The imploding house . . . - Poltergeist (1982) Discussion

Yeah, I always noticed that. The closet basically became so strong it sucked the entire house through the portal.

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[–] The_Film_Cricket 9 years ago

I was disappointed that when we saw the other side in "Poltergeist II" that we didn't see the remains of the house floating around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=remOHK2Ova0

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[–] tristandude14 9 years ago

Yeah, that would've been a cool thing to do, maybe see the clown floating around in there.

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[–] thegreatheep1 9 years ago

The closet was the portal for entering the 'other side, so when the demon/beast/whatever got pissed when Carol Anne was rescued, it lashed out at the only thing available...the house.

Although beasty thing was focused on Carol Anne, it was the house that was the true source of anger for the other spirits. Having a house dumped onto their graves is what kick-started the whole thing.

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[–] tristandude14 9 years ago

Hey, that's a good point. Never really thought about it before, but yes, the house on their graves is the true source of anger, so it makes sense why they destroyed it in the end.

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[–] The_Film_Cricket 9 years ago

I mentioned this in my commentary - think about this - how big was this cemetery? Was the cemetery only under the Freeling's house? Why weren't the neighbor's houses haunted by angry spirits?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SIqPQnchSQ

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[–] tristandude14 9 years ago

I think that may be something we'll never know. However, I think it's safe to say the cemetery covered much more ground than just where the Freeling house was because as the Freelings are speeding down the road at the end, there's coffins popping up everywhere on the street and the whole town seems to be going crazy at that point. I guess the Freeling house was centered maybe because it was the first thing built there.

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[–] thegreatheep1 9 years ago

According to Mr Dickhead Real Estate Man, during his hillside speech next to the graveyard, every bit of Cuesta Verde, 300 acres, was originally the cemetery.

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[–] evabba 9 years ago

That is what I love about this film.
It leaves you with the one question - what was so special about the Freelngs that the ghostly activity centred only around them? The filmmakers did show in the end that the cemetery covered ground well beyond the Freeling's home but they or IT was hell bent on destroying the Freelings. The answer is Carol Anne.

Steve mentions that Carol Anne was born in that house in passing to Teague. It is suble but it hints to Carol Anne's importance. I am not an expert in ghostly phenomenon but I am certain the spirits who witnessed this child's birth became instantly attracted to her while the Beast saw her as a perfect tool to control them. Something should be said about them witnessing a life being born (something they desperately desired... per Tangina)

and the closet sucking the house in... makes perfect sense and it is probably why they or IT was trying to block Diane and the kids from leaving when it slams the front door in their faces when Diane screams "Steven help us!!!"... then blocks their path again in the kitchen when the coffins sprout up. IT probably wanted to leave them trapped inside so it can suck them all in eventually.

Love this movie.

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[–] txchuckwagon 9 years ago

Agree. Carol Anne's birth in the house is what attracted the spirits to her.

Of course, it also begs the question, why didn't the construction crews unearth any of the coffins when they were installing the sewer and water mains?

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[–] The_Film_Cricket 9 years ago

I'm going to say they probably didn't dig down that far. The bodies seemed to come up when the rain got really really heavy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SIqPQnchSQ

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[–] thegreatheep1 9 years ago

Given that the developers would have had to get permission to relocate the bodies in the first place, leading to payoffs, I'm guessing that there were very few people who even knew what was really going on. Probably required people who knew exactly where to install utility lines while avoiding scooping up Auntie Gert's dead ass onto the lawn.
Creating affordable housing in such a nice area is one thing, but if you have to pay out the ass for permits, bribes and any other 'unnecessary' fees, it's not worth it.

The people may be dead, but at least they'd get to hang out by the pool.

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[–] The_Film_Cricket 9 years ago

The people may be dead, but at least they'd get to hang out by the pool.

or under it.

Still, if there were that many bodies to transplant, some family member would be appalled that you would even have the cajones to ask. If my granny was buried in a cemetery and someone asked if they could move her so they could build a housing project, I'd be appalled. I can imagine that such a plan would draw popular anger. It would make the news, and somebody would notice. You can pass around a lot of bribes but not that many.

What's more, if you look at the valley from the hilltop, it's not like you couldn't build a development around it. I live in a suburb that is just across the way from a large cemetery and you can see that there is still plenty of room to build without uprooting dead bodies (or just the headstones).

What I want to know is what cleared out Cuesta Verde in the sequel? Was there a scandal? Rumors? Did everyone know what happened to the Freeling house?

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[–] samhmd-7489 9 years ago

Well, all their neighbors saw what happened to the Freeling home at the end of the movie. If I was them, I'd have moved far away from that place too.

Of course, I couldn't believe that the Freelings thought it was okay to stay that one extra night anyways. I don't care if Tangina said it was clean, if I was Steve I would've put Diane and the Kids in the hotel right after they got Carol-Ann back and stayed the do the moving on my own.

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[–] Beeblebradams 9 years ago

and i also wonder if no house in that entire community had a basement.

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[–] samhmd-7489 9 years ago

I don't think homes in California have basements, at least not the standard design homes in developments. It's because of the earthquake possibilities and stuff.

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[–] ADBruns 9 years ago

Nice catch.

I'm always more bothered that they stayed that night at all. Even if you really believed it safe, would you want to? And if you're willing to, then why bother moving to begin with?

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