Poltergeist (1982)

Actress JoBeth Williams, who played Diane, had a supernatural encounter during the filming of the movie. JoBeth would come home everyday and the pictures on the wall of her house would be crooked. She'd put them back yet five minutes later they would be crooked again. Zelda Rubenstein (Tangina Barrens) also had an experience where a vision of her dog came in front of her eyes and said goodbye to her. Hours later, her mother called her and told Zelda that her dog had indeed died that very day. -Thanks to Kristin Troxel

Although directed by Tobe Hooper, the film was produced by Steven Spielberg who many believed had been the 'real' director of the movie. This and the more prominent placing of Spielberg's name on advertising for the movie caused all sorts of trouble at the time of the movies release.

Steven Spielberg was the writer and executive producer. -Thanks to MN

'Poltergeist' was gestated out of the failed attempt in creating a sequel for Columbia's 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'.

Drew Barrymore was originally considered for the part eventually played by Heather O'Rourke. -Thanks to Jamie Sullivan

It is listed on the Internet Movie Database website (www.imdb.com) that Zelda, the woman who played "Tangina" in the movie actually had an experience where she felt a jolt then later found out her mother died, not her dog. -Thanks to Kim Knight

Heather O'Rourke's discovery was right out of a Hollywood fairy tale. She was eating lunch at the MGM commisarary with her sister, Tammy and her mother when Steven Spielberg approached their table. He was looking for a child and was not having much luck until he spotted Heather. Heather was more interested in lunch than the stranger who was talking to them. Heather initially failed the screen test for Poltergeist when she laughed instead of being afraid of a stuffed animal. Steven thought she was just too young. He wanted a six-year-old, but he saw something in her and called her back asking her to bring a scary storybook. He asked her to scream, and she screamed and screamed until she started to cry and couldn't do it anymore. She had the part after the second screen test. -Thanks to Jamie Sullivan

During all the horrors that proceeded while filming Poltergeist, the only scene that really scared Heather was the one in which she had to hold onto the headboard while the wind machine blew her toys into the closet behind her. She fell apart and Steven stopped everything, held her in his arms and said that she would not have to do that scene again. -Thanks to Jamie Sullivan

On VH1's "I Love the 80's," the woman who played the mom was interviewed and she said that the part where she is in the mud with skeletons, she thought they were plastic, but found out later that they were in fact real. Could this be true? Well, on E!'s "True Hollywood Story", it was said that unbeknownst to most of the crew, the skulls in the muddy pool were indeed human skulls. -Thanks to DJ

While filming the scene with the clown doll scene where it comes alive and tries to pull him under his bed, Oliver Robins (who plays Carol Anne's brother Robbie) went through a near-death experience; the puppet grabbed his legs too hard and cut off his circulation. Steven Spielberg thought he was acting (he even yelled "Keep going! You're doing great!"), it was only until he saw his face turn red that he realized he was in trouble. Spielberg ran over and pulled the puppet off, saving Oliver's life. -Thanks to Jamie Sullivan

Poltergeist was filmed from May 1981 to August 1981 and immediately afterwards, Steven Spielberg began filming "E.T." -Thanks to David Jones

The scene where Diane (Jobeth Williams) is being thrown around her bedroom towards the end of the movie, was actually filmed in a rotating box with a stationary camera attached to the box. This gave the appearance that she was being pulled up the walls and across the ceiling. -Thanks to Allyson

Zelda Rubenstein is actually a real psychic. The dog story didn't surprize me but I hadn't heard of it. Zelda had often had visions of things before they happened, especially at the time she was cast in this role. -Thanks to Sunlight

In the scene in the bathroom, where the guy looks in the mirror and tears chunks of his face of, the hands belong to Spielberg. -Thanks to Tobey

Producer Steven Spielberg flimed Poltergiest and E.T. within 20 mintues of each different location. -Thanks to Aaron

Listen to the roar of the creature that pops out of the door near the end of the movie. That noise, with a little digital cleaning, can be heard as the roar of Leo The Lion in the current MGM logo. Strangely enough, "Poltergeist" is no longer owned by MGM. The rights to this and many other MGM titles up to 1986 went to Warner Brothers when they bought Turner Entertainment. Other titles on this website that were part of the deal include "Victor/Victoria", "Reckless", "Electric Dreams", "9 1/2 Weeks" and "Pink Floyd: The Wall". -Thanks to John Edward Kilduff

The collapsing house at the climax of the film was a six-foot wide ministure house created by Industrial Light and Magic. It was stood on end with a high-speed camera above and a series of cables extending out the bottom. The camera filmed the destructive action at 300 frames per second, as the house was ripped apart in seconds by the cables and the debris sucked up by a poowerful floor-mounted vaccuum cleaner. When the film was run for Steven Spielberg, the projectionist exclaimed loudly as he saw the house slowly disintegrate into itself and Spielberg knew he had a winner special effect. The remains of the miniature house were gathered into a plastic box and sealed, and were presented to Steven Spielberg. He kept them as an interesting memento of the film as a piano decoration. -Thanks to Carrie

During the sequence with the chairs, when the camera follows JoBeth Williams under the sink, you can see a reflection --in the toaster-- of a few men carrying the already constructed mound of chairs to place on the table. -Thanks to Tony

At the beginning of the movie, the dog searching for food passes from a room to another. Before entering Carol Ann's room, the dog pushes the door to open it. If you look very carefully, you can see someone wearing red clothes walking in the room -you see him or her in the small space between the door and the wall... -Thanks to Olivier

« Click here to add a new Behind-the-Scenes item for Poltergeist

NEW! Use our radical Retro Assistant to show you the most accurate information for hard-to-find Poltergeist products anywhere on the web...

At a glance, you can now see all the Movie releases, Soundtracks or Movie Posters, Scripts and Books ever available with online price comparisons, even if they're rare, out of print or only available in another country!

Over 3 years in development and covering more than 10,000 of the best products hand picked by our editors, we think it's the most fun and retro way to celebrate the era --and find what you want.

It covers Poltergeist DVD, VHS, Blu-ray, HD-DVD, Downloads, Soundtrack CDs, Movie Posters, Scripts, Books and more... Why not give it a try...

The 80's Movies Rewind is proudly a spam-free non-commercial site, written by movie fans... for movie fans.

If you enjoy this site, please help to support us and keep us POP UP & SPAM FREE by ordering your stuff through our services. As you probably already know, we are not a corporation, but just 80's fans like you...