AWith Steve away at a meeting and Dana out on a date, Diane gets Robbie and Carol Anne ready for bed and then lays down on her own bed. Just as they are about to fall asleep, Robbie hears a knocking. He sits up to look and notices that the clown has disappeared. As he looks around for it, the clown suddenly grabs him and pulls him under the bed. Diane hears Robbie's screams but, before she can do anything, she is pulled up and over the ceiling by an unseen force. Another portal opens in the closet and attempts to suck the children into it. Diane tries to get into their bedroom but is lunged at by the snarling Beast. Diane falls down the stairs and runs outside, screaming for the neighbors to help. In the rain and slick mud, she falls into the recently excavated pit for the new swimming pool and is horrified to see corpses and coffins popping up all around her. Mr Tuthill (Michael McManus) pulls her out of the pit but refuses to enter the house to get the children. Diane goes in alone and finds Robbie and Carol Anne hanging onto the bed while the vortex pulls their legs toward it. Diane manages to get the children out of the bedroom and runs outside just in time to see Steve and Mr Teague (James Karen) drive up. As more and more coffins pop out of the ground, Steve realizes that Teague lied to him when he assured him that they moved the cemetery before building the houses. 'You only moved the headstones, but you left the bodies!' Steve charges. He gets everyone, including Dana who has just returned from her date, into the car and they drive away as the entire house is imploded into the portal, while the neighbors look on in horror. In the final scene, the family checks into a Holiday Inn and prepares for a good night's sleep, but not before Steve rolls the television set outside onto the balcony.
QWhat is the "Beast" that Tangina talks about? Is this Beast the actual poltergeist of the title?
AIt depends on the viewer's interpretation or on their belief system. 'The Beast' is a word that's often used as a name for the Devil. However, it could be Tangina's word for a demon or some other type of violent spirit. Tangina never assigns an actual identity to the spirit itself, but she knows that it's malevolent and wants the souls of those who haven't crossed over and are haunting the house. It also wants Carol Anne. Tangina says that the Beast is drawn to Carol Anne's life force. The Beast is not, however, the "poltergeist" of the title. A poltergeist is a restless but typically non-harmful spirit. The spirits that haunt the Freeling's house are doing so merely because they're lost between our world and the next. They likely would have returned Carol Anne unharmed after she'd been able to help them.
QWhat's up with that bad edit right before the Freelings show up at the next-door neighbors' house?
AAs 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 WALLAt 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.
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