Poltergeist (1982) (Movie Review)

    If I were to single out one personal favorite Horror movie above all others, it wouldn’t be based on any objective quality or culturally significant, and instead be something very special to me … like the experience that got me to love Horror movies in the first place, and why I still love discovering new horror films every year. As a kid, I was lightly exposed to the genera through movies like “Gremlins”, B-Monster movies like “Anaconda”, and the 1999 remake of “The Mummy”. 

However, the first real horror movie I saw back when I was a kid, the one that launched my whole fondness for the genera, and still my personal favorite today is the classic, 1982 haunted house picture “Poltergeist”. At the time, I was a complete wimp when it even came to the general idea of watching any kind of scary movie … yet the experience I had with “Poltergeist” at a young age got me to realize that … it’s kind of fun and existing to be scared, similar to the excitement one could have ridding a roller coaster. I distinctly remember sitting on my living room couch as a kid, I was about nine years old, watching this movie for the first time … and feeling genuinely spooked, yet very excited, and I just couldn’t pull myself away, no mater how freighting it got. Afterwards, I had this rewarding sense of fulfillment, like I faced my fears, and had this thrilling experience all around.

   In many respects, this movie is kind of like a cross between the 1963 horror classic “The Haunting”, and the famous “Twilight Zone” episode titled “Little Girl Lost” … yet it takes the best elements of both to create something original in the prosses. Our spooky venture begins in a seemingly normal neighborhood, with a seemingly normal family at the center … and then unexpected oddities begin to occur, like furniture moving on its own, and a mysterious voice calling out to the family’s little girl named Carol. 

In a fun change-up to the haunted house formula, the family is initially enjoying all the unexplainable oddities, as nothing dangerous is immediately happing, and it just seems to be adding some spice to their predictable, everyday lives. However, things turn deadly serious one night, when the little girl Carol is mysteriously whisked away to some ghostly form of limbo. Desperate to rescue their child, the family team-up with a group of Parapsychologist’s to determine what’s taken over the house, and more importantly … if they can rescue the little girl. Jumping ahead into spoiler territory … the house is revealed to have been built over a cemetery, and now the spirits of the dead are growing vengeful, and want the family off their land. The one exception being the little girl Carol, who was the only one born within the house, and thus … these angry spirits view her as part of their property. This is a brilliant set-up, as characters are usually too stupid to leave a haunted house, but this family has an emotional stake in rescuing their child, which is forcing them to stay, and face whatever terroirs these restless spirits unleash.          

   While this film is unmistakably both a Ghost story and a haunted house adventure … it also kind of works as a family movie ... al be it, kind of a dark and intense one. Still, at the heart of this film is a story of a family fighting to stay together in the face of these frightening challenges, and willing to risk anything until they can leave together. 

Part of the reason this film appealed to me when I first saw this as a kid was that the family dynamics and elements on display felt so natural and enduring, that it gave a nice anchor to all the dark and intense elements of the film. The whole cast, especially the two leads played by Jo Beth Williams and Craig T. Nelson, are very lovable, and convincing as this family that’s been together for years, and have had a history. The chemistry feels natural, and even their interactions with the Parapsychologist characters feel very human and even touching. One of my favorite scenes is when the lead Parapsychologist played by the late Beatrice Straight has a heart to heart with the mother and her little boy, as they discuss theories of the afterlife. For me, tender little moments like this are all I need to care about these people, and feel more invested when all the really exciting things go down. Also, Richard Lawson brings just the right amount of levity in a supporting role as one of the doctors.

    Of course, I can’t forget to mention the late child actress Heather O’ Rourke, who at the age of six delivered one of the most famous, horror movie child performances, in her signature role of Carol. 

Like a seasoned professional, she was able to balance her performance of being innocent and loving, while also very mysterious and cryptic all at once. It didn’t hurt that she spoke the films famous line … “They’re Here.” The only other talent who could leave more of an impression in this film is the late Zelda Rubinstein, who plays a clairvoyant that arrives to help later in the film, and along with her signature squeaky voice delivers a scene stealing performance. She has this lengthy monologue revolving around spiritual purgatory, personal haunts, and I’ve always loved the duality of this speech. The subject is almost whimsical and uplifting at first, but then it effectively transitions into something sinister and cryptic. When she claims that the little girl Carol is in the presence of another spirit, she states that it’s appearing to her as another innocent, lost child, when it’s really a best that’s deceiving her, and keeping her trapped. I remember that statement alone scared me more then anything that actually appears on screen. 

   With that said, this movie came out two years before the PG-13 ratting came into effect, and as such, it contains some imagery and content that wouldn’t really pass for a PG movie today. Many younger viewers at the time went to this film, and had their wits scared out of them. Easily, the most shocking image that always stuck-out to me was the one Doctor having a nightmare-vision of his face getting ripped apart in the bathroom. It’s absolutely disgusting, and I remember when I first saw this, I just felt pined to the couch, and left speechless. 

One of the films biggest appeals is that, while it’s a story about Ghosts, it’s not limited to simply showing Ghostly apparitions, there’s actually a lot of variety to the creepy encounters and creatures we see in the film. Another memorable spooky highlight includes a scary tree reaching into the child’s bedroom, and grabbing the young boy. Weather you find any of this actually scary or not, it’s still memorable horror imagery that sticks with me. While some of the CGI on display is distractingly dated, there are still a lot of practical effects that I feel still hold-up as real spectacles. At the Academy Awards, this film was nominated for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Effects, and one final nomination for Best Original Music Score. The late Jerry Goldsmith is personally my favorite movie music composer ever, and had previously won the Oscar for his original music score for the 1976 horror classic “The Omen”. His Oscar nominated score for “Poltergeist” is another one of the greats of the genera, as it’s every bit as disturbing as it is peaceful and inviting. It’s a score punctuated by a children’s quire, which gives the track it’s dual personality. There’s something about kids singing that can sound warm and cheerful at one moment, and eerily creepy the next.

   This movie also cemented the haunted house feature as my favorite sub-genera in the whole horror catalog. This is when I feel horror has the chance to get the most creative, atmospheric, and it always makes the scares feel more like a theme park ride. As such, “Poltergeist” is the haunted house movie I enjoy most for its delicate balance of being both subtle and eerie, while also being over-the-top and gross. Usually, I prefer just one set tone, but I feel this film finds that perfect middle ground between the two. Something about the pacing allows perfect transition between the insane horror action, and the subtle conversations. Again, weather you find the talks genuinely thought provoking or not, it’s just enough for me to care about the ensuing events, and I feel it makes the spectacle all the more fun as a result. I think the films dual nature works so well largely thanks to the combined talents of Director Tobe Hooper and Producer Steven Spielberg. Spielberg’s initial intent was to do spooky follow-up to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, giving the aliens a more freighting edge. Tobe Hooper however expressed interest in collaborating with Spielberg on a Ghost Story, one that would combine the director’s taste for shocks with Spielbergs sense of fantastical Sci-Fi.

   Tobe Hooper had previously achieved fame for directing the 1974 horror movie classic “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”, and wanted to push the content of “Poltergeist” further, but Spielberg managed to level things out, allowing the content to be more accessible for a wider audience. 

As seen with Spielberg’s later directed movies in the vein of 1993’s “Jurassic Park”, he knew how to soften the edges of threatening ideas and content, which again drew younger viewers to the film. Even though Spielberg isn’t credited for directing “Poltergeist”, you can feel his finger prints all over the film, and many have claimed that he was more actively involved on the set, and working with the cast then Tobe Hooper was. There’s a famous scene near the end, in which the wife played by Jo Beth Williams falls into a swimming pool filled with corpses, which rise out of the water. According to many sources on the making of the film … with all the electrical equipment and water, the actress was so terrified she was going to die on the set. In order to calm her, Spielberg got into the pool with her stating that … “If something really does happen, I’d be dying too”. That’s a level of dedication that really makes me respect Spielberg, not just as a talented filmmaker, but just a great guy who’ll take chances.         

   Of course, the most famous scare of the whole movie is the toy clown, who attacks the boy in bead. Once again, I love that this haunted house movie has more to offer then simply ghosts, it also has original horror villains, and this clown has sense become a horror icon. I can’t say that the clown ever really scared me, even when I watched this as a kid, but I genuinely loved the build-up surrounding him, when he’s just a motionless doll. Something about a motionless object that seems to be looking right at you is a concept that always got under my skin. My sister was able to relate even more, as when she was a kid, she had one of those big, Barbie heads for girls to play with their hair … and then one night, my sister woke-up with that thing staring at her from within her closet … and she never played with it again after that.

    Once we get to the climax of the movie, all subtlety is thrown out the window, and it just becomes a fun, non-stop roller-coaster, thrill-ride, and all Hell breaks loose. There’s coffins and corpses coming up from the ground, the house is falling apart, people are screaming, and the best effects of the movie take shape here … including this practical bedroom effect in which the mother is dragged across the celling. My favorite shot of the whole movie is this one image of the mother running down this endless hallway, and it’s a great effect all these years later. The ghost designs now get more monstrous, namely this skeleton creature that roars like a lion. Again, sense the movie delivered on the eerie subtle talks, I feel it’s earned this existing rush of a finale, with all these memorable horror designs, and haunted house elements lending themselves to a really fun action sequence. After the family escapes, we get this lengthy, silent epilogue, as this family is clearly affected by what they experienced, but at least there together, and that chilling Jerry Goldsmith score plays us out.  

   Over time, “Poltergeist” developed a reputation for being a cursed production, as a number of spooky hazards were occurring on the set, and many of the actors sadly passed away in a short time frame after the film’s release. Dominique Dunne, who played the older sister, tragically died the same year the film was released, and the young Heather O’ Rourke sadly passed only six years after the production. Two sequels followed in the 80’s, which brought back most of the cast, but despite some decent imagery, neither were on par with the original. Although, the third movie at least had a unique setting in a haunted hotel, and is worth a viewing, just for Heather O’ Rourke’s final on screen performance. In 2015, there was an unnecessary theatrical remake of “Poltergeist”, which has sense faded from memory.

   For me, the original “Poltergeist” still holds up as one of the great classics of the genera, and it works as a great transition film for older kids, to see if there ready for spooky films with a little bit of an edge. It certainly worked as a transition film for me, acting as a perfect gateway into the genera, and for that reason … it’s always felt the most special to me. What more can I say … “Poltergeist” is a memorable, haunting, tightly plotted, smartly crafted, and consistently entertaining horror spectacle that I always love to watch every October. It’s one of the greatest ghost stories ever told, my favorite haunted house themed movie, and by obvious extent … it’s personally my favorite classic horror movie of the whole genera.

Thanks for reading my review of the 1982 Horror Movie Classic “Poltergeist” … and be sure to treat yourself to one good scare this October!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!