Continuity mistake: When Carol Anne is being sucked into the closet vortex she clearly lets go of the white wicker headboard of her bed. In the next shot, the child (actually a dummy or a stunt double) is seen sailing into the closet, grasping a sizeable section of the now broken headboard.
Poltergeist (1982)
Plot summary
Directed by: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Oliver Robins, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne
While living an an average family house in a pleasant neighborhood, the youngest daughter of the Freeling family, Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke), seems to be connecting with the supernatural through a dead channel on the televison. It is not for long when the mysterious beings enter the house's walls. At first seeming like harmless ghosts, they play tricks and amuse the family, but they take a nasty turn- they horrify the family to death with angry trees and murderous dolls, and finally abduct Carol Anne into her bedroom closet, which seems like the entrance to the other side.
Carol Anne Freeling: They're here.
Trivia: While filming the toy clown attacking Robbie, the clown's arms were wrapped tightly around Oliver's neck. He immediately said he couldn't breathe but Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper both thought that he was ad-libbing. When Spielberg saw Oliver's face turning purple, he realised that he really was being asphyxiated and ran over to remove the arms from his neck.
Question: What exactly did the ghosts want with Carol Anne?
Answer: They were partly attracted to Carol Anne because she she was born in her house.
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Answer: They were attracted to her life force. She was such a young child, that it was particularly pure and strong within her.
raywest ★