Documentaries are always a tricky thing to tackle in terms of direction and content. Trying to inform, educate, and entertain, while balancing the story from different points of view, is no easy task. In She Was Here: The Heather O’Rourke Story, you have the added problem of dealing with the very sensitive topic of a child’s death. The creatives behind this documentary accomplished just that, giving us a heartbreaking story, less about sensationalism and more about celebrating Heather O’Rourke’s life.
Throughout most of the first hour, we go on a trip down memory lane. There are many moments in her young life when O’Rourke’s future was clear, especially since her immediate family was part of the entertainment world. Her mother, Kathleen O’Rourke, and sister, Tammy, were both major influences on her, who watched the world in awe and wonder.
While dancing was how it started, it was a chance meeting with a young Steven Spielberg, who noticed O’Rourke while she and her mother had lunch at MGM, that played a key role. That encounter led to the audition that earned her the role in Poltergeist. When her character said those now-famous words, “They’re here,” she was forever immortalized, along with her big, questioning eyes and blond hair.
Director Nick Bailey carefully guides viewers through these pivotal years in Heather O’Rourke’s life, interspersing the film with interviews from family, friends, actors, and entertainment industry insiders. Actors Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams, who played the parents in Poltergeist, praised her professionalism and talent despite her young age.
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Zach Galligan, best known for his role in Gremlins, shared similar observations, especially highlighting her ability to memorize and deliver her lines. There is a real sense of awe and wonder from these veteran actors, a genuine honesty about how much they enjoyed their time with O’Rourke and how impressed they were with her as a person, let alone her talents as an up-and-coming actor.
Although the third film in the Poltergeist franchise wasn’t well received, O’Rourke was definitely at the forefront, still approaching it with professionalism, even at her age. However, she used the film as a learning experience rather than complaining. Poltergeist 3 director Gary Sherman talked about her fascination with directing, even asking to be on set on her days off to observe, as that was a goal of hers for the future.
She seemed to have it all — loved by her family and with a promising career ahead — only for it all to come to an abrupt end when she passed away at 12 years old. Dying so young is already difficult to understand, but when it was revealed that a misdiagnosis — something that could have been easily corrected — led to her death, it becomes even more tragic, frustrating, and beyond comprehension.
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Heather O’Rourke was not a complainer, and many people have said so, but it was simply something that should not have happened. The film does a good job of capturing how her family, friends, and coworkers tried to process the grief, from sadness to shock, the years of legal battles surrounding O’Rourke’s death, and a mother who will forever wonder if she could have done more.
The film is constructed in a way that makes you feel like you’re taking a private tour of O’Rourke‘s life, discovering who she was, her kindness, and her remarkable drive and determination despite her young age. However, because of this storytelling approach, we also find ourselves as viewers grieving, full of questions, and angry about why things happened the way they did.
Heather O’Rourke may have left us at a very young age, but She Was Here: The Heather O’Rourke Story is a wonderful film celebrating her life, accomplishments, and the impact she had on so many. It reminds us once again that life is far too short.
