Villainess Review: Tracy & Anne Lasker (Poltergeist: The Legacy)

Who remembers Poltergeist: The Legacy? I remember watching a handful of episodes of this series, which has very little connection to the film series. It's basically your typical underrated horror anthology series, which lasted for four seasons and aired on Showtime for three of them until being moved to the SciFi Channel for the final year. I remember quite a few things from this series. For one, The Undertaker (yes, you read that right) appeared in an episode of the show. Secondly, I also recall some interesting episodes involving cursed objects, a two-parter involving vampires, and an episode featuring a succubus. Which brings me to a third thing I remember so well: the episode titled, "Rough Beast."

The episode began with a young woman named Tracy Lasker in the office of Dr. Rachel Corrigan, as she had been having continuous nightmares involving a large wolf-like creature going after her and her mother. As Rachel helped Tracy with her nightmares, the episode sees an actual creature going on a spree, having killed one victim already. Meanwhile, Tracy is being scolded by her mother, Anne Lasker, as she had been admonishing Tracy regarding her sessions with Rachel.

As for the attacks, Derek states that the creature involved is known as a lupan, correcting Nick's statement that it's a werewolf. Nick was close, though; the lupan is wolf-like and is werewolf-adjacent, and while it can change from human to creature like a werewolf, the lupan has no connection to the full moon's cycle. As for Rachel, she ended up confronted by Anne and warned to stay away from Tracy, and later on, we see the lupan take a second victim. Regarding the investigation, it revealed that similar killings occurred somewhere in Maine, and a name was connected: James Hardin. James suddenly disappeared, but we do get an archive photo of his wife, and it's someone very familiar to Rachel: Anne Lasker.

Rachel visited Mrs. Lasker (aka Mrs. Hardin), and the visit sees Anne reveal the truth. So Anne had no idea what was really going on with James, only that he would be out at strange hours of the night. She revealed that one night, James gave Anne a gun, adding that she would know what to do with the weapon, and late one night, the lupan came after both Anne and a very young Tracy, after which Anne shot and killed the creature. To Anne's shock, she saw the creature was none other than James. These were the images that served as Tracy's nightmares, with Tracy only knowing them as nightmares due to Anne covering up the truth. In addition, Anne claimed to have seen James blink his eyes after being shot, which led the group to suspect that James was still alive and was going after his ex-wife and daughter for revenge, as well as to fulfill a murderous cycle.

The lupan appearing outside the Lasker house appeared to prove the group's suspicions correct, and this was happening as Rachel as heading to the home herself. We later see the lupan actually climb into the bedroom window, and begin the process of shifting back into human form. After another shot of Rachel heading to the house, we later see the lupan's human form revealed, and it's none other than Tracy Lasker herself! So Tracy was the villainous beast, and regarding Rachel, she appeared at the house under Anne's panicked request, as Tracy had disappeared, only for both women to find Tracy asleep in her bedroom.

Meanwhile, Derek, Alex, and Nick were outside the house waiting for the lupan to appear, while Rachel was in Tracy's bedroom protecting her patient. It was at that moment that Tracy began transforming again, growing claws and growing as her fangs started to appear. At that moment, Tracy emerged in her lupan form, with Rachel being shocked at her patient's transformation and pleading with Tracy not to harm her. Alex enters with a gun in hand, only to be stopped by Anne, after which Tracy escaped and lunged after Nick. The attack was short-lived, as Tracy ended up shot and killed by both Nick and Derek, with the rest of the group shocked to see that the beast was Tracy. In addition, Anne had known, telling Rachel that Tracy couldn't be saved, and as Anne cradled her daughter's body, the group left Anne to mourn, as well as reveal one final surprise in the episode: Anne was a lupan herself, as she flashed yellow eyes and gave a low growl as she looked up into the sky.

And now, the villainesses.

Tracy Lasker

"Rough Beast" is the ninth episode of Poltergeist: The Legacy's second season, and aired on April 25, 1997. The episode featured Laura Harris as the evil Tracy Lasker, and this was an amazing performance by Harris. When we first see Tracy, we see her a young woman desperately seeking ease and answers regarding her nightmares, and it's mainly due the fact that she had been kept in the dark for a decade by her own mother. One thing I remember well about Tracy was her immense vulnerability and her comfort with Rachel, and Harris played all of those facets wonderfully.

Of course, I also remember this:

Tracy's heel turn and "surprise" reveal as the lupan was an absolutely beautiful twist, though I saw this coming. The first time I saw this episode was on SciFi as a rerun, and I was elated to see a werewolf(-adjacent) episode of this series. I had a feeling that Tracy would be revealed as the lupan, and the episode did not disappoint me with that "Wham Shot" of a vicious-looking and evil Tracy in the final steps of her reverted transformation. The episode indicates that some lupans have no idea or memory of their transformations and actions in their form, but Tracy had to have known. We saw the villainess literally climb into her bedroom window and lie down in her bed before reverting to her human form. Trust me: she knew.

Tracy Lasker was quite the vicious villainess, and Laura Harris played her very well. Harris is, perhaps, best known for playing evil alien Marybeth Louise Hutchinson in the cult classic film, The Faculty, and she also played on the short-lived series, Women's Murder Club.

Check out Tracy Lasker's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!

Anne Lasker

The episode's gave us a literal last second twist involving a second villainess: Anne Lasker, played by Chilton Crane. When we see Anne, she is in overprotective mode, to the point where it's become a bit on the toxic side. The backstory reveal to Rachel provided some semblance of humanity from Anne, and she appeared to be unknowing when it came to Tracy being a lupan...until she stopped Alex from killing Tracy. Crane's performance was a good one during those moments, as she acted out every facet of Anne's range of emotions very well.

And of course, there was that final twist:

And lo and behold, Anne turned heel at the final second of the proverbial game clock, as her ominous yellow eyes revealed that she was also a lupan. While I expected Tracy to be an evil creature, Anne's twist surprised me when I first saw this episode years ago, but it shouldn't have. In most episodes and films, behind every villainess is an equally evil mother who will do anything to cover for her. Anne's heel turn revealed her as a villainess who had been covering up her daughter's murderous actions, and was also manipulating Tracy into believing that the real-life memories were all in her head. As I mentioned earlier, Crane acted out Anne's worry, concern, and overprotective conduct very well, but that last moment was also amazing acting from Crane, as she truly soaked in Anne's villainous turn in that final moment.

This isn't Chilton Crane's only villainous role. One of her three appearances on Supernatural saw Crane as possessed villainess Mary Lew, appearing in Season Eight's "Southern Comfort." Crane's other TV appearances include Once Upon a Time, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, and Smallville, and she's also appeared in several Hallmark films.

Check out Anne Lasker's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!

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