Let Carol Anne Rest in Peace

I am going to make it a personal quest to rid the TV world of the Direct TV advertisement that parodies the movie "Poltergeist". You know the one, where little Carol Anne is in front of the TV, says "they're here!" and then Craig T. Nelson goes into his pitch for Direct TV. This ad should be banned and the creative talent bound, gagged, stripped, tar and feathered and possibly hung.

It is not because of this now acceptable practice of refashioning popular movies and personalities to shlock crap on TV. It was bad enough having Fred Astaire dance with a vacuum cleaner, but I could live with that (just barely). No, the reason I hate this one is the use of Heather O'Rourke, better known for her movie role as the little blond girl, Carol Anne Freeling.

Heather O'Rourke began acting at a young age, getting discovered for her first role at age 6. After appearing in TV, she was cast as the youngest daughter in the first "Poltergeist" movie, which made her an instant hit. She went on to star in "Poltergeist II" and was filming "Poltergeist III" when she developed what doctor's thought was flu like symptoms. According to her Bio on IMDB, On Feb 1, 1988, she fainted on the floor. When the paramedics arrived, she insisted she was okay, and tried to convince everyone she was okay for school. On the way to the hospital she suffered cardiac arrest; she died later that day at the age of 12.

When stars get older, and their prospects start drying up, they can be excused for cashing in on their popularity (like Craig T. Nelson - when was the last time he did anything that wasn't a voice over?). But not Heather O'Rourke. I find it tough to watch the movies now, knowing what happened to her (and the older sister from the first movie, Dominique Dunne. Remember her? She wasn't in the second movie. Murdered by her boyfriend).

In the movie, "Crimes and Misdemeanors", Alan Arkin plays a scum-bag producer whose main saying is that comedy is "Pain + Time". "You couldn't make fun of Oedipus right away.... it took centuries for it to become funny." As unscrupulous as his character in that movie was, he has a point. It will be a long time before I think resurrecting Carol Anne will ever be considered funny.