FAQ

"Was It You?" by Philip Marshall.

The glowing woman is simply one of the many spirits haunting the house due to be trapped and unable to get to the other side. In The Novelization she is called "The Lady In Waiting"

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Strange things begin to occur in the Freeling house, a seemingly average home in the burgeoning housing development of Cuesta Verde, California. Furniture moves around on its own, silverware is twisted out of shape, and five-year-old Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) begins hearing voices talking to her through a dead channel on the television. When eight-year-old son Robbie (Oliver Robins) is pulled out the window by a snarly old tree and Carol Anne disappears after being sucked into her closet through a wind tunnel, parents Steve (Craig T. Nelson) and Diane (JoBeth Williams) suspect they may be haunted by poltergeists and call in psychic investigators.

Poltergeist is based on a screenplay written by American film-maker Steven Spielberg and screenwriters Michael Grais and Mark Victor. However, a novelization, also titled Poltergeist, was released in 1982 by American writer James Kahn. The popularity of the movie spawned two sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and Poltergeist III (1988). A remake, also titled Poltergeist (2015), was released in 2015.

Literally, poltergeist can be translated as "noisy ghost," from German poltern "to make noises" + geist "ghost." The typical poltergeist story is characterized by noises, moving furniture, breaking dishes, etc., usually when no one is looking. At first, the poltergeists in the film are fairly benign, performing such pranks as bending forks, breaking a glass, moving and stacking the kitchen chairs. As the movie progresses, however, they become much more malevolent but don't seem intent on harming the Freelings.

It was a diversion to keep everyone away from Carol Anne by making the storm look like a tornado. When the tree pulled Robbie out of the bedroom and lodged him in its trunk, Steve and Diane and Robbie's 16-year-old sister Dana (Dominique Dunne) hurried outside to free him, leaving Carol Anne alone. The poltergeists were then able to create a windtunnel that sucked Carol Anne into the closet and into their dimension.

Spiritualist Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein) explains to the Freelings that the ghosts are attracted to Carol Anne because she is a living presence to them. The ghosts haven't yet learned to go forward (i.e., into the light) in their own deaths. Carol Anne's strong lifeforce is luminescent, and the ghosts see her as a reminder of the lives they once lived. Also, during the scene where Steve is on a hill overlooking his neighborhood with Mr Teague (his boss), it is revealed through their conversation that Carol Anne was born in the Freelings' house, and that the land used to be a cemetery, so it's possible that Carol Anne has a special connection with the ghosts.

In some systems of belief about the afterlife, the transition from life to death is through a tunnel that leads to a light. To follow that tunnel and go into the light is to pass into the afterlife with no hope of returning to one's earthly life. For this reason, the scientists do not want Carol Anne to go into the light.

Because there is another presence there...the Beast. The Beast, who appears to Carol Anne as a child and a friend, is using her luminescence to keep the ghosts away from the light, to keep them trapped in the nether plane with him. She does attempt to coerce them into the light, but Steven interrupts her, mistakenly believing her words are meant for his wife and daughter.

Those two events are the Beast trying to scare everyone in the hope that they would leave the house. The bite was very real and was the Beast's first attempt, which wasn't enough to get everyone to leave. The mirror scene was an hallucination of Marty's, but it still scared him.

The likely motive is revenge for being foiled in its plans. The Beast is a violent and angry demonic force that probably wasn't pleased with being defeated. So to get back at the Freelings, it came back after the kids and tried to force them into its world. Another explanation lies in what Tangina said about Carol Anne...she possesses a very strong life force. Perhaps the Beast thought swallowing her would increase its own power.

As has been often noted, there seems to be a bit missing between when Diane is explaining to Steven about the "sliding phenomena" in their kitchen and when they suddenly appear on their neighbors' doorstep; the scene cuts right in the middle of Diane's line. The first draft of the script contained this additional material: DIANE You can't believe the feeling.   STEVE What's the gag? There a magnet back there?   He looks behind the door in the dining room. Nothing. Steve just stands for a long moment in hapless silence, then...   STEVE I hate Pizza Hut! Where's supper? I don't understand, Diane. What the hell's going on around here?   Steve sidesteps the chalk marks, removing himself from the active area.   DIANE I figured I'd never explain it to you. So I showed you instead, but don't ask me how or what. Just help me figure out what to do.   STEVE You mean there's no gimmick?   DIANE Not from inside the house. Maybe Tuthill got himself a super remote from the Radio Shack.   Carol Anne adjusts her helmet and sits inside her launch circle. Diane and Steve are having the discussion across the room and aren't aware of her.   STEVE Maybe the shakeup and this thing...relate.   DIANE No shit.   CAROL ANNE Daddy, look at me!!   They turn but it's too late. Carol Anne shoots across the room faster than before, and with no one to catch her.   ANGLE-KITCHEN WALL   At a sickening speed her helmet smashes into the wall. Diane SCREAMS. Steve runs over. An eight-inch hole in the wall and the cracked plastic on the helmet testify to the force of impact. Carol Anne is dazed but unhurt.   CAROL ANNE You promised pizza. It has been speculated, though without any official corroboration, that this scene was later trimmed to remove the disparaging remarks about Pizza Hut, who objected.

Rumors that Poltergeist is cursed began just months after the movie's release when 22-year-old Dominique Dunne (who plays the elder Freeling daughter Dana) was strangled by her jealous ex-boyfriend, suffered brain death, and died five days later. Rumors intensified when, six years later, 12-year-old Heather O'Rourke (who plays Carol Anne) died suddenly of septic shock due to intestinal stenosis (a narrowing of the intestine that causes partial blockage). Two other actors who appeared in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) also died within the six years after the film was released.