Poltergeist (1982) was as big a hit for director Tobe Hooper as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)—even if it didn't quite inspire the same type of cultural phenomenon—but its success was probably more due to the presence of producer/co-writer Steven Spielberg (certain sequences have a distinctly Spielberg-like look). In the suburbs, little Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O'Rourke, who died in 1988 at the age of 12—giving rise to a whole cursed mythology regarding the film) begins hearing not-your-regular-broadcast voices from the television set (“they're here,” as the legendary tagline goes). After Carol Anne is abducted into the TV screen, her father (Craig T. Nelson), mother (JoBeth Williams), older sister Dana (Dominique Dunne), and brother Robbie (Oliver Robins) labor in vain to find her. Eventually, a diminutive medium (Zelda Rubinstein, with her memorable voice) is hired to clean the “possessed” house, as each character experiences various spooky occurrences (Robbie battles a demon tree, while others are plagued with such monstrosities as crawling cuts of meat). Unlike contemporary by-the-numbers horror flicks, Hooper and Spielberg wisely spend a significant amount of time setting up the suburban world of the characters, so that we know them intimately and therefore are emotionally invested before the terror starts. The finale may suffer a bit from special effects overload, but this doesn't diminish the power of the film overall. Making its debut on Blu-ray, Poltergeist is presented with a 46-page booklet built into the jacket, and extras that include a new featurette on the nature of poltergeists in the real world. Although the lack of production-specific extras is a real disappointment, the film itself looks super on Blu-ray. Highly recommended. (J.M. Anderson)
Poltergeist
Warner, 114 min., PG, Blu-ray: $34.99 Volume 24, Issue 1
Poltergeist
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