Poltergeist

Revealing mistake: Diane runs back from the neighbor's house and falls into the pool. You can see where she is going to fall and she runs right to that spot. It looks like they did multiple takes.

manthabeat

Visible crew/equipment: After Robbie's glass breaks, Dana leaves through the left side while Diane says she'll clean up. Watch the painting behind her and you'll see the moving shadow of a crew member in front of her.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Diane sees the creature in front of the door and yells "No - don't hurt my babies!" she crosses in front of it and falls down the stairs. When she's in front of it you can easily see the creature's eyes and mouth through her, on her shirt.

Continuity mistake: Just after the dad pulls the boy out of the tree, they all go looking for the little girl. Watch the amount of mud on the boy. By the time he wanders in front of the TV, the mud on him increases. For that matter, the mom wanders in with more mud on her too.

Dameon

Continuity mistake: A few seconds before Robbie looks at his clown toy, you can see a Rubik's cube near his head. When the camera angle changes, the cube is gone.

Continuity mistake: When the dog jumps in the back of the cab, he gets in the right side and Robbie is nowhere to be seen. It cuts away very briefly, and when it cuts back suddenly Robbie is very much on the right side of the seat and the dog is on the left- not enough time for them to have moved and settled in.

Krista

Continuity mistake: When Robbie wakes up to cover the clown, his grip on the jacket and the position of his head (crouched neck against breast vs raised neck) changes between one frame and the other.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: After Carol goes through her mom's body, a huge wind sweeps away the living room. The lamp next to the TV falls down, but a second later it's facing upwards again.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The reddish brown goo on Robbie's face after he's almost eaten by the tree varies between camera shots.

jerimiah

Continuity mistake: After Carol Ann's been abducted, her family walks upstairs and places one mattress on top of another. A few seconds later they are arranged in a different way.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Diane and Carol Anne are lying in the bathtub towards the end, Carol Anne's hair and hand position change drastically between the wide shot and the closeup.

Krista

Continuity mistake: Right after JoBeth Williams and Craig T Nelson joke with Dr. Lesh about not showing the tapes of their haunting on "60 Minutes" or "That's Incredible", JoBeth walks to the table with Dr. Lesh's flask in her hand. As she walks from the sink, there's a silver cap on it. When she gets to the table, the cap is gone. She couldn't have removed it out of sight, she had a coffee cup in her other hand.

Ingabritzen

Continuity mistake: When Diane and Carol are in the tub, the amount of red slime on Diane's forehead, and foam on Steven's hand increases or decreases between shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: The first night the ghosts come out of the TV, before Carol Ann wakes up, there's a pillow on the background laying on the floor by a basket. When she walks towards the TV the pillow is standing upright by the basket.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: Diane places the liquor flask upside down on the table, but a frame later it has turned 180ยบ.

Sacha

Revealing mistake: When Diane is pulled back from the front door near the end of the movie, they use a stunt double, as you can see the stunt person scramble off to the right after the real Diane lands behind the stairs.

jerimiah

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: You're close. They did use a stunt double but you don't see the double "scrambling off." The stunt double is barefoot and the person you see clearing the shot is wearing shoes. Most likely a stage hand helping the stunt double with the landing.

Visible crew/equipment: When E. Buzz is heading for Dana's door, someone wearing blue jeans and a red shirt can be seen briefly in the doorway. (00:02:02)

Continuity mistake: Returning from the pool, Diane enters the kids' bedroom and starts to fly, covering the door with mud. A second later the door is clean, only to dirty itself in the following shots.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Robbie leaves in a taxi, in the close-up Steve is massaging Diane, in the wide angle he is just standing behind. This keeps swapping back and forth.

Sacha

Carol Anne Freeling: They're here.

More quotes from Poltergeist

Trivia: In the swimming pool scene with the mother near the end, the actress didn't know it, but those weren't fake skeletons.

More trivia for Poltergeist

Question: What exactly is the red slime on the body of Carol Anne and her mother after they are rescued from the another dimension?

Answer: Ectoplasm.

Phixius

More questions & answers from Poltergeist

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.