Poltergeist (1982)

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Poltergeist is an entertaining movie with good acting, a pleasant family and touches of humour but the horror scenes didn't deliver much impact.The storyline of a real estate agent, his homemaker wife, and three kids in a new suburban development built over a cemetery is the perfect setting for a horror movie. Unfortunately, the movie just didn't register on the fright meter. Beatrice Straight, the woman scorned in the movie Network, was the main paranormal. Excellent theatrical voice and expressive eyes.The whole movie had an undercurrent of humour and human warmth typical of writer Stephen Spielberg's early movies. I find it hard to watch a movie today with Craig Nelson without cracking a smile. Together with Jo Beth Williams, they reminded me of 1950's TV parents, the Nelsons or the Cleavers.There is a certain nostalgia about the movie as I look back at middle class parents in the era just before mobile phones, the internet and other shifts in the social landscape. That is what stayed with me after viewing this movie. An interesting period movie but not quite up to expectations.

Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg, stars Craig T. Nelson (who voices Mr Incredible in The Incredibles) and Jobeth Williams, following the family household who are haunted by supernatural causes. Well, it isn't really haunted but, there's an definition on that pretty early on. The film is home to a hyperbole of effects with giant, green faces popping out of the wall, trees attacking everyone and, of course, the horrifying mixture of both a clown and a doll; is there anything scarier? But is this exaggeration of effects a bad thing? No, it is not, in fact, this actually works in favour of the plot, and still manages to be scary in parts. The script, written after the huge sci-fi classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.It is extremely over-the-top, but despite that, the film proves it is capable of suspense and even jump scares. The acting is natural (from everybody) but, especially near the beginning, the script can feel slightly rushed at times, but this natural style of acting and the relatability of the characters is fantastic, and, lifts the film by ten-fold despite its already legendary and memorable story.

Even with all the rumors about the Poltergeist movies' curse that victimized some thespians from the cast, one of the greatest unsolved mysteries about it, is how much it had Tober Hooper's contribution in the making of it or he was just a director-for-hire (in this particular case more of a 'ghost director') and the movie was, in fact, solo directed by Steven Spielberg.Well, some of the cast and crew alleged that Hooper "was just there", the others said that, in fact, he directed it under strictly supervision by Spielberg who was always on the set. Which of the sides are right, probably we'll never know, but one thing is true for sure, the movie looks and feels more like a Spielberg directed movie than having Hooper's creativity touch in it.From the emotional tone to the uneven, relatively slow pace; the engaging, but a bit corny storytelling; the evolving camera-work; the skilled staging of the sequences (totally 'Spielberg-ish'); the dark humour inserted; the naivety on the children's point of view; the over-exaggerated allusion to "Star Wars"; lead character first name, Steven or the over-the-top / campy horror sequences, "Poltergeist" sweats Spielberg from every skin pore. It's Spielberg's baby, only got the "directed by" credit from someone else (Hooper was chosen due to his work on "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"), because he was contractual obligated to helm "E.T." for Universal. The only contribution from Hooper may have been on those thrilling horror sequences involving the skeletons, the rescue of Carol Anne or the escape from the house, but even that, i have my serious doubts, because Spielberg have done something similar a year before when Indy and Marion were trying to get out from the Well of Souls.As a movie which relies too much on its storytelling and the visual side of it (the mastering of suspense, the jump scares, the special effects that may look cheesy for today's standards, but were frightening back in the day...), most of the cast were recruited as 'jobbers', but JoBeth Williams (even if she looked way too young for her role as the desperate Mom) and Craig T. Nelson did OK in their roles. Zelda Rubinstein and the Academy Award Winner, Beatrice Straight offered strong support, even if the real stand-out was one of the cutest child actors that ever appeared on-screen, the then 6 years old Heather O'Rourke, who was absolute brilliant, captivating and haunting as Carol Anne. Ill-fated Dominique Dunne (the younger sister of actor Griffin Dunne), who unfortunately didn't live to attend the premiere, wasn't much of an actress and her scenes were cut short (on purpose or not...).In short, "Poltergeist" is for an old-fashioned ghost story, what the future "The Goonies" is for a pre-puberty daring adventure, both penned by a director who based it on his own dreams (& experiences) from when he was a young boy, full of imagination & creativity, and avid to become a filmmaker. It's a shame that he kind of lost his touch since the early 90's...

This is the most boring dull and stupid horror movie I've seen. Everything about it is stupid, the characters, the stories and acting..bleh. Why they made three sequels and a remake is beyond me. This deserves a Razzie award in every category. A complete waste of my time and brain cells.I give Poltergeist a 1/10