Poltergeist

            When people talk about the great, ‘classic’ films that defy time there’s usually lots of agreement.  Most people will agree that The Godfather is somewhere on that list, along with films like Casablanca and Annie Hall.

            If there’s a list of classic horror films and Poltergeist is not on it, I will punch everything in the face.

            On to the review!

            What I like about Poltergeist is that it truly is a family film.  Yes, it would most likely get a PG-13 nowadays, but even then it would be a very mild PG-13.  Take out the middle finger and a suggestion of sex and it may even work itself back down to PG. 

That being said, it is the scariest damn family film in creation, even taking into account Don Bluth’s child-scarring movies.  I saw it when I was about 10 and barely spoke for two days.

For the three or four English speaking people who aren’t familiar with the plot, here’s the Cliff’s Notes version.  A family moves into a new housing development, but the house ends up being haunted; youngest child is sucked into an aether realm.  Team of investigators and a medium help the parents rescue the child.  House isn’t happy, things go crazy.

Our family is your standard early-80’s unit.  It’s made up of two parents: Steve and Diane Freeling (Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams) as well as three kids: Dana, Robbie, and Carol Anne (Dominique Dunn, Oliver Robins and Heather O’Rourke).  The youngest, of course, is the one who suffers the most attention from a haunted spirit. 

The casting is great, with every member of the family playing their role perfectly, convincing the viewer that this is a real family that gives real shits about each other and suffer from real family problems.  The three investigators and the medium also make excellent impressions without any one person overshadowing another. 

I think that’s what makes this movie stand out from so many horror films from before and after.  You actually care about everyone in the film.  Nobody seems one-dimensional, but nobody is so much more important than anyone else that you point to the screen and say “That there is our main character.”  While some people do get more screen time than others, every person you’re introduced to feels perfectly integrated into the movie.  This gives the impression that the entire plot requires everyone to be perfect. 

Fortunately, they are.

What about special effects?  How do they hold up 30 years later? 

Surprisingly well, actually.  Every ghost scene is just as amazingly creepy as it was ten or twenty years ago.  In fact, only one scene shows its age (as long as you discount the outfits, of course).

The only downside to the whole thing is the curse.  During and after filming, many actors died prematurely and strange things reportedly happened on set.  Then the curse seemed to follow the sequels and everything seemed to go downhill fast.  While I could watch Poltergeist every week and still find something new to love about it, Poltergeist II is really only noteable for super-creepy antagonist Kane.  The ending was very silly, and the less said about Poltergeist III, the better.

All told, Poltergeist is easily the best origin film I’ve reviewed so far, with the dubious distinction of having the fastest degeneration in quality from the sequels.

Next week:  I take a break from origin stories for a week to bring you a fan-request.  I’ll be checking out the original 1970 version of The Dunwich Horror.