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Reviews:
Pure Fright: Poltergeist
by Christian De Matteo
HUGE
I recently watched The Exorcist for the first time ever. It was the new
version, “The Version You’ve Never Seen Before” as it was billed.
It was also billed as, “The Scariest Movie Ever Made.” I was looking
forward to it because, no matter how you slice it, that there’s a
ballsy promise.
It was good.
It was well directed and I loved the random appearances of Satan’s
face, and they even gave me little chills now again. But then last night
I watched Poltergeist again. Now, I’ve seen this film a whole bunch as
a older kid and a young teenager, so I knew what I was getting into. I
had some still very clear memories of the film and a bunch of very vague
ones.
It was astounding.
Perfectly directed, perfectly acted, and damn chillingly executed. The
little girl, played with infinite cuteness and innocence by the late
Heather O’Rourke, amps the terror up to an unbelievable level because
nothing, absolutely nothing should be allowed to happen to this girl.
So, of course, what does Spielberg do? He makes her the main target of
the film.
From about 15 minutes in, the movie is absolutely chilling. From the
conversation with little Carol Ann through the TV screen to the intense
climax, the film is not just frightening but completely chilling.
One of the most brilliant things the film does is give you unorthodox
characters who are still completely likable. Both the factors are
essential to the success of the scares. They have to be unorthodox
people because most people would have bolted as soon as chairs started
forming random geometric patterns on the kitchen table that defied
gravity. To keep the story believable, we have to understand why they
would stay, and not spend the whole movie thinking, “Geez, what stupid
people. Why didn’t they just leave?”
The second factor is that they are likable. Spielberg (his story and
much of his directing as “director” Toby Hooper didn’t get the job
done) throws so much at this family as a unit and individually that it
is absolutely essential that we the audience care deeply for them if the
fear is to be real. Craig T. Nelson (“Coach”) and JoBeth Williams
(The Big Chill) play fantastic and loving, somewhat hippie parents (more
mom than dad) who are raising their children in a loving household. How
can we not feel terror when this fine family begins being terrorized by
all things evil.
The special effects are very good, not just for a movie made in 1982,
but in general, and the way the plot pans out is exactly right. Watching
the pacing of the film and the plot and ideas behind it, it is clear M.
Night Shyamalan went to school on Spielberg’s horror gem, and a lot of
other horror movie directors should do the same.
Poltergeist gets my vote for the scariest movie ever made, easily,
a disconnected head and shoulders above any other horror film
I’ve ever seen.
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