At times, watching Poltergeist 3 is like watching a bunch of different movies at once. You have John Hughes style teen angst with Lara Flynn Boyle, you have yuppie love problems with Tom Skerrit and Nancy Allen and finally you have the horror film with Heather O'Rourke.
There is definitely an interesting concept hiding in this film. Carol Anne has been sent by her parents to live with her aunt and uncle in a Chicago high rise so she can attend a special school to deal with her emotional problems. At school, Carol Anne has been forced to talk about her experiences during the first two films, and this has brought back the Reverend Kane, the ghostly villain of Poltergeist 2. In a neat touch, Kane tries to get at Carol Anne through mirrors by taking possession of various peoples' reflections, and draining the heat out of the apartment building. Tangina arrives to try to intercede, but another ghostly battle begins to get Carol Anne back.
It is clear that this movie was lower budget than the first two, and as such, the effects, while very creative, are not as good. The script also suffers, dragging for a good portion of the movie, and not really developing the characters. Also, the words "Carol Anne" are said ad nauseum to the point where you almost wish the ghosts would just take Carol Anne and go.
This is the weakest of the three Poltergeist movies. The movie isn't terrible, but it certainly is not good either.
There is definitely an interesting concept hiding in this film. Carol Anne has been sent by her parents to live with her aunt and uncle in a Chicago high rise so she can attend a special school to deal with her emotional problems. At school, Carol Anne has been forced to talk about her experiences during the first two films, and this has brought back the Reverend Kane, the ghostly villain of Poltergeist 2. In a neat touch, Kane tries to get at Carol Anne through mirrors by taking possession of various peoples' reflections, and draining the heat out of the apartment building. Tangina arrives to try to intercede, but another ghostly battle begins to get Carol Anne back.
It is clear that this movie was lower budget than the first two, and as such, the effects, while very creative, are not as good. The script also suffers, dragging for a good portion of the movie, and not really developing the characters. Also, the words "Carol Anne" are said ad nauseum to the point where you almost wish the ghosts would just take Carol Anne and go.
This is the weakest of the three Poltergeist movies. The movie isn't terrible, but it certainly is not good either.