Poltergeist
"I love you, TV"
When we think of haunted house movies,
we inevitably picture an old, gothic mansion harkening back to the
Vincent Price days. There's usually an evil spirit involved making
all sorts of scary sounds, but staying hidden for most if not all of
the movie. They're all fairly standard affairs with just a few
differences thrown in. Even most modern-day haunted house movies
still revolve around the same basic haunting tenets. The ones that
don't tend to veer off into the exorcism genre. The select few that
take place in modern times, but blaze their own trail are far more
interesting and entertaining, but also riskier. When you have Steven
Spielberg writing and producing with Tobe Hooper directing, you're
off to a good start.
Poltergeist is a 1982 horror movie
starring Craig T. Nelson (Coach, The Incredibles) as Steven Freeling
and JoBeth Williams (Baby M., Dutch) as his wife Diane. The Freelings
live in the nice planned community of Cuesta Verde in California with
their children Dana, Robbie, and Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke).
Steven is a successful realtor, selling houses in the community while
Diane has her hands full with three very active children. One night,
while everyone is asleep, Carol Anne wakes up and begins talking to
the television which is only transmitting static. The same happens
the next night and an apparition leaps from the television and
vanishes through the wall behind her. Knowingly, Carol Anne states,
“They're here.” Throughout the next day, strange paranormal
events occur, such as a glass breaking and chairs in the kitchen
inexplicably moving. That night, during an intense storm, an old tree
comes to life and grabs Robbie through window. As Steven frees him, a
portal opens in a closet and pulls in Carol Anne. With her physically
missing, the family is able to hear her through their television
calling for help. Steven reaches out to a group of parapsychologists
at the local college who investigate the paranormal activity in hopes
of finding Carol Anne. They discover that is not one ghost, but many
ghosts in the house. Steven meets with his boss Lewis Teague (James
Karen, The Return Of The Living Dead, Congo) who reveals that they
are planning to build new houses on top of a cemetery. Teague
reassures Steven that they will move the bodies down the road before
construction. Dana and Robbie are sent away for their safety and
Tangina Barrons (Zelda Rubinstein, Picket Fences, Teen Witch) a
spiritual medium, is brought in to help rescue Carol Ann. She
explains that the spirits in the house are not at rest and are
attracted to Carol Anne because of her life force. This attraction is
keeping the spirits from crossing over while a demon referred to as
the “Beast” is keeping Carol Anne in order to manipulate the
spirits. Will The Feelings be able to get their daughter back and
what horrible secret does the house hide?
Are we sure she's not from the Village Of The Damned?
Poltergeist is certainly different from
most other haunted house movies up to it's release. Gone is the musty
and dark mansion with the eccentric owner. Instead we have a healthy
and happy family living in a house that oozes 1980's in a cozy
suburb. The inclusion of a cute and precocious little girl as the
victim makes the horror much more real than, say, an older socialite
trying to win money by staying at a haunted house. We see the family
in their everyday lives, much like our own, and truly feel along with
them when their daughter disappears. Director Tobe Hooper (The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre, Salem's Lot) is no stranger to scares. The same
could be said for Steven Spielberg, though the horror in Jaws and
Duel are much more cerebral. Poltergeist gives us a few different
things to scare us. The most memorable scene involves a creepy
looking clown that comes to life and starts to choke Robbie while his
mother is being dragged across the ceiling. I didn't quite understand
the scene where the tree comes to life and grabs Robbie. No one else
seemed to be concerned that a plant was suddenly moving around and
stealing children. It really bothered me that it was never addressed
or came up again. Some of the special effects are good for the time
while others are embarrassingly cheesy by today's standards.
Apparently, they used actual skeletons in the movie rather than
plastic ones because it was cheaper. That raises so many questions
that I don't even want to know the answers. The movie has
occasionally great atmosphere, but it doesn't sustain throughout the
entire film. This becomes evident towards the end when it appears to
be a happy ending only for the movie to continue an extra 20 minutes
with the best scares of the entire movie. They would have been better
off switching things around instead of hurting the movie's horror
momentum.
"Crap Yourself the Clown"
Despite having two young children in
the film, Poltergeist manages to mostly avoid the “annoying child”
trope that plagues so many horror movies. JoBeth Williams is great as
the loving mother and Craig T. Nelson is solid as the distraught
father. One small thing in the movie that I found funny was when he
was reading a book in bed about Ronald Reagan. Craig T. Nelson is a
staunch conservative and generally made an ass out of himself when on
Glenn Beck's show, talking about no one helping him while he received food stamps. Zelda Rubinstein is also very good, exuding a loving confidence
that one may not expect in a haunting movie, but will appreciate.
Tobe Hooper gets some very good shots throughout the film and
Spielberg's hands-on approach is evident.
Shout! Shout! Shout at the Devil!
Poltergeist took the haunted house
genre from the drab far-off mansions and stuck them right into
suburban America. It was risky move, but for the most part, it paid
off. We still see references to Poltergeist in pop culture today.
Whether it's in South Park, the Scary Movie franchise, or The
Simpsons, iconic lines and scenes always manage to spring up. It's even the subject of The Misfit's song "The Shining". The
story in Poltergeist is decent, if a bit predictable. There are
elements of tradition haunted house movies as well as some fresh
takes. There are some good scares, but the movie's momentum is
frequently cut off. What should have been a pulse-pounding thrill
ride was instead a disjointed and occasionally jumping ghost movie.
The movie has a lot of special effects, some very good and some
laughably bad. The acting is good throughout and the direction is
fairly solid. Some like to shower praise on Poltergeist, but I feel
there were some things that could have and should have been better.
Overall, it's a decent horror movie with some fun scares and good
acting.
7/10
I loved that they brought a real haunting to suburban America. I think it brought back the haunted houses horror genre in someways.
ReplyDeleteYou're a winner for a horrific Christmas treat! I'll need you to email me your address, please! RealQueenofHorror@gmail.com!
It took the hauntings out of the dusty mansions and put them in the pre-fab suburbs. Progress!
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