Juegos diabólicos III

Okay, now its Poltergeist III. The only two returning actresses are Heather O'Rourke and Zelda Rubenstein. Its about Carol Anne who moved to her aunt (played by Nancy Allen) and uncle's (played by Tom Skerrit) high rise apartment building. Her aunt and uncle's daughter (played by Lara Flynn Boyle) lives there too. Carol Anne finds out that Reverend Kane (from the 2nd movie) has returned to make her lead him into the light, and the more she doesn't, the more friends of hers will get killed.

The acting is terrible mostly but Heather O'Rourke does an excellent job in her last performance and Lara Flynn Boyle also does very good. Tom Skerrit didn't do too good in this one and neither did Nancy Allen. Reverend Kane doesn't even look like himself. The special effects were very good and the use of mirrors was also really cool. The part where the kids were sneaking around was the most intense part of the movie because the movie is not intense. Richard Fire was atrocious as Dr. Seaton and him denying everything just goes way too far. The movie is entertaining and fun. The ending was somewhat abrupt because Heather O'Rourke was dead before filming finished. An average sequel and an okay way to end the story.

Overall: 5/10

Strange little sequel filled with annoying characters and some horrible dialog. Poltergeist 3 is not really all that bad, it just suffers greatly from those two flaws. Story does wisely by switching the setting from the suburbs to the big city. The character Carol Anne now resides with her aunt and uncle and snobby cousin in Chicago, where they live in a high rise. Soon, ghosts start popping up again. This movie has some of the stupidest lines in it, it's often hard not to grin. O'Rourke did a good acting job in the first two films. Here, not so good. I think that may be the fault of whoever wrote the go-nowhere script. A lot of the characters lines in this seem forced or overacted. Especially the character of Dr. Seaton. The special effects are impressive though. The makers used a lot of mirror tricks that really pull the movie through it's stupider moments. However, the chopped off head of Kane scene was atrocious. I guess this movie suffered because of severe budget cuts.A lot of scenes in this movie feel a bit lame(the kid who busts up through the ice and runs into the window, the "break the mirror" scene,the kid who flips off the security camera, etc., etc.). Nancy Allen, who plays the aunt, does not look happy to be involved in this. Weaker entry in the series, but it is watchable. Seems a bit rushed. Features annoying teenagers you would find in a Friday The 13th movie. A guy rips off Lara Flynn Boyle's cheek. And whats with that growling window pane in the end? Ya gotta see it if you saw the first two. Two stars.

Although "Poltergeist II" wasn't a box office smash, MGM still decided to make another entry - possibly because then MGM was considered the last stop in Hollywood by producers wanting to make feature films (and still is to a degree), and MGM then *really* needed the money (and still does to a degree). The end results really look like a token effort made to make a quick buck. Despite the luxury high-rise setting, much of the movie looks somewhat impoverished. There are a few good special effects (I saw a TV program that revealed that many of them were actually all done on set, instead of being added to the movie after principle shooting), but there are some shabby effects as well (specifically the "ice" effects seen several times in the movie.) The script contains a number of unanswered questions, more if you haven't seen any of the previous movies. The cast (especially the male actors) all seem to be phoning it in, showing their feeling to the entire enterprise. MGM put this out on DVD with part II, probably because they thought (correctly) that no one would buy part III on its own.

There are actually some good things about the maligned POLTERGEIST III including a capable director; a cool, ominous soundtrack; and a decent rudimentary story-line that makes the build-up... of the iconic little blonde girl Carol Anne now living in a glass-structured Chicago high-rise with her aunt and uncle... work for and against itself since, as the movie progresses into manic delirium, it's more of a letdown than a horrible experience from start to finish...

By the technically-important forty-five minute mark (the same time it takes KING KONG to reveal himself), a lot has happened, and it's somewhat interesting. Aunt and Uncle, who also work for the building they reside in, are at a downstairs party full of spooky-looking art pieces; the cute teenage daughter sneaked herself and her friends into the building's off-grounds swimming pool for a beer party; the late Heather O'Rourke's Carol Anne just started to get really scared of the impending ghosts... And that last example - important and inevitable as it is - is also the problem...

Imagine having difficult yet challenging obstacles to cross and climb to get across half a field to then merely/simply run like hell to the other side. POLTERGEIST III goes from intriguing and suspenseful to a redundant and annoying chase scene between the family and the ghosts, led by an ancient, white-haired Reverend Kane...

Which is even more blasphemous to the flawed yet entertaining POLTERGEIST II, by having another actor deliberately made-up to resemble the late great Julian Beck, than the new guy's voice shouting "We're Back!" to counter Carol Anne's legendary "We're Here" from the classic and timeless original. But there's another pro to this 80% con of a sequel's sequel: Heather O'Rourke, who died not long after production wrapped (that shows with overly puffy facial features) turns in a pretty great performance, having to mentally react to what she remembers as opposed to what's actually happening: the latter being more exciting to the viewer and easier for the actor: especially a really young child actor, who's often deliberately manipulated for a more effective performance...

This occurs at a school for "really smart" children, another initial location with wasted potential that includes a shrink-in-denial played by Richard Kind, wielding a novice style of contrived, atrocious delivery that makes bad horror movies so fun to bag on...

Whether that aspect was intentional or not, Kind's phony-kind Dr. Seaton is the real villain here, and even he's lost in the frenzied shuffle (along with a glorified cameo by the Columbo of ghost whisperers, Zelda Rubinstein's Tangina) where the otherwise talented VICE SQUAD and DEAD & BURIED director Gary Sherman is overcome within an ominous, neat-looking corner of purgatory that, with so much going on, he and the cast couldn't possibly paint their way out of.

If you want to see how many times someone can yell "Carol Anne!" in 90 minutes, I guess you'd be into this. I think they set a world record for how many times the main character's name is mentioned throughout the movie.

The plot is standard sequel stuff: Carol Anne, the little girl plagued by paranormal phenomena in the first two movies, now stays with her bitchy aunt and her husband and daughter in a huge Chicago high rise building. Unfortunately for everyone, some prick counselor at her new school has been putting her under hypnosis to deal with the events of her past (he believes she has the power to produce mass hallucinations and is a manipulative liar despite witnessing paranormal activity in her presence--smart man). This therapy apparently opens her up and leaves her vulnerable to Kane, the preacher that wants her to lead them to the other side. Kane shows up in mirrors and other reflective surfaces (like puddles) and uses them to attack.

I've never seen so many mirrors in one movie. Even Carol Anne's bedroom walls are just big mirrors (I guess she hasn't hit that self-conscious stage yet). The hallways are mirrored. The elevators--mirrored. The poor girl has to go to the parking garage just to get away from all of the damn mirrors and it still doesn't end well for her.

There is some mildly entertaining subplot involving Lara Flynn Boyle's character, Donna, and her love interest with really bad '80s hair sneaking their friends into the building's pool after-hours. If you enjoy watching bad '80s fashion, you'll love these guys.

Once Kane starts to attack, Tangina, the short lady with the grating voice, comes back to help Carol Anne and her new family.

The movie manages to be pretty creepy by utilizing its inspired location--the building is often genuinely menacing. The mirror effects make up for some pretty corny dialogue and the characters' tendency to yell "Carol Anne!" every other minute.

Could have been much better if the script was worked on, but as-is, it's just a formulaic sequel with some average acting. Entertaining enough for a watch if you're not expecting anything close to the original.