10 Movie Goodbyes That'll Break You (When You Know The Truth)
8. Carol Anne Is Saved - Poltergeist 3
Poltergeist III ends with the series' young protagonist, Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O'Rourke), being saved and reunited with her aunt Pat (Nancy Allen).
It's supposed to be a triumphant moment, and yet, for anyone unaware, the production of Poltergeist 3 was beset by one of the worst things imaginable.
Several months after principal photography wrapped, 12-year-old Heather O'Rourke passed away from a congenital bowel defect.
This devastated the cast and crew, and also created major production complications as the film's ending needed to be reshot, with O'Rourke's Carol Anne expected to be a major presence in the sequence.
As a result, the climax ended up using a body double for O'Rourke, and so when Carol Anne is reunited with Pat in the new climax, Carol Anne's face is kept out of view, because of course, we're not looking at the original actress.
Knowing this, and that the cast and crew had to complete this sequence while freshly grieving their young co-star, makes it an especially wrenching conclusion to Carol Anne's arc and the original Poltergeist trilogy.