the closet and the creature guarding the children's door), had one more scene in the script. In the scene where the family and the researchers watch the manifestation, the giant ghost slowly comes into focus and transforms into the face of a cruel old man later known in the sequels as "Reverend Henry Kane."
- #022
Stephen King was briefly offered the chance to write the screenplay. This would have been King's first script written directly for the screen, but the parties could not agree on the terms.
- #023
An early draft of the film titled "Nighttime" or "It's Nighttime" was very different from the final version. This draft included elements such as a teenage son, a neighborhood built over the secret graveyard of pioneers massacred by Native Americans who worshiped an evil fire god, the family's ostracism, Steve being possessed before he and Diane get together, Diane resenting Carol Anne because she gave birth to her unwillingly, and Carol Anne's death. When the writers Mark Victor and Michael Grais insisted that a family member should die, Spielberg was surprised but agreed to let them choose Carol Anne. The original ending had Carol Anne possessed by the ghosts, abandoned by her family and dying as the house burned, with the entire neighborhood turning into a ghost town. Spielberg was disturbed by this dark script and asked for the tone to be lightened. Some of the writers' ideas were later used in Poltergeist II.
- #024
When writers Michael Grais and Mark Victor first met Spielberg, they were actually hired to write Always. When Spielberg mentioned in passing that he had an idea for a ghost story, the pair chose to write that story instead of Always, and that was how they got the job.
- #025
The character Marty was originally named Dr. Casey Tak, and instead of a vision of his face being torn apart, he saw himself as a corpse rotting in a coffin. A scene was also shot in which Marty is attacked and bitten by the Beast outside Carol Anne and Robbie's room.
- #026
Because Spielberg thought Poltergeist would be harder to edit, he assigned his experienced editor Michael Kahn to this film instead of E.T.
- #027
The film's original cast also included veteran actor Edward Ashley, playing Dr. Lesh's elderly and wise colleague who persuades her to bring Tangina into the case. That scene, however, was cut from the film.
- #028
It is the commercially most successful film of the Poltergeist trilogy.
- #029
The climax in the script was far more violent: it included scenes such as Dana being trapped in a bathtub filling with blood, the neighbour Ben Tuthill's head being crushed by a car, the dog E. Buzz dying, and Diane being sexually assaulted by dark ectoplasm tentacles. Spielberg removed most of these elements to avoid an R rating; although a more vicious version of Diane's ectoplasm scene was shot, the toned-down version was used to keep the PG rating.
- #030
JoBeth Williams was uneasy about the electrical equipment around her while filming the pool scene. To put her at ease, Steven Spielberg got into the pool and joked, 'If a light falls in, we'll both be fried.' The friendly gesture worked, and Williams agreed to shoot the scene.
- #031
At roughly the 1 hour 2 minute mark, the hands that tear apart the researcher's face in the bathroom mirror were actually producer Steven Spielberg's own hands.
- #032
Heather O'Rourke became so frightened during the wind machine scene in which the toys fly into the closet that she began to cry. Spielberg stopped the shoot, picked up the young actress and told her she would not have to film that scene again.
- #033
At around the 29 minute mark, the scene in which the chairs miraculously line up on top of the table was completed in a single take. As the camera followed JoBeth Williams toward the cleaning supplies, the crew quickly placed a pre-prepared pyramid of chairs on the table and removed the chairs one by one before the camera turned back. The table was out of frame for only about seven seconds.
- #034
In the scene where Robbie is strangled by the clown, Oliver Robins actually ran out of breath when the clown's arms squeezed too tightly. When he shouted 'I can't breathe!', Spielberg and Tobe Hooper thought it was improvisation and told the boy to look at the camera. When Spielberg saw on the monitor that Robins's face was turning purple, he ran over and pulled open the clown's arms. Robins has said, 'If he hadn't intervened, I might not be here today.'
- #035
The sound effect of the monster that invades the house at the end of the film is used today as the roar of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) lion.
- #036
The house sucked into the black hole at the end of the film was actually a miniature about 1.2 meters in diameter. The miniature was prepared over weeks of work and placed on top of an industrial vacuum generator. It took 15 seconds for the camera to reach 300 frames per second; the vacuum was switched on, the wires were pulled, and the special effects team tore the miniature apart with pump-action shotguns. The entire scene was over in two seconds, and they got it right on the first take. Spielberg kept the remains of the miniature in plexiglass and placed it on top of his piano; the miniature was worth more than $25,000.
- #037
The scene of the steak crawling across the counter was done with wires threaded through a gap cut between the tiles. The special effects artist hid under the counter and moved the wires, making the steak walk like a caterpillar. A similar method was used in the scene where Diane sees the chairs moving on their own; a wire attached to the chair leg first made it rock, then dragged it.
- #038
The scene in which Diane is attacked by an invisible force in her bedroom was shot with a fixed camera inside a rotating box. This made the actress appear to be dragged along the wall and up onto the ceiling.
- #039
Heather O'Rourke also adopted in real life the goldfish that Carol Anne keeps in the film.
- #040
Drew Barrymore was considered for the role of Carol Anne, but producer Steven Spielberg did not cast her because he was looking for a more 'angelic' face. Barrymore's audition for this part led to her landing the role of Gertie in E.T.
- #041
Heather O'Rourke was discovered while having lunch with her mother and sister in the MGM cafeteria. Spielberg came over to them and wanted her for the role of Carol Anne. In her first screen test she failed because, when she was supposed to be scared, she laughed out loud instead. Although Spielberg thought she could not take the role seriously due to her young age, he recognized her special talent and arranged a second audition, asking her to bring a scary storybook. When he asked O'Rourke to scream, the little girl screamed until she cried, and with that performance she won the role.
- #042
Zelda Rubinstein stated in interviews that she did not like Tobe Hooper because she observed that he had a drug problem.
- #043
Steven Spielberg first offered the script of E.T. to Tobe Hooper. When Hooper turned it down, Spielberg gave him Poltergeist, which had not yet been written, and directed E.T. himself.
- #044
Poltergeist is one of the rare films for which Steven Spielberg received a screenwriting credit.
- #045
The film's original cast also included the veteran actor Edward Ashley, playing Dr. Lesh's elderly and wise colleague who persuades her to bring Tangina into the case. However, this scene was cut from the film.
- #046
The climax in the script was far more violent: it included scenes such as Dana getting trapped in a bathtub filling with blood, the neighbor Ben Tuthill having his head crushed by a car, the dog E. Buzz dying, and Diane being sexually assaulted by dark ectoplasm tentacles. Spielberg removed most of these elements to avoid an R rating; although a more vicious version of Diane's ectoplasm scene was shot, the toned-down version was used to preserve the PG rating.
Behind the Scenes (14)
- #047
At about the 29th minute, the chairs that appear stacked on the table in an impossible balancing act were done in a single unbroken take. While the camera followed JoBeth Williams as she fetched cleaning supplies, crew members swiftly set a pre-built pyramid of chairs on the table and cleared away the individual chairs before the camera swung back. The tableau is on screen for just seven seconds.
- #048
During Robbie's struggle with the clown, the clown's arms became extremely tight and Oliver Robins really started to choke. When he cried "I can't breathe!", Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper assumed he was improvising and just told him to look at the camera. Only when Spielberg saw on the video monitor that the boy's face was turning purple did he rush over and pull the clown's arms off Robins's neck. As Oliver Robins put it, if not for Spielberg, "maybe I wouldn't be here today."
- #049
The crawling steak was a real steak laid over a slit cut between the counter tiles. Two wires were attached underneath it, and a special effects operator hidden below the counter worked them to make it creep like a caterpillar. The same trick served for the chair that moves by itself when Diane shows Steven what the house can do: a wire ran from one chair leg down beneath the set, and an operator first jiggled the chair, then dragged it to its mark.
- #050
JoBeth Williams was uneasy about the electrical equipment around her while filming the pool scene. To put her at ease, Steven Spielberg got into the pool and joked, 'If a light falls in, we'll both be fried.' This friendly approach worked, and Williams agreed to shoot the scene.
- #051
The film's theme music is known as 'Carol Anne's theme.' It was actually composed as a lullaby titled 'Bless this House' and was intended to contrast with the film's horror atmosphere. The song also has lyrics that can be found online.
- #052
The scene in which Diane opens the bedroom door and encounters a terrifying scream was the first scene shot for the film.
- #053
The frightening creature that appears at the door as Diane tries to save the children was a puppet controlled by a puppeteer. The puppet was submerged in a small water tank to add weight to its movements and to give the impression that its hair was floating in water. A light placed behind it added a supernatural glow.
- #054
The scene in which Marty hallucinates in the laundry room was the last scene shot for the film.
- #055
This film is one of the rare Steven Spielberg productions without a John Williams score.
- #056
On top of the television in the parents' bedroom sits an Atari Video Computer System console with its two joysticks; this console would later be known as the Atari 2600.
- #057
The theme song composed by Jerry Goldsmith was criticized for being too cheerful. Yet Goldsmith was known for the menacing, demonic-toned music he wrote for The Omen (1976), which was widely praised.
- #058
At around the 27th minute, while Go for Broke! (1951) is playing on the kitchen television, a soldier's scream is heard; this is the famous 'Wilhelm Scream.'
- #059
The clown from Poltergeist is now in Zak Bagans's collection and is on display in his haunted museum in Las Vegas.
- #060
The skeletons used in the pool scene were real human remains, as confirmed by the film's special effects makeup artist. At the time, buying real skeletons was cheaper than producing realistic models.
Characters & Cast (8)
- #061
Heather O'Rourke was discovered while having lunch with her mother and sister at the MGM commissary, when producer Steven Spielberg came over and wanted her for Carol Anne. She flunked her first screen test because she kept laughing when she was supposed to be scared. Spielberg thought she might be too young to take the part seriously, but he saw something special in her and asked her back for another audition, this time with a scary storybook. He also asked her to scream, and she screamed and screamed until she burst into tears. That audition won her the role of Carol Anne.
- #062
Tobe Hooper has the director credit, but there is plenty of evidence that Steven Spielberg made most of the directing decisions. Spielberg had actually wanted to direct it himself, but a clause in his contract barred him from directing another film while he was making E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Hooper had developed the project with him, and pushing Hooper aside would have caused friction among the producers. Cast and crew, executive producer Frank Marshall and actress Zelda Rubinstein among them, said Spielberg cast the film, directed the actors (often over the objections of other artists) and drew every storyboard himself (Hooper says he collaborated on the storyboards and did half of them). On the strength of this, the DGA looked into the matter but found no grounds for giving Spielberg a co-director credit.
- #063
Heather O'Rourke also took home the goldfish that Carol Anne keeps as a pet in the film.
- #064
Drew Barrymore was considered for the role of Carol Anne, but producer Steven Spielberg did not cast her because he was looking for a more 'angelic' face. Barrymore's audition ended up landing her the role of Gertie in E.T.
- #065
Spielberg and Hooper cast almost entirely unknown actors to play the Freeling family. Their aim was to add a realism that would balance the ghost story; they thought famous stars would distance the audience from that sense of reality. However, this explanation from Spielberg may in fact have been a retrofitted excuse for not being able to bring Hollywood's big names into the cast. After all, Shirley MacLaine had been offered the role of Diane Freeling, but she turned it down on the grounds that she was 'against scaring children.'
- #066
Joe Spano was first cast as the father, Steve Freeling; however, because he was then appearing in the series Hill Street Blues, producer Steven Bochco would not let him out of his contract.
- #067
Shirley MacLaine was offered the lead role in the film, but she declined in order to appear in Terms of Endearment.
- #068
Richard Lawson, who played Ryan, said in an interview with a Poltergeist fan site that he first met Spielberg in 1977 thanks to Carlyle, the villain he played in David Rabe's play Streamers. Because Lawson's performance kept the famous director on edge all night, Spielberg was initially hesitant to meet with him.
Deeper Meaning (18)
- #069
Both of Robbie's terrors came straight from Steven Spielberg's own childhood fears: clowns, and the tree outside his window.
- #070
Those are Steven Spielberg's own hands, the film's producer, clawing at the researcher's face in the bathroom mirror at about 1 hour 2 minutes.
- #071
At about 1 hour 40 minutes, the sound of the monster attacking the house at the end of the film became the source of today's Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) lion roar.
- #072
At around the 43rd minute, while telling the parapsychologists his family's ages, Steve states that his eldest daughter Dana is 16 and his wife Diane is 32. Although this gives the impression that Diane gave birth to Dana at 16, the novel adaptation explains that Diane is Steve's second wife and that Dana is his daughter from a first marriage. In the film, when introducing his family, Steve says 'My daughter Dana...'; he does not say 'Our daughter Dana.'
- #073
At around the 14th minute, while Steve and Diane are in their bedroom, A Guy Named Joe (1943) is playing on the television. That film, much like the spirits in Poltergeist, is about someone who 'hangs around' after death. Steven Spielberg also remade this film seven years later as Always (1989).
- #074
A DirecTV commercial released in 2008 affectionately parodied the film. Craig T. Nelson reprises his role as Steve Freeling, saying that the static on the television is actually just a bad cable signal and joking, 'Not getting rid of cable... That decision is going to come back to haunt me!' Heather O'Rourke's family was pleased with the commercial for keeping her memory alive.
- #075
At around the 1 hour 13 minute mark, the tree that Steve and Teague stand in front of while talking in the cemetery is exactly the same tree that tries to eat Robbie. This is a subtle hint that the Freeling house was built on top of a cemetery.
- #076
Tangina says, 'This house has many hearts.' Indeed, heart-shaped objects can be found throughout the house: a heart lamp, a heart on the wall, a heart poster in the children's room and a green heart balloon, among others.
- #077
JoBeth Williams had a supernatural experience during filming. When she returned home, she noticed that the pictures on the walls were always crooked, and every time she straightened them they would tilt again. Zelda Rubinstein, meanwhile, saw a vision of her dog coming to say goodbye to her; hours later her mother called to say that her dog had died that day.
- #078
At around the 1 hour 45 minute mark, the Holiday Inn sign reads 'Welcome Dr. Fantasy and Friends.' Dr. Fantasy is the nickname of producer Frank Marshall.
- #079
Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight) says that the paranormal events in the Freeling house are caused by a poltergeist rather than a ghost, because poltergeists are generally attached to a person, while ghosts are attached to a place. However, once Steven realizes that the house was built on a cemetery, it becomes clear that this assessment was wrong and that it is in fact a ghost case.
- #080
A Super Bowl XXII poster hangs in Robbie's room, even though that game would take place six years later. Heather O'Rourke died one day after Super Bowl XXII, which was played in San Diego.
- #081
At around the 1 hour 7 minute mark, after the ghostly procession descends from Carol Anne's room to the living room, Dr. Lesh examines the video recordings with her assistants and the Freeling family on different television screens. The ghosts appear to be wearing old suits and hats. In Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986), the Freeling family learns that their house was built on the mass grave of members of a 19th-century cult who believed the end of the world was coming and buried themselves alive. The cult members shown in the flashback scenes closely resemble the ghosts in the video.
- #082
The name of the neighborhood, 'Cuesta Verde,' means 'Green Slope' in Spanish.
- #083
The Freeling family's dog is named 'E. Buzz.' The name is a reference to the sleazy television host E. Buzz Miller, a character introduced in 1977 on the comedy series Saturday Night Live (1975), played by Dan Aykroyd and known for his lewd remarks.
- #084
At around the 57th minute, Dr. Lesh tells Diane and Robbie about the white light people see when they die. This concept is based on war stories about pilots seeing such a light in combat and on Dr. Raymond Moody's 1975 book 'Life After Life.' The book compiles accounts from people who technically died and were revived, that is, those who had near-death experiences (NDEs). One of the typical features of this phenomenon is a voice (usually that of a friend or family member who has already died) sending the person back to the world of the living, saying 'It's not your time yet.'
- #085
At around the 15th minute, while Diane is in bed discussing with Steve Carol Anne's conversations with the television, Steve picks up a book. It is 'Reagan: The Man, the President', published in 1981 and written by Hedrick Smith, Adam Clymer, Leonard Silk, Robert Lindsey and Richard Burt, who were New York Times reporters at the time.
- #086
At around the 1 hour 40 minute mark, as Diane tries to sleep in bed, a supernatural force tries to pull off her red shirt and shakes her as if she were being sexually assaulted. Coincidentally, a few months later another horror film, The Entity (1982), was released, about a woman who is sexually assaulted by a supernatural force.
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