POLTERGEIST

Poltergeist Movie Review

Bizarre things begin to take place in the house of The Freeling family after their youngest daughter Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) starts to see visions in the television. After Carol Anne vanishes in the house the family contacts paranormal investigators to attempt to get her back. This 1982 Steven Spielberg film is considered a horror classic, and for good reason. The story is a creepy one. The special effects were groundbreaking for the time--with this in mind, recognize that some may seem a bit silly now, but many of the things in this film still hold up well to this day. While it may take a while to get there, some of the scenes in this film are fairly scary. The scene that shows the investigator tearing his face off is gruesome--one wonders how they got away with a PG rating (I'm guessing Spielberg being Spielberg had at least a little to do with this). The acting is largely impressive--Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams both do good jobs as the parents, and Original Creepy Kid O'Rourke delivers one of the most notable child performances in the history of horror films. And, naturally, Zelda Rubinstein brings the awesome as Tangina.

Poltergeists...run.

Of course not everything about this film is great. There are some fairly distracting continuity issues, storyline issues, and Oliver Robbins is unbearable as Robbie, the son of the family (there is a third kid, Dana, the eldest daughter, but she is just sort of there off and on throughout the film, though Dominique Dunne, the actress playing Dana, does a good job). I personally would have liked to have seen this movie be a little more Tobe Hooper and a little less Spielberg, as a happy medium between the two could had unimaginable potential. Still, Poltergeist is one of the finest horror movies from the 1980s. Its influence on future films is noticeable, it has a fantastic final thirty minutes, and is a must-see.

On A Scale Of One To Ten: 8 



Poltergeist Movie Trailer