Poltergeist

1982 "It knows what scares you."
7.3| 1h54m| R| en| More Info
Released: 29 October 1982 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Upon realizing that something truly evil haunts his home, Steve Freeling calls in a team of parapsychologists to help before it's too late.

... View More
Stream Online

Stream with Max

Director

Producted By

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Images

Reviews

Wordiezett So much average
SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped
Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
paulclaassen This is a true classic. The haunting starts innocently and is initially seen as 'fun' by some of the family members, but then soon turns dangerous and scary. This is a very effective set-up that prepares us for what is to come. The characters a very likable, especially Craig T. Nelson as the cool and collected Dad; and Heather O'Rourke was equally good as the film's main victim. The visual effects were really good. The film did get quite weird towards the end, but it was all good and well within the film's theme.
DeuceWild_77 Even with all the rumors about the Poltergeist movies' curse that victimized some thespians from the cast, one of the greatest unsolved mysteries about it, is how much it had Tober Hooper's contribution in the making of it or he was just a director-for-hire (in this particular case more of a 'ghost director') and the movie was, in fact, solo directed by Steven Spielberg.Well, some of the cast and crew alleged that Hooper "was just there", the others said that, in fact, he directed it under strictly supervision by Spielberg who was always on the set. Which of the sides are right, probably we'll never know, but one thing is true for sure, the movie looks and feels more like a Spielberg directed movie than having Hooper's creativity touch in it.From the emotional tone to the uneven, relatively slow pace; the engaging, but a bit corny storytelling; the evolving camera-work; the skilled staging of the sequences (totally 'Spielberg-ish'); the dark humour inserted; the naivety on the children's point of view; the over-exaggerated allusion to "Star Wars"; lead character first name, Steven or the over-the-top / campy horror sequences, "Poltergeist" sweats Spielberg from every skin pore. It's Spielberg's baby, only got the "directed by" credit from someone else (Hooper was chosen due to his work on "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"), because he was contractual obligated to helm "E.T." for Universal. The only contribution from Hooper may have been on those thrilling horror sequences involving the skeletons, the rescue of Carol Anne or the escape from the house, but even that, i have my serious doubts, because Spielberg have done something similar a year before when Indy and Marion were trying to get out from the Well of Souls.As a movie which relies too much on its storytelling and the visual side of it (the mastering of suspense, the jump scares, the special effects that may look cheesy for today's standards, but were frightening back in the day...), most of the cast were recruited as 'jobbers', but JoBeth Williams (even if she looked way too young for her role as the desperate Mom) and Craig T. Nelson did OK in their roles. Zelda Rubinstein and the Academy Award Winner, Beatrice Straight offered strong support, even if the real stand-out was one of the cutest child actors that ever appeared on-screen, the then 6 years old Heather O'Rourke, who was absolute brilliant, captivating and haunting as Carol Anne. Ill-fated Dominique Dunne (the younger sister of actor Griffin Dunne), who unfortunately didn't live to attend the premiere, wasn't much of an actress and her scenes were cut short (on purpose or not...).In short, "Poltergeist" is for an old-fashioned ghost story, what the future "The Goonies" is for a pre-puberty daring adventure, both penned by a director who based it on his own dreams (& experiences) from when he was a young boy, full of imagination & creativity, and avid to become a filmmaker. It's a shame that he kind of lost his touch since the early 90's...
John Doe This is the most boring dull and stupid horror movie I've seen. Everything about it is stupid, the characters, the stories and acting..bleh. Why they made three sequels and a remake is beyond me. This deserves a Razzie award in every category. A complete waste of my time and brain cells.I give Poltergeist a 1/10
alfCycle This is a fairly fun, entertaining movie. It has lots of memorable moments that many will have seen referenced throughout pop culture. I did not see this film as a kid. If I had, I probably would have been pretty freaked out by it. However, watching for the first time as an adult, I can't really say that any part of this movie was particularly scary or creepy to me. It came across more like a fun spookfest than a horror movie. I would say this is closer in tone to something like Beetlejuice than it is to The Exorcist. I guess it's somewhere in the middle, which probably makes me give it a lukewarm review. Not creepy enough to be that scary. Not goofy enough to be that funny. I felt the beginning had that sense of wonder that you get from a Spielberg film. I know he didn't direct it, but you can definitely notice his influence on the direction of this movie. However, that feeling seemed to disappear along with the daughter. Overall, this is a pretty good movie that you can have fun with. Just don't go in expecting something scary.6/10************SPOILERS************Recommended for those that enjoy creepy children, creepy clowns, creepy trees, creepy tvs, creepy meats, creepy self stacking furniture, spontaneous face melting, spontaneous grave popping, spontaneous house folding, inter-dimensional closet portals, giant closet heads, ectoplasmic mud baths, remote control feuds......but that's just like, my opinion, man# Of Times Watched: Once