News Updates:
Some of you have asked about the "gaps" of silence on my audio commentaries for "Poltergeist II" and "III." To read what was cut, click here:
http://www.poltergeistiii.com/commentaries.html
(you can also listen to the unused commentary I did for the original ending!)
Here's my (VERY rough) fan edit of the original ending, in which I use still photos to illustrate what is missing from the Scream Factory version:
My friend Jason of Flowtach Entertainment recently created this amazing, all new "fan edit" version of the ending. He used footage excerpts from both the original ending and the re-shoot. While the audio on the original ending footage was missing, he cleverly utilized audio from the re-shoot (since much of the dialogue was similar). He even added in some Jerry Goldsmith music for a final touch. Check it out!
Order the Scream Factory Collector's Edition of "Poltergeist III!"
https://www.shoutfactory.com/film/film-horror/poltergeist-iii-collector-s-edition
It's released on January 31st!
Here are the special features (which include the ORIGINAL ENDING!!) and a full length fan audio commentary by yours truly:
NEW 2K scan of the inter-positive
• NEW Audio Commentary with director Gary Sherman
• NEW Audio Commentary with Poltergeist III webmaster David Furtney
• NEW High Spirits – an interview with screenwriter Brian Taggert
• NEW Reflections – an interview with actress Nancy Allen
• NEW Mirror Images – an interview with Special Effects Creator John Caglione, Jr.
• Alternate Ending (subtitled)
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Still Galleries (behind-the-scenes photos, stills, posters and script pages)
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.
And here's an interview I did about the release with Chris Roberts at the cool "Secondhand Terror" blog. I discuss seeing the original ending footage for the first time and how it differs from the version used in the theatrical cut. Enjoy!
*One thing missing from the Collector's Edition Blu-ray is the behind the scenes EPK, which was given to the media in 1988 to promote the movie. Supposedly, MGM could not locate a copy on their end. Too bad, since I had acquired a dubbed VHS version years ago. Here it is (it even includes alternate music cues for selected scenes, which were probably from the 1987 PG rated version of the film):
Last but not least, here's the behind the scenes clip given to video store owners in 1989. It features some alternate behind the scenes shots not seen in the other EPK above.
"I would love to see a special edition DVD with the original ending and a commentary. It's too bad that so many people involved with this film just want to brush the whole thing off as a bad memory. It's not fair to Heather O'Rourke's legacy and it's not fair to fans. Your website is exceptionally well done and I, as well as countless other horror fans, appreciate the time and effort you put into it. Poltergeist III is a film that is not without problems but there is just so much to love there."- Kevin Sommerfield of www.slasherstudios.com
"I've always had a fascination with all that is POLTERGEIST 3. So a big thank you to the well rounded website Poltergeist III.com for continuously feeding it, and with panache to boot!" - John Fallon of www.Arrowinthehead.com
"So there I was ready to write my review and I remembered THIS FANTASTIC POLTERGEIST 3 SITE! Webmaster David Furtney who is well aware of P3’s considerable faults is infatuated and madly in love with P3 to a degree that should be envied by filmgoers everywhere." -Lance of "Kindertrauma.com" http://www.kindertrauma.com/?p=298
"For all there is to know about this movie - how it came to be, what went wrong and why (it’s production history rivals that of Heaven’s Gate), be sure to check out David Furtney’s brilliant website: http://www.poltergeistiii.com/. It’s everything!"-Jeff of the horror blog "Kindly Undo These Straps"
"PoltergeistIII.com rules, ok! Groovy! I work on www.jaws-3d.com and your website has a great influence on mine."-Romain Neophyte
Reviews from around the web
-Quint of "AintItCoolNews.com" http://www.aintitcool.com/talkback_display/37947#comment_2232942
"Cause when you break it down, Poltergeist III (1988) is all kinds of lousy. Somehow, though, all the crappy elements come together to create a work of magically enjoyable crap. In other words, The crappy sum is not nearly as crappy as the crappy parts. Poltergeist III is a bit like the cinematic equivalent of Desperately Seeking Susan-era Madonna, all jelly bracelets, lace, greasy hair, untweezed eyebrows, gloves, crucifixes, oversized bows, animal prints, and neon. Each horrid enough on its own, together they form a vortex of nonsense that's disturbingly compelling.....What the film gets right, it gets really right. The ample use of mirrors as Reverend Kane pursues Carol Anne throughout the skyscraper is killer. Everyone's got a creepy, shriveled up, ne'er-do-well doppelganger and though it's cheesy at times, the effects are mostly spooky enough. Brood-esque Carol Anne in particular is bitchin'."
-Stacie Ponder at http://finalgirl.blogspot.com/2008/12/continuing-adventures-of-carl-anne-part.html
"POLTERGEIST 3! How I love it! And not even because it’s a freaky failure or because there’s big hair and awful GOLDEN GIRLS style pastel clothes and truly shitty dialogue. I’m just amazed that it exists and I can watch it everyday. I think it’s just weird as hell and strangely moving and there’s a real yucky death vibe in there. It’s just so damn DIFFERENT from everything else. I love that none of the effects were done in postproduction. I love the corny mirror tricks. I love director GARY SHERMAN(DEAD AND BURIED). I love NANCY ALLEN. Holy shit, I may even love the intolerable Scott (KIPLEY WENTZ)! I love it so much more than I could ever love a “good” movie. Honestly, you really don’t know what love is until you figure out how to love imperfection…I think Jesus told me that, pass it on."
-Uncle Lancifer at www.kindertrauma.com
"You know, a lot of movies cover the 80s, but very few of them really zero in on the specific nuances of the LATE 80’s. Nancy Allen, with her hair that looks like a Utah rock formation and big, big outfits with tremendous shoulder-pads and lots of wrinkles and brooches and belts, looks exactly like my best friend in high school. But Lara’s time at Scott’s party presents a GOLDEN CORNUCOPIA of late-80s style with all the party peoples, including one with this hideous frizz-thing atop her head, a guy with a ludicrous hat that surely evolved out of something having to do with Culture Club, and the whole sense that the teens of yesteryear were on the cutting edge while wearing a SWEATER with a shirt collar poking out from underneath. This whole sequence is literally breathtaking."
-from http://www.cinemademerde.com/Poltergeist_III.shtml
"A haunted house movie set in a luxury skyscraper in the middle of a big city is an awesome concept....This could have been a good movie, but something went terribly wrong along the way.....Without Jerry Goldsmith’s score, or Jobeth Williams emoting, or the attention to every minute detail that made Poltergeist the classic it is, Poltergeist III is the black sheep of the series....This movie is not well shot, there’s no continuity or logic to speak of, and the synthesized score is just awful when compared to the masterpiece scores of Poltergeist andPoltergeist II: the Other Side…so why is Poltergeist III such a delicious guilty pleasure? Well, in addition to having an apathetic, heavily made up, barren, second-wife female lead with shoulderpads, Poltergeist III has haunted ice cars and magical amulets and Lara Flynn Boyle in Vlizard makeup. How can you resist it?!"-
-from Jeffrey at the horror blog "Kindly Undo These Straps"
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