*Get "Poltergeist" on Amazon here*
*Get Poltergeist by James Kahn on Amazon here*
I first saw this over forty years ago (!) and it still holds up. "Poltergeist" is one of my favorite horror movies, capturing a pinnacle moment in my life.
Steve (Craig T. Nelson) and Diane (JoBeth Williams) Freeling are a typical suburban couple with a nice house. They have three children- teen Dana (Dominique Dunne), and younger Robbie (Oliver Robins) and Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke). Steve sells homes in the very neighborhood in which they live for a company run by Teague (James Karen). Everything is going swimmingly until odd things start happening around their seemingly perfect home. Harmless parlor tricks and weird anamolies soon give way to a missing child, and eventually a showdown with an evil presence centered in the home.
Having turned fourteen in 1982, Spielberg and his crew got everything right about growing up in suburbia. From irritating neighbors, to a house that can never seem to be picked up, the film makers nailed what it was like to grow up then. The film is not woke at all (there's, gasp, a book about Ronald Reagan shown, but with no accompanying lecture or brow-beating about one of our most popular modern presidents), as the screenwriters dive into the story right away without setting up a specific time or place, perhaps knowing that most of the audience for this film are already living this life and don't need to be "shown" how things are in the Freelings' world.
There have been rumors that producer/co-writer Steven Spielberg directed much of the film thanks to director Tobe Hooper's substance abuse, according to some cast and crew. Spielberg was also shooting "E.T.- The Extra-Terrestrial" at the same time (1982 was a very good year for him, as "E.T." beat out "Poltergeist" in its three Academy Award nominations). Until I know for certain otherwise, and acknowledging that a lot of these shots are Spielbergian, I would have to say that Hooper does a nice job. Both men had backgrounds in horror, so whoever was responsible provided plenty of terror. Today's horror films over-rely on jump scares, but here they are a natural part of the proceedings. Jerry Goldsmith's score does sound like John Williams, and is effective. The 1980's special effects are iffy, but carry a certain nostalgia in the days before computer animation. The pacing never bores, Nelson and Williams are completely believable as the loving but frazzled couple, and crisp cinematography and editing insure this film will stay with you for a while, especially if you are a member of Generation X growing up in the era.
This was released in the days before the MPAA rating (PG13) was invented (thanks to two other Spielberg-involved films, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and "Gremlins") so this would be considered a "hard" (PG). The horrific elements are still there, including the now famous scene involving Marty's (Martin Casella) face in the mirror. This was followed by two lesser sequels and an ill-conceived remake no one wanted, but will always be considered a high watermark in horror film making. Ignore all the "curse" talk surrounding the film, sometimes tragic coincidences happen and shouldn't lessen what this is. I sometimes wish Spielberg would return to the genre more often, he was good at it.
-MPAA Rated (PG), contains physical violence, gore, some profanity, adult situations, drug abuse, alcohol use
