THE ENDING:

What really happened?

(above-Tom Skerritt, Nancy Allen, and Lara Flynn Boyle. This is how the film currently ends. Notice Scott [Kip Wentz] is not there, and you don't see Carol Anne's face.)

(above, a publicity still photo from how the film originally ended)

Here's how I went about my research:

In late May of 2005, I faxed a question about the ending to P3 producer Barry Bernardi, while he was working on the new Adam Sandler film "Click." On June 2, 2005, he responded with this statement: "A long time ago. I recall that Heather died before the re-shoot and that we used a double."

When Heather O'Rourke passed away February 1, 1988, all press accounts at the time stated she had completed the film prior to her death. Principal photography took place between April-June of 1987, on location in Chicago. However, in 1998, ten years after P3's release and during my freshman year of college, I had this email exchange with the film's composer, Joe Renzetti:

Question: Also, did you score any scenes that ultimately did not end up in the final film? For example, I've always thought the movie ended rather too quickly. At the end, Heather O'Rourke's face is not seen after she comes out of the mirror. Why is that?

Renzetti: No. The ending was a re-shoot and sadly Heather had died by that time. The young girl was a "double." Very observant on your part.

Question: So the ending was re-shot because something was wrong with the previous footage, or because the ending was actually changed?
 
Renzetti: The first ending just wasn't convincing, so Gary and the studio decided to redo it.
 
Question: Do you recall anything more about the old ending and why it was re-shot?
 
Renzetti: It was a combination of elements. I don't remember the old ending but it was very "dissatisfying" as most good American endings should not be. The special FX make-up sucked, the characters were supposed to be frozen but they looked as if they just survived an egg processing plant explosion. No, by the time Gary was finished with the movie, if he heard another "Carrol-Ann" he probably would have [gone off the deep end].
 
Intrigued (especially since I thought I knew all there was to know about this movie), I sent Gary Sherman, the director, an email. Here's what he wrote me on January 3, 1999:
 
Dear David,
Happy New Year. You're finally getting an answer. 1998 was more than a little crazy for me and I'm just catching up.
 
Joe's recollection of the "re-shoot" was not exactly right. It wasn't a re-shoot. The unfortunate fact is that Heather passed away before the end of the film was shot. We were waiting for the SFX make-up to be finished when we lost her. The film came very close to not being finished or released. This would have been my choice as well as that of the heads of the studio. The Board of MGM had a different idea. We were told to either finish it without Heather or they would bring someone else in to do it. I replaced the original 17 page finale with the shortened 3 page abrubt ending that you have seen. Personally, I hate the ending. Maybe if we had been allowed to take time to adjust to and accept Heather's death, we might have created an ending that could have been a tribute to a very wonderful little girl. Instead, a grief-sticken crew did what we had to do as quickly as possible.
 
I'm sure you are going to ask if you can see the 17 pages. Sorry, I tossed my only set a long time ago. I felt it was morbid to keep the pages.
 
As far as the final shooting script goes, it will not be posted on the website [at the time Sherman had his own web site]. My only copy was requested by, and donated to, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It is in the permanet collection at the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library. It is hundreds of pages long and as thick as a telephone book. It contains not only the script but complete diagrams of how all the effects were achieved. It is available for viewing, you will have to contact the Academy for details.
 
Thanks for your interest and your patience.
Sincerely....Gary Sherman
 
A bit confused, I accepted this explanation. It had, after all, been a long time since the film was made, so perhaps details would be forgotten. Later, Mr. Sherman gave an interview to the horror website www.arrowinthehead.com:

Question: I discovered you thanks to Poltergeist 3. This has been killing me for years...was the ending re-shot? Cause we never see O'Rourke's face in the last frames. If so, what was the original ending?

Sherman: The ending was not a re-shoot. The original ending was never shot. Heather died a week before we were scheduled to shoot the ending. There was no way we could (or even wanted to, for that matter) shoot the scenes without her. There were some 17 pages left to shoot, most of which was to be the ending, a tear jerking scene in which Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein) offers herself as a sacrifice - that she would go over into the light in exchange for Scott (Kip Wentz), Bruce (Tom Skerritt) and Carol Anne (Heather) and everyone else. As Carol Anne and Tangina passed from one side to the other, they were to say "Good-bye" for the last time. It was to be not only to be the end of POLTERGEIST III, but the end of the Poltergeist Trilogy.
We weren't even going to finish the film at all, after Heather died. I was not interested, neither was Barry Bernardi or the studio heads, Alan Ladd, Jr. and Jay Kanter. None of us were. We got together and decided to shelve the project, at least for the time being. But the MGM board didn't see it that way. They basically said, "Look, either you finish this or we'll get somebody to finish it for you." Since we weren't about to let that happen, I half-heartedly wrote that pathetic ending where Bruce (Tom) and Patricia (Nancy) carry out a photo double, dressed as Carol Anne, at the end. People just weren't available anymore for it. We just didn't care about it. Scott (Kip Wentz) couldn't even show up. He was on the east coast, that's why he's mysteriously missing. But we just didn't care at the end of it all.

The rest of the interview can be read here:

According to the  E! True Hollywood Story "The Curse of Poltergeist," filming on "Poltergeist III" was put on a four month hiatus in October of 1987 "because of a business obligation" of Gary Sherman's. After Heather died, the grieving crew used a body double and the ending was shot in one day. Sherman said the film never became what it was supposed to be as a result of this, and that they ended up with a "completely different film" than what they initially set out to do.

The particulars of the ending get a little confusing, however, when you consider the comments from a few other people involved with the film. For example, actor Kipley Wentz, who played "Scott," had this to say:

compiled from

This is Kipley Wentz writing. I played Scott in the movie. I know Gary said that in an interview a long time ago, but it's not true. I was in Los Angeles when they reshot the ending. I was at school at USC and was a pall bearer at Heather's funeral. Nobody even told me they had reshot the ending until I saw it at the premiere.

So... I don't know what the thinking was on the production's part. They may very well have told Gary that I wasn't available. I have no idea. But for the record, I would have gladly done the reshoots if anyone asked. It's a bit frustrating that almost 20 years later everyone seems to think I was cut from the new ending because I was not available or something.

The "original" ending was shot. The movie was wrapped about seven months before Heather died. After she died, they wanted to reshoot the ending because it obviously featured Heather prominently and it was all very upsetting for everyone. For the record, I was at USC in Los Angeles, not on the East Coast. Nobody even told me that they had reshot the ending until I was sitting there at the premiere. It was a very sad time for everyone involved, and obviously a great source of confusion ever since.

Why Gary would say I wasn't available or we didn't shoot the ending or whatever, I don't understand, but it doesn't really matter. And whether people believe my account of the story or not, well... there's nothing I can do about that. I flew to New York to work with the special effects guys. They took a cast of my head to make the "frozen Scott" that was seen in the original ending. We shot it. The movie wrapped. There was a big "wrap party". We all celebrated finishing the movie.

The following summer, I was at the premiere in Chicago and saw a totally different ending that nobody had told me about. I asked the producer what happened to my character at the end, and he made a bad joke saying, "We're leaving you out there for Poltergeist IV". PLEASE don't read more into that than there is... we were all sad and uncomfortable that evening and he was no doubt just trying to avoid the subject. As I recall, he said that things had been really crazy and they were just trying to deal with it as quickly as possible.

At this point, it's impossible to imagine the mood at that time. Everyone loved Heather, and when she died, releasing the movie or fixing the ending was the last thing anyone wanted to deal with. It's a sad memory for everyone involved, and excepting those who are in some way profiting by keeping this "mystery" alive, I would imagine that nobody is too anxious to talk about it. I understand that with conflicting sources it can be confusing. But 17 years later, it's easy to examine this logically. In the midst of tragedy, however, logic sometimes goes out the window.

Kipley has a great site dedicated to actors at www.actorslife.com The above comments were taken from the "Poltergeist III" message board at www.imdb.com

I've also spoken to one of the assistant editors on the film, Jeanne Bonansinga, who stated:

I was on the editing team of "Poltergeist III." The original ending was shot in Chicago as was the entire film. The ending was later re-shot in LA because the studio didn't like the original ending. Heather was on her way to the set to film the ending when she suffered the obstruction that took her life. [note: Jeanne may be mistaken here; Heather died Feb. 1, 1988. She was about to go to school that morning. There is no mention in any of the press reports at the time that she was about to do any re-shoots] If you watch the ending closely, you never see her face. We used a body double and shot only from the back. We tried to cut in some shots from the original ending to see her face, but very few were usuable. It was quite a challenge to shoot, and edit. Her death dictated the way the ending was written and created. There was a time when we thought the film would be scrapped because we couldn't shoot the ending without the main character! It certainly cast a dark shadow on the film. She was a darling girl. What a shame. We were all just shocked.

I obtained these comments from a man named Mr. Macklin Crux. He claims to have been invited to a "distributor's screening" of the film, possibly in late 1987:

 

I can confirm what Kipley has written. I was invited to a "rough cut screening" of Poltergeist III. I don't remember the dates but there was very little music and some of the FX shots were still being worked on. During some scenes we saw sketches. It was at the world trade center and it was only time I ever went there. We saw the movie. We made jokes for years because we were all doing a lot of Cocaine at the time and we would imitate Tangina - I have the knowledge and the ... powder (power) with references to Kane. Months later our same group was invited to another screening and the death of Heather O'Rourke came up. The film was eventually released on video and it was clear this was a different ending. At the time I didn't give it much thought. But I can verify the movie had finished shooting when O'rourke died. It wasn't that bad of a movie, in fact I enjoyed it but it certainly deserved better from its producers.
This screening was at the World Trade Center (the 9/11 one in New York City).  As I understand it, SFX and editing were being done in Brooklyn (I could be wrong).  This was not a test screening.  This was for Distributors and Industry people only and it was more of a party atmosphere.  I remember hardly being able to watch the film because it wasn't dark, we sat near a window and the view was better than the movie and my (ex) wife got really plastered.  There were about 30+ people and there was lots of food, drinks and an old-fashioned Pop-corn trolley.  I also seem to remember a lot of security.  Were were also invited to rough cuts of Die Hard, Good Morning Vietnam, Gaby, and several others.  Poltergeist III (and Gaby) stand out because of the differences.  We got a free video in the mail, immediately following the opening (we watched it July 4th with friends).  So while the rest of the country was seeing it in theatres, we had somehow got on a list for an advanced copy.  The box was the same, which makes me think, they almost went straight to video but it was a wide screen edition with a disclaimer at the bottom of the entire movie and featurette which presented a marketing strategy for the video release.  I also remember that the video did very well but mostly from corporate and small business sales (for renting, not individual sales).
 
Please forgive me for saying so but the version I had seen featured O'Rourke much more than the final cut and not just the ending.  The released version is a much better cut with less O'Rourke.  Many cruel things were said at the screening about O'Rourke's acting ability.  She may have been a cute kid but was unable to carry a film despite a great support cast.  Knowing what I know now, I believe the cut had nothing to due with O'Rourke's death and everything to due with saving a project that over estimated O'Rourke's ability and her link to the two previous films.  I should also mention at the screening, no one was looking for advice.
 
I remember the family frozen (and it didn't look like an egg fest), the amulet and Kane touching it (and thinking how cheesy).
 
I've worked in Hollywood and NY for a while.  No one orders a re-shoot during production.  Re-shoot means after Principle photography ends.  You have to see the rough cut and try to see what's salvageable.  If it involves script changes (re-writes), it takes time, money, and approval from many different sources. No one ever shelves a project that has finished photography.  Get Real.  I believe it came down to; do we release what we have or should we throw a little more money at it and get the focus off O'Rourke.  I think a lot of these stories were concocted in order to save the reputation of a little girl with very limited acting ability who recently died not to mention their own collective asses.  So I believe, principle photography ended, O'Rourke died while at the same time changes were being discussed and possibly being executed, a new final version was made and released.  I also believe the re-write was written by a third party but that's just my opinion.  Rarely, a re-shoot is written by the originals involved.  Someone brought in by the studio to bring a new outlook to the project.
 
One detail I forgot to mention - there were no credits and the invitation was for "Poltergeist III: The Final Chapter".
It was around Christmas time and probably Dec.  It wasn't snowing yet but that night I remarked that it wasn't far away.  I just finished a musical about Monet (I really can't remember the name) in which I had the lead and finished up with Drood That same year.  I was an Actor but I was investing in a corporation called Media Depot which distributed VHS, CD's & other media to stores in the tri-state area.  We were considered a big outfit back then and were invited to a whole bunch of different events.  Today I write and edit and on rare occasions perform.
Let me tell you about what I remember but I can not tell you from what version I saw it.  It was just too long ago.
I remember:  Carol Anne & Tangina waving goodbye, no dialogue and it was slowed down (slow Motion), they were both crying.  I remember a small monologue which came off pretty good at the time in which Carol Anne tells Kane to stop it, maybe 5 or six lines, they both were on the other side. [note: I've never heard any other evidence of the above scene] I don't remember what was said but someone did remark "Carol Ann's getting pissed" and we all laughed.
 

There is an article published by SFX makeup man Doug Drexler in the September, 1988 issue of "Gorezone" magazine called "Poltergeist III and a half: The Reshoot." The magazine at the time was published every two months, and the articles submitted months in advance by the various writers, so by looking at the dates, I strongly suspect this article was written in early May, 1988. Here's why:

1. The September issue of "Gorezone" was actually on newstands in early July, 1988. The lead time for articles to be submitted to the magazine was three months.

Below is an excerpt from Doug's article:

Hello? Oh, you again! Nice to see you here at the lab. It's been a couple of months since you were here last. I thought we were going to have to drag the canal for your body.

Smell that aroma? Yep, we've been cooking foam latex for the past several days now. Got a call from Dick Smith down in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He's down there working on 'Everybody's All American,' some subtle aging make ups for Dennis Quaid and Timothy Hutton. Apparently, "All American's" going a few days over schedule, and Dick needs some additional appliances.

The lab's empty today, just you and me. Glad you could make it; I've been wanting to clue you in on what's shaking with "Poltergeist III." While you were gone, MGM shot a new climax to its Spielberg instigated spook show carried on by director Gary Sherman, and we were invited. With only 12 days of prep, it was imperative that we move quickly.

I did some research on the database Lexis Nexis, and I found this press release put out by the company that made "Everybody's All American:"

Filming starts Saturday, Nov. 7 [1987], at Tiger Stadium on the
Louisiana State University campus. Besides filming during
the LSU-Alabama game itself, the movie company also will shoot
scenes after the game that involve Quaid, as all-American running
back Gavin Grey, in gridiron action.

I later found out that "All American" ended up shooting for six months in Louisiana (November 1987-May 1988). Therefore, this would logically place the P3 re-shoot in March. Further evidence comes in the form of a calendar Doug found in his files:

The calendar unfortunately didn't have the month or year listed, but it did list the days when Doug first started working on the make-ups for the new ending, which was "Thursday, the 10th." From that information, I pulled up the Microsoft Works Calendar on my Windows desktop, and started going back to 1987-1988 (Yes, it goes back that far!).

I found that the only months that fit that particular pattern (of having a "Thursday" fall on the "10th" of the month) were September 1987, December 1987, or March 1988. Coupling this information with the printing time of "Gorezone," March is the likely month. I found even more supporting evidence for this when I visited Los Angeles on vacation in October of 2005. I visited the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills (the one Gary told me about). I was able to read through his personal copy of the P3 shooting script. The pages for the ending (beginning when Pat stands up in the frozen bedroom) had a date of "REVISED MARCH 14, 1988" stamped on each page. From Doug's work calendar, the first day he was scheduled to be on set was "Tuesday the 15th." In Doug's article, he mentions the filming of several aspects of the new ending in detail, including the rotted bodies of Bruce and Donna that Pat falls onto, Pat cutting off Kane's head with the shovel, and Kane's head rotting on the floor.

As far as the actors on set, he mentions Nancy Allen, Nathan Davis, and the mime double for Nancy Allen, Mary Hogan (she played Pat's reflection who turns evil and grabs her). The last thing mentioned on the last day of filming (at least the last day that Doug was required to be there) was Friday, the 18th, and that was when they filmed Kane's head rotting. In Doug's article, Gary Sherman is quoted as saying "That's a wrap," a seeming confirmation the the film was completed.

After Heather died, MGM did an extensive series of test screenings. Here's a segment from a March 21st, 1988 LA Times article:

–Testing is in: Before setting up an ad campaign-which might or might not feature O'Rourke-the studio plans extensive audience-reaction screenings. The tests might help MGM calculate how viewers take to such touches as a proposed dedication to O'Rourke, whose "They're here" and "They're back" lines helped sell the first two films.

   David Wardlow, Heather's agent and a close associate of her mother, says the film "will be dedicated to Heather. There's no question about that." But Wardlow says the survivors have no veto rights over marketing plans.

   –Meanwhile, safe is better than sorry: Scrambling to regroup after O'Rourke's death, cautious studio exectives trimmed a shot of the actress from their initial trailer. But they left in a voice-over in which she delivers the new kicker: "Guess who's back in town...?"

 Producer Barry Bernardi, Lorie and Wardlow all said they didn't believe the film would need special editing to defuse any horror scenes that might seem tasteless in light of O'Rourke's death.

UPDATE: In working with the staff of "Gorezone" magazine on my article "Poltergeist III: Mystery of the (Re-shot?) Ending," I gave them a list of agency contacts for various stars of P3, including Tom Skerritt, Nancy Allen, Lara Flynn Boyle, Zelda Rubinstein, and Nathan Davis. The idea being that "Gorezone" would try and contact them through their PR reps to get a statement about their recollections on the ending. They did receive a FAX in response from someone (I believe it was Tom Skerritt) with the following statement:

(regarding "Scott" not being in the re-shot ending)

"It was an oversight stemming from the emotional and logistical turmoil over the loss of Heather O'Rourke, in her 'iconic' role as the series' central character;  and the budget had run out at that point, with 'Scott' not being considered essential enough to the movie for the studio to go through the expense and complication of arranging another re-shoot with Kip present. This turned out to be a terrible blow to the young actor's self-esteem, and a classically painful 'Hollywood Experience', resulting in more than a decade of career and emotional 'free-fall' (which, reportedly, he has fully recovered from in recent years)."
 
In regards to Heathers Death:
 
"As explained in the news reports at the time, if only they had seen a specialist when her unusual symptoms first appeared (instead of blindly accepting the typical HMO 'shrug and runaround' style of care they had, even when she was healthy), she would have easily been put back to normal, vibrant health;  and most likely would be alive and well at the present time.  Though life-threatening, a bit of fairly unremarkable surgery would have completely restored her physical condition, if caught in time."
 
One last interesting detail from the re-shot ending, before we get to Doug Drexler's 1988 "Gorezone" article:
 
If you have the DVD of P3, watch the scene right after Pat cuts off Kane's head with the shovel. Be sure to watch it in slow motion. If you do, you'll notice an odd edit. During Pat's horrified reaction shot to Kane's melting head, you'll see a frame skip-Pat's head appears to jerk back quickly, as if a few frames of her movement were left out. Then, there is a wipe of white light that lasts for 2 frames (as if to "cover" a jump cut). For a while I wondered if something was "missing" here. However, I now think it was just an effort to help fix a continuity error. In the shooting script I read, right after Pat looks up to see Kane walking toward her again, she looks down at the floor where the melted head was, and sees that the head is now gone. Then, she looks up again. Those quick shots were likely excised from the final film, which would explain the jump cut.

Here's Doug's article: