Poltergeist (1982)

114 Minutes

Directed By: Tobe Hopper
Written By: Steven Spielberg
Staring: Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne, Heather O’Rourke, Oliver Robbins, and Michael McMannus

Carol Anne – listen to me. Do NOT go into the light. Stop where you are. Turn away from it. Don’t even look at it. -Diane

Review

For me this still is one of the most terrifying movies ever made.  The special effects never go to far, yet there is an epic feel to it, still balanced by realism.  The characters are full on tangible, and never do you feel like yelling at them telling them how stupid they are.  It feels like a real situation, where human curiosity becomes the catalyst for the impossible, and a nightmare that no one can wake up from.  The creativity of Poltergeist, with it’s terrific writing and direction put it in the category of one of the greatest horror movies of all time, without question for me.

Immediately we are whisked into a world of suburban reality.  Every house is a cookie cut out of another, but the neighborhood continues to grow and grow.  Atypical family that is clearly happy, yet humanly flawed begins to experience strange events out of nowhere.  Their youngest daughter Carol Anne begins talking to the TV and the dog begins to act manic.  In the meantime strange electrical currents seem to be having an effect on the house, while summer storms are also plaguing the neighborhood.  Nature seems to be out of whack, and clearly is when suddenly the furniture in the families home begins to move around. By itself.  Suddenly lives are in peril, and a darkness invades the house.

Poltergeist is a well written smart story, but where it gets you is being thorough with it’s content and realism.  Once the family realizes something supernatural is wrong with the house, they make plans to leave or evade it, but before they can do that, Carol Anne is taken.  What a more powerful tie to the house!  Of course they are now stuck there, with their daughter still clearly somehow attaches to their world.  Because of thisingenious way of webbing the situation, the viewer doesn’t really have the option of saying, “They are so stupid.”  There really isn’t a stupid move in Poltergeist.  There is full on realism, and that’s where it is definitively different from other movies of it’s kind, and also why it’s so terrifying.

At the time the technology used was pretty impressive, but still wasn’t overused in a way that took away from the story.  Sure, we got some pretty horrific images, but they lasted only briefly, like a smidgen of terror that one can remember from their own nightmare, but that was in it’s essence what Poltergeist exuded: a living nightmare.  What is scary for me is something that’s going to linger in my mind and seem plausible, something that goats my own imagination, and a lot of movies today ignore that tactic.  Maybe people don’t have the imaginations they used to, but I don’t think it’s a surprise that we revert to the seventies and early eighties around Halloween each year to get spooked out.  Very few contemporary films are actually considered scary.

An excellent cast including Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams really amplify the already eerie mood with their tangible performances.  Even the little boy, Oliver Robbins, plays his part terrifically.  When he’s freaking out in front of the TV because he hears his sisters voice talking, it’s a genuine moment of shock and terror that transcends into the audience.  If the actors didn’t give such authentic performances some of the fear would have been lost.  Even the casting of Heather O’Rourke as Carol Anne is genius.  She looks like a cherub and has the sweet and innocent voice of an Angel.  Could people possibly be more attached to her or fear for her even more?

This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and while it’s funny to watch this spooky time of year, it’s a great thriller for any time.  Of course, you’ll start to get goosebumps when your lights flicker or if your TV turns to the fuzzy station.  The realism and honesty of the characters is what makes the heart of this film resonate, but the journey of the characters isn’t the only amazing thing about Poltergeist.  The execution of it visually, along with an intense script makes this film a classic creeper.