I’m sure a lot of people remember the old tube box TVs and if the cable wasn’t hooked up then the picture would be “snow.” Poltergeist’s cover art is of a little girl with her hands on the TV with the snow picture. The first time I saw this film I was technically too young, but I did see it when my parents rented it on VHS from a video store and it made me think about the “snow” TV and if there was really anything living in it (wow this makes me sound so old – LOL). Poltergeist was directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre [1974])) and written by Stephen Spielberg (Jaws [1975]), Michael Grais, Mark Victor and came to theaters in June 1982 from MGM.

Heather O’Rourke

Dominique Dunne, Heather O’Rourke, JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Oliver Robins , and E Buzz (Dog)

The Freeling family lives in a nice home in the suburbs where the father, Steve (Craig T. Nelson (The Devil’s Advocate [1997]) works for the developer of the new homes, one night their youngest daughter Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) sits in front of the TV, the main programming signs off for the night (common thing back then) and that “snow” appears, she stares at it and talking to it. The next day the rest of the family starts questioning Carol Anne about her obsession with the TV. After Dana (Dominique Dunn) and Robbie (Oliver Robbins (The Rideshare Killer [2022]) leave for school their mom, Diane (JoBeth Williams (The World Beyond [1976])) starts seeing things move in the kitchen. Soon the family knows something is going on in the house and then we see Carol Anne being pulled out of her bed and into her closet and disappearing, which is crazy and yet exciting scene.

Martin Casella, Beatrice Straight and Richard Lawson

Zelda Rubinstein

The family gets paranormal/ghost investigators Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight), Marty (Martin Casella), and Ryan (Richard Lawson (Audrey Rose [1977])) to try and find her. They realize their house has poltergeists, need additional help, and get Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein (Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon [2006])) who can see ghosts and the missing. She instructs Diane how to rescue her daughter Carol Anne and is successful. Tangina then says, “the house is clean,” but was it really? The answer is NO as the poltergeists were still there and we came to learn that this new housing development was on top of a cemetery all the developer did was to relocate the tombstones, to build the new homes; the problem, it was only the stones that were moved but the graves and caskets (watch of the pool scene, talk about swimming with the dead) were still present, and hence this was a matter of disturbing the final resting place. Steve then says to his boss Mr. Teague (James Karen (The Return of the Living Dead [1985])) “you never moved the bodies” maybe if he did none of the scary poltergeists wouldn’t have lingered.

JoBeth Williams at a pool party

James Karen and Craig T. Nelson

Poltergeist shows that you need to respect the dead and those in a cemetery. Yes, it’s just a story but does make you think about those buried. The movie is rated PG but I still think that kids should watch it when they’re older so they don’t think that ghosts are living in a TV and do not fear puppet clowns. There were two sequels and even a remake in 2015. I haven’t seen those yet but will soon as I did like this original.

TAGLINES:

• From a dimension beyond the living, a terror to scare you to death.
• Mommy, Daddy, where are you?
• Its form is revealed, Its focus is clear and the games are over.
• The unknown will be revealed. The invisible will be seen
• They’re here.
• It knows what scares you.
• Some things have to be believed to be seen.
• The first real ghost story.

IMDb Rating: 7.3/10

3C Rating: 7.0/10

FOLLOWED BY:

Poltergeist II: The Other Side [1986]

Poltergeist III [1988]

Poltergeist [2015]