The entrance to the other dimension is through the children's bedroom closet, while the exit is through the living room ceiling.

Diane passes into the other dimension tied to a rope that has been threaded through both portals. She manages to retrieve Carol Anne, and they both drop to the floor from the ceiling, unconscious and covered in ectoplasmic residue.

Diane has white curls of hair at her temples from the harrowing ordeal.

At one point, Robbie sees the clown staring at him and covers the doll with his jacket. Later, when he is about to go to bed, he notices the clown is gone. He looks under one side of the bed, finding nothing. He checks the other side of the bed. Still nothing. But when he gets up, the clown doll is behind him and drags him under the bed.

Skeletons emerge from the wet ground as Diane tries to climb out of the unfinished pool, but she manages to escape and rescue the children.

After leaving their home for good, the Freelings spend the night at a Holiday Inn. Steve shuts the door to their room--after a moment, he opens it and shoves the room's TV out onto the balcony for the night.

The dog's name "E. Buzz" is from a skit on the original Saturday Night Live with Dan Akyroyd (who had worked with Speilberg on 1941) playing an art critic named "E. Buzz Miller."

The film received three Oscar nominations: Best Original Score, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects, but lost all three categories to Spielberg's other film, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

The film's success helped spawn a franchise consisting of two sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and Poltergeist III (1988), and a remake of the same name in 2015.

In Poltergeist II: The Other Side, it is revealed that the Freelings have relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, and now live in a house with Diane's mother, "Grandma Jess."