Int. Kitchen-Gardner Apartment-Day
Carol Anne removes the pop-ups from the package. Bruce watches.
BRUCE
I'll make the coffee.

Carol Anne picks up a jar of instant coffee.
CAROL ANNE
Instant.
BRUCE
Pat hates instant coffee. She says it tastes like dirty dishwater.
CAROL ANNE
My mom always makes her instant...she just adds cinnamon and Aunt Trish...sorry..PAT never knows the difference.
BRUCE
Your mother's a very clever lady.
CAROL ANNE
She's good at her job.

Carol Anne pushes the pop-ups down in the toaster.

Int. Bathroom-Gardner Apartment-Day
DONNA
Dad making breakfast?
PAT(flat)
Carol Anne.
DONNA (knowing)
Pop ups.

Patricia nods and starts to leave. Donna picks up one of Patricia's compacts, a fancy looking one, starts to powder her nose as she follows Patricia into the hallway.
DONNA
Mind if I borrow this?
PATRICIA
Sure. Just be carful with it.

Int. Kitchen-Gardner Apartment-Day
CLOSE ON HUGE JAR FULL OF VITAMINS. A hand reaches in and pulls out four.
WIDEN TO REVEAL four places that have been set up at a bar table. A lonely Pop Up sits on each plate. There are glasses of orange juice, milk for the girls and coffee for the adults. Donna picks up her packet of vitamins and stares at her Pop-up.

DONNA (weighing the contradiction)
Junk food and vitamins.
BRUCE
Definitely space age.

Donna laughs to herself and starts half singing, half humming "The Jetsons" theme song. Patricia glances askance at Donna, then rips open her packet of vitamins, pops them in her mouth and starts to take a sip of coffee.
ANGLE-CAROL ANNE AND BRUCE-They exchange an expectant glance.
ANGLE-PATRICIA-She sips the coffee, makes a small face, and immediately puts it down.
BRUCE (facetiously)
Is something wrong?

CONTINUED:
PATRICIA
Not if you like dirty dishwater.
(to Carol Anne)
Your mother never fooled me either.
CAROL ANNE
How come you never said anything about it at my house?
PATRICIA
Did you ever try arguing with my big sister?

Carol Anne rolls her eyes as if to say "Oh yeah."

Int. PATRICIA WILSON GALLERY-JOHN HANCOCK-NIGHT
CAMERA MOVES IN ON Bruce who is standing more rigid than the statues. His face is stony, his eyes staring off unfocused. He turns and sees Pat involved with a group of people. His eyes then drift back into unfocused space. He almost seems to shiver. Mary approaches. She has already had one too many glasses of bubbly. She touches his arm. He jumps.
MARY
I'm sorry. I...are you alright?

Bruce looks at her blankly, his mind somewhere else.

MARY
Oh, too much champagne. I'll get you some coffee...and something to eat.
BRUCE
No. I have to go upstairs.
MARY
You can't do that to Pat. You know how important this is to her. Come on, I'll get you something. [she takes him by the arm] Mingle. Mingle!

Mary's enthusiasm brings a smile to Bruce's face. They meld into the crowd.

Int. LIVING ROOM-MARTIN'S APARTMENT-NIGHT
The young guests are quietly gathered around the room. There is no hint of a party here. The number of kids has dwindled as Donna, Scott, Melissa, Dusty, Sandy, and Jeff have left. Helen enters. She's wearing a housecoat.
HELEN
Is Donna here?
MARCIE
She...
Unseen by Helen, Marcie's hair is tightly grasped by Martin.
MARTIN
No. She had to look after Carol Anne.
HELEN
Cute. Well, Carol Anne is on the phone...looking FOR Donna.

Martin rolls his eyes. Helen smiles knowingly to herself, and exits.

Int. POOL AREA-FORTY-FOURTH FLOOR-JOHN HANCOCK-NIGHT
CLOSE ON SCANNING VIDEO CAMERA-The light goes off.
ANGLE-KIDS
SANDY
Girls to the right. Boys to the left. Let's go.

Sandy and Melissa start to enter the ladies' locker room. Jeff starts to follow. She pushes him back.
SANDY
You just never give up.

Sandy pulls the door shut in his face.

INT. KITCHEN-SEATON'S APARTMENT-NIGHT
CLOSE ON DR. SEATON'S FACE-He's looking down on something. A cloud of steam wafts past his face. He looks up.
SEATON
Smells promising.
CLOSE ON MRS. SEATON-She's the same age as Seaton, but younger. The beauty of her youth shines though the heavily lined face. Wearing an apron, she stands proudly over her latest masterpiece. She dips the spoon and offers him a taste.
MRS. SEATON
No criticisms. Only compliments.
CLOSE ON SEATON-THE SPOON enters frame. He tastes. He thinks.
SEATON[pausing, assessing the taste, then pompous]
Brave...but not yet valiant. More cilantro.

Mrs. Seaton doesn't look happy or amused.

ANGLE-DONNA-Her laugh is cut short as she glances at another one of the monitors on the wall.
DONNA
Oh, shit!
HER POV-ANOTHER MONITOR-Carol Anne is running through the garage.
ANGLE-DONNA AND SCOTT-Scott is searching for what she saw. He finally spots the garage monitor, then notices that Donna has taken off. He chases after her. They've left the monitors on and the beer and food on the console.

EXT. JOHN HANCOCK BUILDING-NIGHT
A CAB pulls up to the curb. Tangina steps out and pays the driver. He pulls out. Her eyes move upward.
CAMERA TILTS UPWARD TO REVEAL THE FULL SWEEP OF THE JOHN HANCOCK BUILDING, a dark, faultless, symmetrical cliff rising high into the sky. A SHIMMERING ILLUMINATION spills out from the seventieth floor. Carol Anne's room is a quasar in the dark Chicago sky.

[the meatlocker scene]
BRUCE'S POV-Tagina stares up at him from beneath the rising icy fog. In her hand is the turqoise necklace. She holds it up toward Bruce.
TANGINA
Outside in. Outside In.
ANGLE-BRUCE-Pat is behind him still pounding on the door and screaming. He reaches out for the necklace, but as he does, the light becomes blinding. The ANIMAL SCREAMS grow deafening. The WIND HOWLS and he is pelted with ice and snow. Suddenly the freezer door flies open. Bruce and Pat are blown out the door amid a blinding snow.
INT. GARAGE-JOHN HANCOCK-NIGHT
CRACK! The ice shatters, their clasped hands propel through the ice. THE CAMERA PULLS BACK revealing that they are being spewed out of the frozen puddle in the garage.
CLOSE ON PAT AND BRUCE as they hit the floor and slide along at incredible speed up the icy surface of the garage ramp. Finally coming to rest, half way up the ramp. Their hands still clasped, they stare at each other in shock, instantly realizing they are both dry. They lie very still for a moment, then turn their heads to look around.

[Bruce and Pat in the elevator]
PATRICIA
What I'm looking forward to is getting upstairs, packing up everything that belongs to that little brat, her clothes, her toys, everything! Call my sister and tell her I'm returning her little monster, air express, tonight!

[After Bruce rolls over Dr. Seaton's body on top of the elevator]
ANGLE-BRUCE-as he backs away from the elevator shaft, mumbling, almost to himself.
BRUCE
Donna, we left her with him. We gotta get down there.

Pat grabs onto Bruce as he swings his arm to hit the call button.
ANGLE-ELEVATOR DOORS-DING! Almost immediately, the other set of elevator doors open, revealing nothing but a black, empty shaft!
ANGLE-PAT AND BRUCE-they react as Bruce pulls her away.

INT. STAIRWELL-98TH FLOOR LANDING-JOHN HANCOCK-NIGHT
The door bursts open. Pat and Bruce stop dead in their tracks.
THEIR POV-The descending stairway is blocked entirely by huge icicles, glistening in the light from the corridor.
ANGLE-PAT AND BRUCE-They stand for a moment as they realize this route is impossible.
BRUCE
Outside in!
PATRICIA
What?
BRUCE
Outside in! It is what Tangina said. He controls the inside, but not the outside. We can get to them...Come on!

And of course, to read what the original ending was, go to www.poltergeistIII.com/originalending.html.....

In addition, apparently an early draft script of the film would have featured "devil dogs" which would have emerged from the "gates of hell." To see drawings of these unfilmed dogs, as well as some other sketches for things not used in the film, see www.poltergeistIII.com/makeup.html.

Recently a fellow P3 fan on the IMDB message boards claimed that he'd bought a copy of a draft of the script dated January 23rd, 1987. He sent me a few scans from it. I'm still trying to determine the authenticity of this script (hopefully I'll be able to puchase a copy of it soon), but so far it seems authentic. Here's what the fan posted:

I purchased an old studio copy of a 'Poltergeist III' script, the third revised draft with the above date, and again it differs. Both from the one released and the one on the 'Poltergeist III' site. Basically Bruce enters the room from the outside and finds Carol Anne, then Donna and then Scott. Their bodies are partially frozen and he attempts to leave with them. But it becomes too cold and the winds too strong. They wind up as a frozen sculpture.

Kane approaches the sculpture and Bruce's face crumbles away to reveal Tangina. She says that she is all he needs to 'go into the light'. Pat enters the room from the outside and catches sight of Bruce's outstretched arms. She hears Bruce's voice pleading with her to take his hand. She does so and there is a burst of brilliant light. The room returns to normal and all the family and Scott are saved.

There is no tearful farewell to Tangina from Carol Anne. Instead Bruce catches sight of Tangina in their reflection. He returns her smile and she is gone.

This draft does not feature the demon dogs. Infact most of what ended up on screen is in this draft. The most noticeable difference is the ending. Bruce features more prominently than Pat. Pat spends most of the time outside on the rig as Bruce struggles to save the family. One nice touch is that when Bruce first enters the appartment he stumbles into the statue that had been watching Pat earlier in the movie. The statue this time comes alive and as Bruce fights with it, skeletal bone is revealed underneath and alas it is Kane.

I'm still working my way through it as I only got it on Monday but I have stumbled upon a homage to the first 'Poltergeist' movie in it. Remember the scene where the evil Scott tears at Donna's face? In this draft they continually tear at each other until they are reduced to a mound of rotting flesh crawling with maggots!

Anyhow rest assured the script is genuine. I am a fellow 'Poltergeist' fan and I am not making any of it up. It is an original studio copy with it's MGM covers still in place and I puchased it from a U.S. collector. It is titled as "We're Back!" Poltergeist continues...

Here's some links to 5 more pages of the ending, courtesy of "MorbidMorgan:"

http://www.i174.photobucket.com/albums/w83/jawstherevenge/p31.jpg


http://www.i174.photobucket.com/albums/w83/jawstherevenge/p32.jpg


http://www.i174.photobucket.com/albums/w83/jawstherevenge/p33.jpg


http://www.i174.photobucket.com/albums/w83/jawstherevenge/p34.jpg


http://www.i174.photobucket.com/albums/w83/jawstherevenge/p35.jpg

It looks like this originally planned ending, while a bit confusing in some parts (what was up with Tangina'a face appearing over Bruce's?), was a LOT more elaborate and would have had to have had a MUCH bigger visual effects budget than MGM was willing to pay. You can see from the subsequent drafts (and then re-shoots) how much they had to scale things down.