Poltergeist movie series

See also: Poltergeist. Streisand and co-composer Paul Williams won a Best Song Oscar for the film's main theme, "Evergreen.". Movie producers had planned to film more sequels, but those plans were dashed by O'Rourke's death at the age of 12. The film was plagued with problems during production but, despite mixed reviews, was a huge box office success and spawned a best-selling soundtrack album. A TV series, Poltergeist: The Legacy, is a spin-off of this movie series. The 1976 version, helmed by Frank Pierson and starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, updated the story by bringing it into the rock era. Some of the stars in the movie suffered unfortunate fates, for which the movie series has been dubbed as having a Poltergeist curse. In the early 1980s, all but 5 minutes of the cut footage was found and re-instated, but some of the footage had to be reconstructed using production stills.

The two sequels (1986 and 1988) followed a path of different ghosts stalking Carol Anne and her other family members too. Premiering at 181 minutes, the studio cut the film by 30 minutes despite the objections of director Cukor and producer Sid Luft (then-husband of the female lead). It is then revealed gruesomely at the end of the movie that the family home (and the entire residental subdivision) was built over a cemetery (that only had the headstones moved to a different location), disturbing the sleep of the dead. This version of the film was re-edited several times. A spiritual healer and a ghost expert are eventually brought in, allowing her mother to step into the "other world" to save her. Garland was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress for her tour-de-force performance, but lost to Grace Kelly (The Country Girl). The family's 5-year-old daughter, Carol Anne, is then abducted by the ghosts and held hostage in their spirital world. Musical highlights included "The Man That Got Away" and the "Born in a Trunk" sequence.

At first the ghosts appear friendly, playing tricks and amusing the family, then turn malevolent and nasty. The 1954 release, directed by Cukor and starring Judy Garland and James Mason, is the best known, and in 2000 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. In the first movie, a group of sinister ghosts invade a family's home through the television. It won an Oscar for Best Color Photography. Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III each had a different writer, producer, and director. Brian Gibson directed Poltergeist II and Gary Sherman Poltergeist III. In 1937, William Wellman directed a remake, the first to be titled A Star is Born, with Janet Gaynor and Frederic March. Steven Spielberg wrote, produced, and some say directed the first Poltergeist although Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) was billed as the director. Its earliest incarnation, released in 1932, was based on a story by Adela Rogers St. John and entitled What Price Hollywood? Directed by George Cukor, it starred Constance Bennett as a waitress propelled to fame by an alcoholic director portrayed by Lowell Shermann, and anticipated Cukor's later, more acclaimed 1954 version.

The Poltergeist movies are a trilogy of horror films produced in the 1980s. His career wanes as her popularity increases, with their relationship ending in tragedy. Beatrice Straight, Dr Lesh (first film only). All are variations on the same plot: talented girl meets and falls in love with successful actor. Heather O'Rourke, Carol Anne Freeling. A Star Is Born is the title of several successful movies. Dominique Dunne, Dana Freeling.

JoBeth Williams, Diane Freeling. Nelson, Steve Freeling. Craig T.