X
- 1982
- PG
- MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- 1 h 54 m
- 1982
- PG
- MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- 1 h 54 m
Summary Steven and Diane Freeling's (Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams) quiet suburban life is disturbed when ghosts kidnap their youngest daughter, Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke).
Directed By: Tobe Hooper
Written By: Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais, Mark Victor
- 1982
- PG
- MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- 1 h 54 m
- 1982
- PG
- MGM/UA Entertainment Company
- 1 h 54 m
Poltergeist
79
8.2
Where to Watch
Summary Steven and Diane Freeling's (Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams) quiet suburban life is disturbed when ghosts kidnap their youngest daughter, Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke).
Directed By: Tobe Hooper
Written By: Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais, Mark Victor
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
79
81% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
19% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
79
81% Positive
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
19% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Make no mistake: Poltergeist is a Spielberg film, no matter what the credits say. His stylistic fingerprints are all over the movie, never more so than in the opening third, which turns a suburban haunting into an occasion for Spielbergian movie magic before the ghosts get down to business.
The buildup is slow and deliberate, creating a vivid sense of love and warmth within the family who share the harrowing adventure. The climaxes are horrific, with effects recalling ''Raiders of the Lost Ark,'' but in a less exotic setting.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 207 User Ratings
8.2
88% Positive
182 Ratings
182 Ratings
8% Mixed
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
4% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 207 User Ratings
8.2
88% Positive
182 Ratings
182 Ratings
8% Mixed
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
4% Negative
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
A strange 80's Spielberg written family story thats akin to E.T. and Close Encounters but also clashes with Tobe Hooper's excellent and sometimes gory horror direction. Outside of the maybe the all time baffling horror movie decision of staying in the house an extra night this was excellent.
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Spielberg's is producing and wrote this movie, besides it's a horror movie, that's what everybody's always say, know, and talk about, but the real guy, the real person who set up all of this, the guy that giving the real direction, the leading man, the director himself Tobe Hooper, Poltergeist is original, it's a fascinating yet terrifying, with a fantastic visual and special effects, incredible performance by all the cast, Poltergeist is probably my favorite horror movie of all time, why?, because it's not only terrifying, i have never been so excited, so amazed by a horror movie before, and that's why for me Poltergeist is a Horror Masterpiece.
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Poltergiest is no nonstop scream express; at times it pulls its punches (Spielberg wants that PG rating), and at times its effects are bigger than life and less than terrifying. But like Spielberg's Jaws, which was a perfect genre movie, Poltergeist does what it's supposed to do about as well as it can be done.
Poltergeist proves closets are full of skeletons and scurrying ids. Hooper and company arouse childhood fears, teasing away adult defenses, making us hunker in our seats as the kids dive under the "Star Wars" sheets. It gives us the jeebies, third stage, without letting up, but spiritually, it's uplifting. [4 June 1982, p.13]
A fitfully witty and reliably spine-tingling horror melodrama...While it works you over effectively, Poltergeist betrays a good deal of rather dubious, uncoordinated manipulation. [4 June 1982, p.D1]
Given the talents, Poltergeist is an annoying film because it could have been so much better.
Poltergeist is a 1982 horror that delivers pure terror and suspense. The way it was made showed a caution to providing nothing but first class, we have many great moments like a clown coming alive, I think a tree grabbing hold of the kids, Carol Anne disappearing into thin air among other things.. For it's time it was genius and remains a classic and the acting is great especially from Craig T. Nelson who seems pretty genuine as a concerned father who's five year old daughter has been abducted by evil forces and he summons a medium to help bring her back.... Poltergeist is an excellent film that delivers shocks and twists and keeps you on the edge of your seat but avoid the sequels and the remake... Also stars Heather O'Rourke, JoBeth Williams, Zelda Rubinstein.
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It is more to be discussed than experienced, if only it had the sassiness that it was building towards.
Poltergeist
Hooper is a messy filmmaker. He makes messy films. Full on. Widen your imagination as much as you can and he has got that too. Blood baths, annoying amount of screeching and screaming and more cringe worthy images than probably necessary. All of this comes under his recipe to make a fine horror film; a classic to be honest. The director Tobe Hooper has Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais and Mark Victor as writers in his backroom and there are no regrets. And Spielberg is going all the way in on his signature emotionally cheap family drama dose that works, as always, all the time in the film.
In fact, that is the only thing binding this unholy spirited house with one single thread. For daft performance, cheesy visual effects and dogmatic opinionated characters are pushing the film out of the window whenever they get the opportunity. And adding to those teary sketchy scenes is the mythology weaved as a narrative. And even though it's rigid and arrogant in its views, there is enough room for you to rest comfortably.
Just the whole portal and the other dimension and the way it functions, every bit of that aspect of the storytelling is squeezed properly for a satisfying experience. The horror, the humor and the drama, it checks off this list boldly whenever it faces its demons. It also concerns for the generation gap, property investment, gullibility, misuse of resources and taking it all for granted, into account to ground the film with deeper resonant themes. The supporting characters are also saving this illegal activity surprisingly and smartly. I mean, the guests entering this haunted house are more comfortable than the ghosts, the Poltergeist, demanding not equal, but all the rights to the land that they supposedly own- talk about a bad investment and a bad day.
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Given the talents, Poltergeist is an annoying film because it could have been so much better. Certainly, the subject is interesting, a persistent parapsychological phenomenon that defies scientific explanation, yet refuses to go away.
But producer Steven Spielberg and the director Tobe Hooper, don’t really care. They’re fully content to demonstrate how well they can create the physical manifestations, plus a lot of standard sideshow horrors.
But the story is truly stupid, though well-acted. Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams are the parents, living almost wall-to-wall with their neighbors in a suburban development. But when the furniture starts to fly around the room and the big tree in the yard gets hungry for the kids nobody ever seems to notice. Here you have a house in the middle of the street going berserk in Dolby Stereo and nobody calls the cops. But Williams is terrific as the mother, at first amused by the strange goings-on in her kitchen and later terrified when cute little Heather O’Rourke disappears into the walls. And Zelda Rubinstein walks off with the film as the miniature lady who comes to cleanse the house.
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not scary more of a really really noisy movie. dont see what all the fuss was/is about. couldnt get into it even back in the day when it came out originally. the kids are frickin annoying. the investigators include a token black dude and serve just a a device to dump an @$$load of info on the viewer's head. there's no creep factor and subtlety to this just heavy handed effects by Tobe Hooper and Spielberg.
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Finally got around to watching this after many years. Wow. How is it considered a classic of the genre? Poltergeist is a laughable, over-the-top mess. Worst of all, it isn't in anyway scary. Seriously, the last third felt like a poorly written Indiana Jones rip-off with skeletons jumping up everywhere. What a load of crap.
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Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 3 Nominations
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 3 Wins & 6 Nominations
BAFTA Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
