I hadn't planned on reviewing this one, but I am for Tina's sake. It's the story of a girl who gets trapped in the realm between life and death, and her parents rescue her with the help of some paranormal activity entheusiasts and a psychic. I didn't think it was anything special, although the special effects were pretty good.
What I'm more intrigued by (although not by much) is the unexpected deaths of two of the stars. The first was Dominique Dunne, the teenage sister. Dominique was an up-and-coming actress with a promising carreer ahead of her. Unfortunately, she also had an abusive boyfriend. It had gotten to the point where she didn't need any makeup to play the role of an abuse vistim on Hill Streeet Blues. Tired of the abuse, Dominique ended her relationship with her boyfriend on October 30, 1982, 5 months after Poltergeist was released. Later that same night, the boyfriend went to her house and strangle her, leaving her brain dead. Five days later, she was removed from life support. Her killer was sentenced to 62 years in prison but was released after only two and a half.
The second unexpected death was Heather O'Rourke, the main character from the Poltergeist films. She passed away at the age of 12 of intestinal stenosis (which was misdiagnosed as the flu). Complaining of flu-like symptoms that she had been suffering for months, she slipped into a coma. She was rushed to the hospital but died on the operating table. She had just finished filming Poltergeist III.
Is all this just a strange coincidence? Is there something deeper? Something evil?? We may never know.