Review Recall: Poltergeist

Review Recall: Poltergeist 

To Celebrate Halloween, I thought I’d give you guys a scary(ish) edition of Review Recall this week. So we’re heading back to 1982 and Tobe Hooper’s spectre spectacle, Poltergeist. 

The Plot: Steve Freeling (Craig T. Nelson) lives with his family in a home that his own company built. However, one day Steve discovers that there house is being haunted. Not to worry, as at first, the haunt seems friendly; amusing the wife and family, but Steve is reticent. 

Like so many other Horror films, the Ghosts turn evil. Terrorising Steve’s family and eventually kidnapping his daughter to another dimension. Scary stuff. Panic stricken, Steve is at a loss for something to do. Desperately, with support of his wife Diana Freeling (JoBeth Williams) they hire a medium to get their daughter back and free there family from the ghosts not so happy haunts. 

The Film: Tobe Hooper is widely regarded as one of the masters of horror. He created such greats as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Salem’s Lot. However, Poltergeist may arguably be his finest piece of work. 

Arriving at a time when Ghost stories were a thing of a past, Poltergeist feels like a fresh take on an old concept even twenty seven years down the line. The movie bubbles along nicely, until it gets down to the spine tingling scares. That’s when the film really gets going and the scares come quick and fast. 

What I personally like about Poltergeist is the originality in some of the set pieces like the Tree scene and the use of that terrifying clown. The whole movie has been heavily parodied by several different outlets, so it’s no surprise that some of the scares seem a tad predictable. However, that being said, I imagine they wouldn’t have been predictable back in 1982. 

The Performances: Hey look its Mr Incredible. Why doesn’t he just super strength the ghosts away? Sorry, it’s hard for me to hear Craig T. Nelson and not picture those red spandex and blond quiff from The Incredibles. 

That being said Nelson does offer up a fine performance in Poltergeist, proving that his not just a voice actor. Don’t get me wrong, he does stretch his big vocal cords in the movie, but he also uses a lot of physicality and plays a nice centrefold to this supernatural scare-fest. 

However, the stealer of the show is definitely exorcist Tangina (Zelda Rubenstein), who bubbles with character in every squeaky yet powerful word. Her performance is so enjoyable; you want the film to centre on her. This also might have something to do with the performances of the other family and friends bar Nelson as they aren’t exactly fantastic. 

Verdict: A great ghost story and a scintillating scare flick. If you haven’t already seen this horror movie, you should do it NOW. You won’t complain. 7.5/10

What do you think? Do you agree with my review? Or am I being too generous? 

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Until next time, enjoy the show.

Daniel Morris.