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Halloween Extravaganza
Poltergeist Movie Review
Welcome to the first post kicking off our first ever Halloween extravaganza marathon countdown that you'll never forget because it is so incredibly awesome. I decided to start the whole thing this year with a review of Poltergeist. The original Poltergeist. As a child of the 80s I can honestly say that this moview scared me to death.
It was one of the first horror movies I ever saw and one of the first movies we ever rented. Maybe it's my Dad's fault for being an early adopter of the VCR, or my Mom's fault for having an incredible lapse in judgment, but regardless of which it was, I saw this movie and it scared me to death. I later returned the favor by renting Poltergeist II for my
little brother who subsequently had nightmares for months afterwards. That's just what brothers do. Oh, and the Poltergeist trilogy is supposedly cursed as the cast members kept dropping dead in real life.
Anyways, I am assuming you've seen the movie and if you haven't, you can hardly blame me for spoiling anything. Poltergeist was one of the first higher budget horror films of the 80s. A Spielberg production starring Craig T. Nelson (yep, coach was in this) and Zelda Rubinstein from the acclaimed film
Teen Witch, so you know from the start that this is going to be a really good film. The whole thing centers around the Freelings, a young family who lives in a new community. The freelings are just like any other 30 something couple from the 80s. They have three kids, the mom doesn't do anything much and the dad gets to live in the home because he sells the homes for the developer and he's damn good at it.
But you know from the start that something isn't right because the Carol Anne, the youngest of the Freeling horde keeps getting up in the middle of the night and talking to the tv when its just showing static.
And then the static finally reaches out and touches her and burns a whole in the wall of the parent's bedroom. That's when the Poltergeist of the house starts to heat up. Family pets die, chairs start moving, etc. etc. The family isn't really alarmed at this point, in fact, the mom's kind of amused by the whole haunted house higher powers stuff. That's probably because the Freeling parents like to get high. That's right,
they like to fire up the ganja, so my guess is that they were probably so high all the time, they weren't really sure if the house was haunted or if they were just tripping balls.
That all changes when the creepy tree in the backyard comes to life the next night, breaks into the room that Carol Anne and the middle brother share and tries to eat the brother. Nope, that was definitely real and it takes the coach every ounce of strength he has to rescue his son. But for all of coach's strength, he isn't that smart. You see, that was just a diversion to get Carol Anne alone. So why they're rescuing the son, the Poltergeist
is sucking up their precious daughter and transporting her to another dimension. Definitely didn't see that one coming.
So the house/poltergeist gets the daughter. Well, the parents realize that their pot raddled brains aren't equipped to deal with this situation, so they solicit the help of some parapsychologists from the local university. These guys are true professionals, armed with cameras, video, all kinds of stuff for documenting Poltergeist activity. The only problem is that while they are top notch observers, they can't really seem to do much. Truth be told, they're all
scared of what's going on themselves. But they stick around and are at least able to determine that the Freelings are stuck with a poltergeist and not a haunting. The good news is that poltergeists don't last as long, but the bad news is that the thing has already taken their daughter. But it's not too late, Carol Anne is still in the house and when it's quiet, they can even communicate with her through the television set.
That night, while the family is sleeping and the observers are observing, one of the observers makes his way into the kitchen to raid the Freeling's ice box. He starts by laying out a steak and munching on some chicken when he notices that the steak is crawling across the kitchen counter. He then notices that his chicken is infested with maggots. Nauseated by the spoiled meat, he dashes to the wash room to was out his mouth when he notices a minor skin lesion. He starts
picking at it and picking at it until he manages to completely rip off all the skin on his face, revealing his skull. It's like a meth commercial gone wrong and it is one of the most memorable scenes of the movie.
Well, his face suddenly returns to normal and realizing what has happened, he leaves. The rest of the family is discouraged and the lead researcher brings in the big guns. Well, they bring in a little person, but she's actually psychic and determines that the house must be cleansed and that there are people in that other dimension who don't know they're dead. They're attracted to Carol Anne's life force and refuse to go to the light. The only way they're going to get their daughter back is to
hold together as a family and get her out. So the Freelings regroup and come up with a plan. They're going to send the mom through the portal where she'll get her daughter back. Sounds simple enough, but there's one little snafu: while they're sending the mom through the portal in Carol Anne's closet, the coach messes up and pulls too hard on the rope. This summons a big giant demon thing and it looks like everything has been for not.
But the mom is more determined and manages to rescue Carol Anne from the other side of the portal. Granted they're both covered in some sort of ectoplasmic goo when they come out on the other side of the portal, but at least the family is intact again. So everything is back to normal, right? Not so fast. While the coach decides to quit his high paying job selling these new homes, there's one catch. His boss stops by the house and takes him on a tour of the community both to show him what's happening with the business and to
offer him a lot more money and a new home. The coach is sort of excited at this point until he realizes that the new development site is currently occupied by a lot of graves. Ok, it's a cemetery, but what's the big deal? They'll just move it like they did when they built the coach's house.
The coach still has some misgivings about the whole thing, and it would definitely explain the whole poltergeist kidnapping his daughter thing, so he returns home to his newly cleansed house. Yeah, the movie is still rolling so you guessed it if you thought that maybe the haunting isn't over yet. While the coach was examining his new crib, the family was relaxing at home, preparing for their move. There's something of a lapse in time here as it is suddennly bed time for the kids, but that's quickly forgotten as the house comes back with a vengeance.
The creepy clown in the kids' room comes to life and tries to strangle the brother, the mom is tossed up and down the walls of her room, and the room tries to suck Carol Anne back into the vortex. To add insult to injury, while the mom tries to rescue her brood, she ends up outside where she slips into the pool. And guess what? There are skeletons and coffins in the pool. They moved the gravestones, but they didn't bother to move the graves! That definitely explains the haunting activity. By this time, the house is pissed. But the mom manages to rescue the kids and get everyone outside. Coach and his
boss arrive just in time. The coach realizes that the graves are still under the home so he's done with his job. He gets the family into the station wagon, tells off his boss and hits the road. The boss is left to witness the house implode as the whole neighborhood breaks out into chaos.
The whole movie ends with the family checking into a budget hotel where they quickly ditch the tv set. Overall, I have to admit that I was once again sucked into this movie. It didn't give me the nightmares it did the first time, but I was impressed that the production values held up so well over time. The movie just doesn't look dated the same way other 80s movies do. The only tell tale signs are the large amount of really cool stuff in the kids' room. They've got all kinds of cool Star Wars toys and a lot of the same stuff I had as a kid. The room itself would sell for a goldmine on eBay. If you haven't seen this movie
yet, I would still recommend it for its classic lines and if it's been a while since you've seen Poltergeist, do yourself a favor and add it to the Netflix list. You'll thank me for it.
Well, that's the end of the beginning- the first article for this year's Halloween Extravaganza. I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much as I enjoyed writing it. And don't forget to check back tomorrow for brand new Halloween articles.
- Mark
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