Film Review — Poltergeist (1982)
Release Date: June 4th, 1982
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Heather O’Rourke and JoBeth Williams
Director: Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
Genre: Horror
Runtime: 1 hr 54 min
NOTE: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.
The Steven Spielberg Summer. 1982. The year of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Poltergeist. Both films were well received, critically and commercially — a huge bundled success for Spielberg.
Haunted house inceptors have a ton to thank Poltergeist for. First of all, flashing strobe lights. This is the first film that I can think of that made that environment and look a prominent Halloween staple at October events and neighborhood streets across the globe. Another prominent horror tactic in the film — scary clowns. I’m not sure of more than one other movie before 1982 that had such a thing. Stephen King’s It novel was published four years after this film. Thirdly, ghost movies in general weren’t really that much of a trend or even an idea (at least to the specific degree of ghost hunters walking into a house) before Poltergeist was even made. Many, many horror classics have a lot to thank Tobe Hooper’s film for (including the static on the T.V. set in The Ring and ghost hunters coming for monsters in the terrifying Conjuring pictures).
Although the late Tobe Hooper was the director of 1982's Poltergeist, the film has Spielberg written all over it. Trademarks such as happy suburban streets full of lighthearted fantasy. A family’s intricate household life through the lens of a magnifying glass. Finally, a child being caught in the middle of something supernatural (as we see with E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, A.I., Jurassic Park, and even Jaws if you want to look at it that way — a terroristic shark coming back again and again who is able to pull down three barrels is sort of supernatural).
Rumor has it, with Poltergeist, that Spielberg was on set, in the thick of things, directing, more than Tobe Hooper was. This claim would be evident. Regardless of who should be captained as the director of Poltergeist, this is basically Spielberg’s movie. The legend wrote and produced the film. The picture is one of the mogul’s earliest signatures of his auteurism and passion for Blockbuster filmmaking with groundbreaking effects.
I’ll get to the story. Poltergeist revolves around a young 5-year old blonde girl, Carol Anne Freeling, and her family, who live in a typical suburban home. The family is happy and healthy.
Days and nights go by. The wind howls with a giant tree outside a boy’s bedroom. The golden retriever pet dog oddly starts barking at nothing on the wall and ceiling while standing on the bed. Suddenly, Carol Anne starts talking to the static on the T.V. “They’re heeeerrre,” the young girl famously utters. After that, for the lack of a better word, all hell breaks loose in the house. After the dining room chairs suddenly move atop the kitchen table on their own, the giant tree outside son Robbie’s bedroom comes to life and tries to take…or kill…him. Carol Anne is suddenly missing after she is swiftly taken from her bedroom into the ghosts’ other world. The special-effects in this sequence, with all of the bedroom objects whirling around, are immensely impressive. While paying attention to their tree-kidnapped son, the parents do not attend to Carol Anne. The daughter is found to have disappeared and be stuck inside the T.V. with the other-worldly ghosts (this also sort of makes me think of The Ring). The rest of the motion picture is about the Freeling family trying to get Carol Anne back home from the other realm.
I first saw this film in 2007, when I was 12 years old. I watched it with my parents, as my father told me it truly scared him after graduating high school. The movie scared me, but not that much back when I was 11. Today it scares me more as an adult and I’m a little more impressed by it. Yet, I still wouldn’t call Poltergeist excellent.
Critically and cinematically, the film really does fire on all cylinders. Viewers should be impressed by all of the things that Poltergeist feeds the audience with, especially as the project builds and the story moves along, deeper and deeper into more intense territory. The first act introduces us to great performances from everyone. The parents, played by Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams, fit their home bodies well. Subtle passion as parents shines through their performances. I give credit to Craig T. Nelson here. This is the penultimate performance of the 80-year old actor’s career. While JoBeth Williams is solid here, I find some of her lines creepy and, at times, uncomfortable as she is talking to her daughter through the other world. “Mommy, where are you,” Carol Anne’s voice echoes through the house. “I’m here baby…I can smell her…” the mother, Diane, says, emotionally crying. The situation is just a little bit overboard, odd and feels off. One more thing to add about other films thanking this one, is the scene with Diane flying up around her bedroom definitely inspiring the scene with the girlfriend flying around her bedroom in the first A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
More importantly, Heather O’Rourke as Carol Anne is incredibly impressive, particularly for her age. I give credit to Producer Spielberg and Director Hooper for nurturing the child-actor through an array of emotions and scary chaos that this role must have required. Being whirled around by ghosts and monsters, covered in goo and blood, the child’s performance is spectacular and iconic.
For me, the production really takes off when legendarily high-voiced Zelda Rubinstein comes on screen, who looks like she stole glasses from Yoko Ono. Rubinstein plays home-poltergeist killer Tangina. The role is full of so much character, almost babysitter-like with a twist. Due to Rubinstein’s voice, every line the lady says is intriguing. Rubinstein speaks clearly, is confident, and knows ALL about ghosts. By the third act of Poltergeist, when Carol Anne is attempted to be pulled out of the ghost realm, Rubinstein classically (honestly, humorously) yells, “Don’t go into the light, Carol-Anneeeeee!” An often repeated line, any time of the year. I love Rubinstein in the film. The actress creates her own world, with a past, brings admirable laughter for the audience to enjoy as we snack on our popcorn, and forms an all-around terrific performance.
This leads me to the monsters in the film. They are memorable. The effects are sort of mesmerizing for their time. Candidly, the most frightening scene in the film for this writer comes after ghost hunter Marty (Martin Cosella) sees a steak crawling on the counter (oddly frightening in and of itself). Cosella walks to the bathroom and looks in the mirror and the man’s face starts quickly falling off as his head gradually turns into a skeleton. Although the effects in the scene are old-school, and the face is clearly a prop (along the lines of the mirror scene in The Terminator), the scene here comes out of nowhere. The sequence is alarming, visually. With skin coming off, and blood and bones being shown, the props, the mechanisms and materials in this facial sequence are brilliantly put together by the effects and gore crew. I will have nightmares about Marty’s face falling off more than any other sequence in Poltergeist.
The visually alarming shots are many in the film. The chairs up on the table, the glow and flashing static from the T.V. — they both leave a mark. Yet, I find the tree outside the boy’s bedroom ridiculous and scary at the same time. The sound of the thunder is gripping, as Robbie counts when he is afraid of the lightning. I was scared during the countdown build-up, even wanting to turn the volume on my screen down numerous times. Climactically though, the tree attack itself now comes off as sort of a joke, today. The branch grabbing the boy and pulling him out the window simply looks rather goofy. I found the tree just sitting outside, swaying, with its sound, to be more frightening.
When the ghost hunters and family eventually pull Carol Anne out of the ghost realm, the giant skeleton head that lunges out the closet and screams is majestically detailed for its day. Grand. Monstrous.
And then, the movie is seemingly over after the ghost hunters leave, and the family prepares to move out of their home. One night, mother Diane slips and falls in the landscaped plot for the house pool. Climactically, the skeletons pop out of the mud pit. Skeleton…after skeleton…after skeleton. The first few skeleton bodies work, then after a while, the scare tactic becomes quite overkill. This is where Craig T. Nelson famously yells to the landscaper, Mr. Teague, (James Karen), perhaps the most famous line of Nelson’s career, “You moved the cemetery, you idiot, but you only moved the headstones…YOU ONLY MOVED THE HEADSTONES!” This is a classic line.
Yet, the entire closing climax is just a whole bunch of overkill with all sorts of props and lighting being displayed. The filmmakers must have had a field day creating this sequence…and they had a little too much fun. Spielberg tries to evoke his love of on-screen skeletons a little too staggeringly. One of the last scares, with the clown finally coming to life and coiling its arm around little Robbie, is a big-time scare and horror gold. The clown in the film is likely what scared me the most as a kid. He still does today. I will never put a clown next to my child’s bed.
Poltergeist is great. I would be willing to watch it every Halloween season. With that said, I didn’t grow up with the film as a staple. This is not a 4-star picture. The first act is full of pale ennui. And the last bit of the film is full of a whole lot of screaming. Screaming. Screaming. And more screaming.
The final shot of the film is fine, with Craig T. Nelson scooting the T.V. out of the hotel room. I hoped for something more.
Heather O’Rourke starred in two sequels to Poltergeist and then suddenly died from cancer after filming the third movie, at the precious age of 12. If Poltergeist will leave any sort of legacy, it should be that O’Rourke was a perfect choice as the poster-starring child. The child’s hands on the T.V. and O’Rourke’s speak of the famous two-word welcoming of the ghosts will be remembered for a long, long time, even into the afterlife.
Overall Score:
4-Star Scale: 3.40 stars
Grade on Report Card: B/B+
Out of 10: 7.9
Out of 100: 79
