Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Poltergeist III’

Written by Scott Edwards

Needing time to rebuild is something that many families have to go through, especially after a traumatic event.  As the stress of life gets to you and you are still being piled onto with what has just happened, if there is any way to get a break, you might need to look to take it. Family is always the best avenue to take when doing this, if they can offer an extra room, take care of a child for a couple days, or just be there for support, it can turn out to be a life saver. But it is important not to pressure them into doing something that they are not comfortable with, because they will always cave in when they know you need them, but maybe they are not ready for what follows along with it.
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After losing Diane’s mother and the other craziness that happened with Preacher Kane, Steve and Diane were able to convince Diane's sister to take Carol Anne for a little while. Being in a completely different environment in Chicago, the young girl should be able to get back to having a normal life and with Aunt Trish there for her, she should be in a happy, loving environment. But Patricia is not so happy about what she has been forced into doing and being just a year into her first marriage with Bruce and his daughter Donna, she wants to focus on making her apartment a home for them first and Carol Anne only adds stress to the situation.

When Carol Anne needs help, she loves to call on Aunt Trish, but Bruce is the only one in the apartment that is willing to go the extra mile in making sure she is doing alright. Being the man in charge of the building, Bruce has all the keys to everything, along with all of the headaches to go along with it. As strange reports start coming in about cracked mirrors and a non-functional heating and cooling system, he has his hands full and needs to rely on his daughter Donna to help pick up the slack when it comes to keeping an eye on her little cousin. But Donna has other things on her mind as she is a teenager and has a boy, Scott, that has eyes for her and with hormones racing from both kids, they are looking for a way to be together and not have their parents find out.

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Carol Anne is comfortable in the apartment, but something has changed for her as of late. Starting to see Kane in her reflections, she has a fear that the old preacher is back for her once again. Things at school are not good for the young girl as well, since word came out about her haunted past and the kids love to pick on her about seeing ghosts all of the time. Doctor Seaton has worked with the young girl for many weeks now and believes that she has a massive power of suggestion and when he sees a coffee mug being thrown into a mirror, he believes that it is a hallucination. Diving deeper and deeper into Carol Anne’s psyche, Seaton is afraid of what he will find, but what is worse, Kane has indeed found his way back to young Carol Anne and needs the girl to take him to the light.
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As stranger things start happening around the building, Carol Anne knows that Kane is gaining strength as he keeps showing up in all of the mirrors. When Kane is able to attack, the young girl is forced to hide in the building's stairwell until he retreats once again, but he will stop at nothing to get her back. Trying to find a place to hide from the vengeful spirit, Carol Anne is able to find her way to the parking garage, but when a puddle of water opens up into a portal to the next realm, Donna and Scott are pulled in as well. Knowing that help is needed, Tangina comes to the building and finds out what happened and with Bruce and Patricia at her side, she should be able to help defeat the beast once again, but takes note that Patricia is not too fond of her niece and the only way to beat Kane is with love as nothing else in this realm really matters. 

As the final chapter of the original series comes to an end, I guess it was alright. To be honest, the only reason I started this series was to get to this movie which I have not seen until now. With all of the problems and plot holes, the scares deliver for anyone that has a fear of mirrors, that is for sure. Seeing things in a reflection that are not there next to you, that can be chilling in its own right. I could not stand Patricia in this movie at all, all she wanted to do was to get rid of her niece the entire time and I would have thought that being put in a situation like this that she would have some sort of respect for family. The other characters were great, and I really wish there would have been a quick look at Robbie in it since during the last movie he was trying to become a man. I enjoyed the use of cold in the movie, you could tell where Kane was by the temperature and the abundance of ice, and it made that part of the story easy to follow. The entire series is focused on a family’s love for one another and that was never left out of any of the movies. Not a bad series overall, I just wish we could really have the death of Kane right now, since it seems like he has embraced his place of being the beast and wanting young Carol Anne for more than just crossing over to the other side. Stay Scared.

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