History Film / Poltergeist1982

* AllJustADream: One of the parapsychologists begins tearing his face off, only for reality to snap back, and everything's fine. He's the only one of the parapsychologists who does not return.

* RoaringRampageofRevenge: The climax of the movie fittingly titled, ''Night of the Beast''. [[spoiler:Angered by the innocent ghostly souls (and Carol Anne) being freed from its clutches, the Beast makes a final effort to terrorize, harm, and ensnare the Freeling family. It results in their home imploding and being sucked into the ghost dimension]].

** A hiccup occurs during the rescue of Carol Anne--[[spoiler:Steven pulls the rope to the Other Side too early out of fear and ends up briefly pulling out the Beast]] before Diane and Carol Anne are saved. This indicates that one of the objectives-- [[spoiler:getting all of the spirits to pass on]], has failed even though Carol Anne was saved, and indeed, [[spoiler:the Beast, the one remaining spirit, returns to exert its influence shortly after, leading to the destruction of the house and the near loss of Carol Anne for good.]]

* CollapsingLair: The ghosts fail to take any of the family back to the other side, so they settle for taking the house instead. The entire house collapses and disappears into the Other Dimension, folding in on itself as it gets sucked into the portal. [[note]]Steven later notes in the sequel that he has a very hard time explaining ''that'' to the insurance company.[[/note]]

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:'''The Beast'''. The one ''truly'' responsible for the supernatural terrors. Whatever it is, calling it a ghost is ''extremely'' reductive. It can [[RealityWarper warp space and matter as it pleases - including, but not limited to: tearing open portals between the human realm and the ghost realm; and give life to inanimate objects]]. It also has the power to induce horrifying hallucinations on human victims and hold numerous innocent souls captive]].

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:'''The Beast'''. The one ''truly'' responsible for the supernatural terrors. Whatever it is, calling it a ghost is ''extremely'' reductive. It can [[RealityWarper warp space and matter as it pleases - including, but not limited to: tearing open portals between the human realm and the ghost realm; and give life to inanimate objects. It also has the power to induce horrifying hallucinations on human victims and hold numerous innocent souls captive]].

* RoaringRampageofRevenge: The climax of the movie. [[spoiler:Angered by the innocent ghostly souls being freed from its clutches, the Beast makes a final effort to terrorize, harm, and ensnare the Freeling family. It results in their home imploding and being sucked into the ghost dimension]].

*** A second Tweety-related foreshadowing is when contractors excavating the back yard for the Freeling's new pool dig up the box in which Tweety was interred.

* WholePlotReference: To "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E91LittleGirlLost Little Girl Lost]]", an episode of ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}''.

* EvilDetectingDog: In an early scene, the Freelings' dog freaks out and starts barking at the ceiling, but Diane doesn't see anything when she looks. At this point neither has the audience, so this counts as a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] example.

* EverybodyLives: [[spoiler:Despite being a horror/thriller film, there are no murders or fatalities depicted in the film (well, except for Tweetie).]]

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Carol Anne has long golden hair and she is very kind and innocent with a pure heart (she's actually specifically targeted by the evil spirits because of her pureness).

* MonsterClown: A clown doll turns evil and attacks Robbie, [[spoiler:but this is just the ghosts' distraction in order to kidnap Carol Anne.]]

!!!If you are looking for a trope about mischievous ghost vandals, see {{Poltergeist}}.

!!!If you are looking for a trope about mischievous ghost vandals, see {{Poltergeist}}.

''Poltergeist'' (1982) is a horror movie directed by Creator/TobeHooper and co-written and produced by Creator/StevenSpielberg, chronicling the terrifying paranormal events that surround the Freelings, an ordinary suburban family, whose home is invaded by spirits that show a special interest in their five-year-old daughter, Carol Anne.

This film was ranked as #80 on Bravo's ''100 Scariest Movie Moments'' and the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 20th scariest film ever made.

''If you are looking for a trope about mischievous ghost vandals, you can see it under {{Poltergeist}}''

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The skeletons used in the film are real human skeletons. At the time of filming, it was a lot more affordable to use real ones than to fabricate them by hand. Science classes across the US also used actual human skeletons for the same reason. As costs of fabrication have drastically reduced in the decades since, modern audiences may find the use of real skeletons to be unwholesome or even taboo.

* SnowyScreenOfDeath: The spirits first communicate with Carol Anne through an untuned television set.

** A hiccup occurs during the rescue of Carol Anne--[[spoiler:Steven pulls the rope to the Other Side too early out of fear and ends up briefly pulling out the Beast]] before Diane and Carol Anne are saved. This indicates that one of the objectives-- [[spoiler:getting all of the spirits to pass on]], has failed even though Carol Anne was saved, and indeed, [[spoiler:the Beast, the one remaining spirit, returns to exert its influence shortly after, leading to the destruction of the house and the near loss of Carol Anne for good.])

* NothingIsScarier: The "other side" of the portals is never shown and we can only understand the experience of the dimension/plane from the visual of bright light and sounds that make it out. This makes Carol Anne's danger trapped there more frightening, [[spoiler:the rescue more tense,]] and making her feel more tragically, anxiously detached to amplify the horror of a child going missing in peril.