Poltergeist

Tobe Hooper's horror classic is clearly produced by Spielberg. The happy but somewhat chaotic families, with the male kids having Star Wars toys all over their rooms, much like in many Spielberg films of the era, still give me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Here the haunting of their house starts slowly but gets wilder by the minute, culminating in a pretty fiery showdown. That's the only part of the film that still labels as scary, making the most of the genre within 15 minutes. But even before that, the lovable (minor) characters and good set up still keep the audience's interest after all... more

Poltergeist opens on a Sunday in your run of the mill suburb in California. It's one of those sub divisions where the houses all look alike and the neighborhood flows from one day into the next. We finally stop at the Freeling house with the typical '80's nuclear family: Steven (Craig T. Nelson) is the patriarch, driving the station wagon to and fro to bring home the bacon,his wife Diane (JoBeth Williams), trying to run a household with their three kids, teenage Dana (Dominique Dunne), Robbie (Oliver Robins), and Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke). This is suburbia at its finest. But Steven... more

While it's not really scary or suspenseful by today's standards (even then it had to compete with The Shining and other masterpieces), it can still be enjoyed for the fact that it is so odd and campy. Full of bizarre effects, midgets and moving trees it's one crazy ride. It also has to be appreciated for tackling the subject of ghosts in a unique way. While there are some reputable elements to this film, it's mostly Tobe Hooper's sense of a family friendly horror movie that I find interesting. more

Classic 'Family' horror movie. Tobe Hooper must have been really suffocated by the bearded one though as its hard to believe he didn't direct it. That said, the creepy still framed shots are Hooper at his best! more

Enjoyed rewatching this more than I care to admit to! Okay, it's a really bad movie, and there are holes in the plot, but I remember being scared to death by it in my childhood, and the clown at the end still got a scream out of me. 80's horror, got to love it! more

Poltergeist has enough of those epic blockbuster Spielberg moments, and enough of Hobe's skilled horror and humour techniques. As a result, Poltergeist is a damn great film. It starts of lighthearted, but there's a creepy sense that the shit is going to hit the fan. So we get some playful ghosts, then of course trees start attacking children. The family dynamic is believable and excellently played out. We actually feel that each parent has a different relationship with each child and handles them differently. This avoids cliche's of the "absent father" or "overbearing mother". Heather... more