Strange and creepy happenings beset an average California family when ghosts commune with them through their T.V. Initially friendly and playful, the spirits turn unexpectedly menacing, and when their youngest daughter goes missing, the parents, Steve and Diane, turn to a parapsychologist and eventually an exorcist for help.
My two favorite ghost stories of all time are “Poltergeist” and John Carpenter’s “The Fog.” I can’t pick one over the other because they’re both fantastic and occupy the top spot together. The thing about both movies is that they were made by Spielberg and Carpenter, both in their prime. They were two of very few filmmakers who could successfully capture the essence of blissful suburban life, and as well as “Poltergeist” and “The Fog,” look at “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T.,” “Halloween,” and “Christine” for proof.
While Spielberg wrote and produced “Poltergeist” and Tobe Hooper (“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” “Salem’s Lot”) directed it, Spielberg’s fingerprints were all over the movie. For those not in the know, there was a considerable controversy back in 1982, the year of the film’s release, that claimed Spielberg had a bigger hand in directing the movie. As a result of the said uproar, the Directors Guild of America got involved to ensure that Spielberg wasn’t denigrating Hooper’s official credit. Go to Google and type, “Who Directed Poltergeist?” You will have your pick of websites referencing it.
The movie revolves around Steve and Diane Freeling (Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams) and their three children: sixteen-year-old Dana (Dominique Dunne), eight-year-old Robbie (Oliver Robins), and five-year-old Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke), a young family who live in Cuesta Verde, a quiet California suburb. When Carol Anne begins having strange conversations with invisible beings, her family initially thinks nothing of it, but after a tree attacks their eight-year-old son Robbie, they quickly realize their house is haunted, and the attack on Robbie was actually a diversion to allow the spirits to capture Carol Anne through a portal in her closet and take her to a spiritual dimension that dwells somewhere within the house. After reaching out for help to Parapsychologist Dr. Martha Lesh (Beatrice Straight), she, in turn, seeks the guidance of Tangina Barrons (Zelda Rubinstein), a spiritual medium who comes to the house to help Steve and Diane cross over to the other side to rescue Carol Anne from the forces of evil.
“Poltergeist” was released in the summer of 1982, a week apart from “E.T.,” and became a huge box office smash, earning $76,606,280. It spawned two sequels, a spin-off television series titled “Poltergeist: The Legacy,” a remake in 2015 starring Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt, and in 2019, it was announced that the Russo brothers would helm a new remake of the franchise. Audiences obviously couldn’t get enough of the supernatural back in 1982. Along with this film’s release, there was also “Amityville II: The Possession,” “The Entity,” “The Sender,” and “Superstition,” to name but a few.
Today, “Poltergeist” is a cult favorite and loved by millions worldwide. The combination of Spielberg and Hooper gave audiences a mixture of comedy, drama, and horror, and they lapped it up. Before the advent of CGI, the film mainly employed cutting-edge in-camera practical effects and the occasional use of optical compositing, allowing two separately filmed scenes to be merged together onscreen to give the appearance of one shot. This is never more evident than in the scene in which the giant esophagus engulfs a bedroom. Onscreen, it looks like Carol Anne, Robbie, and their mother Diane are waiting to be sucked down the creature’s gullet, but in reality, it was a miniature that was filmed separately and combined with the actors performing on a set.
Two of the most endearing elements of “Poltergeist” are its cast and Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting yet tender score. The entire Freeling family, Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins, and Heather O’Rourke are absolutely perfect in their respective roles, but JoBeth Williams steals the show as a determined mother who will do anything to get her baby girl back. In one scene, after Carol Anne’s spirit passes through her, she reacts to the smell of her on her clothes, and her emotional breakdown will bring you to tears. The family’s bickering and playful repartee are one-hundred percent authentic, and their dialogue and personal interactions are more believable than any other onscreen family I have seen on T.V. or in film, before or since.
Jerry Goldsmith’s soundtrack is absolutely magnificent, and while some may not be familiar with it outside of the film, the track titled “Carol Anne’s Theme” will more than likely evoke a recognizable response from them. Goldsmith’s ability to channel the progression of a particular film’s narrative through music was an indisputable talent, and “Poltergeist” demonstrated it masterfully. It’s hard to imagine any other composer, including Spielberg’s regular contributor, John Williams, creating a score anywhere near as affecting or atmospheric as it turned out, but as much as I love John Williams, I will always be forever grateful that Jerry Goldsmith was given the task because he didn’t just create another soundtrack, he created one of the most memorable and simply unforgettable scores of all time.
For a cult classic, there has never been a home entertainment release of the film with extras to satisfy the hardcore fans out there. Here, we get previously released extras, including “They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists Pt. 1 – Science of the Spirits,” “They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists Pt. 2 – Communing with the Dead,” “The Making of Poltergeist,” and the movie’s Trailer. The first two have absolutely nothing to do with the film itself; they are mini-documentaries about ghost hunters, and the making-of featurette is a little over 7 minutes long, but with the movie’s controversial production history, I doubt Spielberg or anybody associated with the film will ever contribute to a full-length behind-the-scenes featurette, and that is a shame, as a die-hard fan of the movie, I would love to hear cast and crew reminisce about their time making this horror classic. Maybe one day, but for now, sit back and enjoy watching “Poltergeist” in glorious 4K.
Available on 4K Ultra H.D. Blu-ray Combo Pack and Digital on September 20th
