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Poltergeist (1982)

Starring JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight, Heather O’Rourke.  Cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti. Edited by Michael Kahn.  Produced by Frank Marshall and Steven Spielberg.  Written by Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais, and Mark Victor.  Directed by Tobe Hooper.

The Freeling family lives in your typical suburban home. Steve (played by Craig T. Nelson), the father of the family, is a salesman. Diane (played by JoBeth Williams), the mother, is a happy housewife. And Dana, Robbie, and Carol Ann (played by Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins, and Heather O’Rourke) are their three beautiful kids.

One night after everyone has drifted to sleep the family is aroused by Carol Ann, the youngest of the children, as she yells to someone apparently living on the other side of the television screen.  This is just the beginning of the strange events about to take place in the Freeling home.  Chairs slide themselves across the room. Heavy objects levitate.  But the novelty of the circumstance diminishes with Carol Ann is literally sucked into the TV.  Steve finds a team of paranormal experts who specialize in “cleaning” haunted houses, but soon after setting up shop all hell breaks loose.

Poltergeist is a film conceived and written by Steven Spielberg.  Because of contractual obligations to Universal Studios in the production of his feature E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, which was filmed nearly at the same time as Poltergeist, Spielberg was not allowed to direct his project.  So Tobe Hooper, the filmmaker behind the horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was hired to fill the vacant role. There has been much debate, however, over how much of the directorial credit Hooper earned.

Spielberg was present for the large majority of principle photography and made many of the film’s creative decisions. After shooting wrapped Spielberg supervised the addition of the visual effects, edited the film with help from his long time collaborator Michael Khan, helped develop a score with composer Jerry Goldsmith, and worked on the final sound mixes.  Spielberg was so involved in the production, in fact, that The Director’s Guild of America launched an investigation into the matter.  In response to the inquiry, Spielberg took a full page add out in Variety, apologizing to Hooper for the media’s misunderstanding and complimenting him on a job well done.  In the end Hooper retained his director’s credit and has since worked with Spielberg on “Amazing Stories” and “Taken”.

Despite the controversy behind the production of Poltergeist, the Spielberg and Hooper filmmaking team created a unique and frightening horror picture. Many of the genre’s pillars were ignored, giving it an unsettling sense of reality and displacement.  For example:  the film is essentially a “haunted house” movie, but instead of taking place in a creepy old mansion the drama unfolds inside a suburban single family home not unlike the houses many of us grew up in.  Instead of using darkness and shadow for dramatic effect, some of the most terrifying moments in the film happen in broad daylight.  And there is also very little gore and literally no fatalities in the film at all.

Poltergeist’s unpredictability and amazing special effects (which cost a third of the overall production budget) helped make it a tremendous success at the box office. It was later followed by two sequels and a television series; none of which matched the achievement of the original.

Budget: $10,700,000

Total US Gross: $74,706,019

Genre: Horror

Runtime: 114 Minutes

US Release Date: 6/4/82

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Awards:

Academy Awards: 
Nominated for best original score, best sound effects, and best visual effects. 

American Film Institute’s Top 100 Lists: 
100 Years… 100 Thrills (#84)
100 Years… 100 Movie Quotes (#69 – “They’re here.”).

Tagline: It Knows What Scares You.

Quote: “Now clear your minds. It knows what scares you.  It has from the very beginning. Don't give it any help, it knows too much already.”

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