 Thanks for checking out this movie review video So this is for the 1982 film a highly revered film poltergeist In the pantheon of horror films It is one that pretty much everyone knows even if they're not a horror fan and most likely has probably seen so I'm not gonna go crazy into detail about all the scenes that I love in this one Like I kind of do with some other films because this is such a such well trodden territory So I'm just gonna point some things out that come up to me to come up when I most recently watch the film But one of the biggest things that kind of sticks out with this film nowadays when you watch it Especially if you're you know deep into the horror Genre and you've seen a lot of horror films when you're watching the film nowadays You just keep thinking about all the other films that have taken things from this film because when it came out It kind of was its own thing it was definitely very very new for what it was doing and From that there's been a lot of inspiration drawn for like paranormal investigation films and just ghost stories in general So when you're watching the film you just keep seeing all these parallels of like this scene looks a lot like this scene and in a more Recent film and there's just so much of that and that became very clear to me when I was just watching it recently And by the way when I'm doing this review It's available for streaming on Netflix, which is where I watched it. So this is directed by Toby Hooper Yes, this was directed by Toby Hooper not Steven Spielberg This is a very common misconception that Steven Spielberg directed the film He was involved in writing the screenplay and I bet you he probably would have directed the film Except for the fact that he had he had it in his contract for making that for directing the film Et that he was not allowed to direct another film at the same time. He was directing et So for that reason he was not allowed to direct poltergeist He was involved and some say there there are a lot of conflicting stories Some say that he was involved in writing all the storyboards Some say that he was heavily involved in influencing what Toby Hooper did with shots and that Toby Hooper consulted him a lot and Some people even go so far as to say that Toby Hooper was abusing drugs During the filming time and he was so out of it that Steven Spielberg basically was doing the directing I don't know what's true and what's not there are a lot of conflicting stories out there But there's a lot of information about it on both sides so you can go out and check it out So the big thing is there's been a lot a lot a lot of debate on who really did it But Toby Hooper's name is on it. It was his contract as director I'm saying he did it and I'm gonna give it the benefit of the doubt that he was the influential director in this with this film So just saying and I also find it kind of crappy that Steven Spielberg Has made comments in public that have kind of he has alluded to the fact that he actually directed it and It's just crappy So anyway moving on but oh, but if people don't know things to Toby Hooper has directed Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That's when everyone knows Salem's lot the fun house life force and toolbox murders That's just a few just saying Like I said written by Steven Spielberg who also wrote scripts for close encounters of the third kind and AI Artificial intelligence which that was a Kubrick film while half Kubrick and I think Spielberg finished it because he died during the making of that one Also involved in the script writing were Michael Grace and Mark Victor who also wrote scripts for death hunt Marked for death poltergeist to the other side and cool world So it wasn't just Spielberg. There were two other writers with this it had 10.7 million dollar budget and ended up making 121.7 million dollars. That is a cash cow Unbelievable the other interesting thing to point out is a lot of people called That time period of when this film came out the summer of Spielberg because one week apart E.T. came out and poltergeist came out. So two big Spielberg projects the guy was looking good at that point Initially Spielberg actually wanted to call the film night skies and he wanted to make it a horror version sequel to Encounters of the third kind But Toby Hooper actually suggested that it would be much better is just doing it as a ghost story And that's why it ended up being a ghost story I'm glad they went with that route because having it be a horror sequel to Cliffs and counters of the third kind I mean it may have worked, but we wouldn't have gotten what we did which is obviously a very important film a very influential film So this ended up spawning poltergeist to the other side in 1986 as well as poltergeist 3 in 1988 and then there was also a remake of the original poltergeist in 2015 and then there was also a Novelization that came out not long after the film came out the original film came out in theaters in 82 So that's interesting Jerry Goldsmith we do need to talk about this the a lot of people talk about the soundtrack when they watch this film Or when they talk about this film and the soundtrack is very grandiose It sounds really really good although I would kind of argue that a lot of the times It's it's very over the top now I say that but I also realized that that's kind of what film was back then especially because this was a big budget film That's what script. That's what it was, you know It's to be expected that it was that way now when I look at it and I say that I think it's over the top I think it's over the top for now and I'm very very glad that we've kind of you know pulled things back quite a bit especially with Soundtracks in the horror genre. I think kind of less is more is to is a type of thing But for that time for 1982 that was an unbelievable soundtrack and the music itself when you separate it from the film is Unbelievable. It's so good. It's so grandiose. It sounds so amazingly done Intricate and Jerry Goldsmith is the one who did that soundtrack And he was actually nominated for an Oscar for the soundtrack at for best original score is what the Category was but he ended up losing to the people who did the sound or the score for ET there you go originally Poltergeist got an R rating But then Hooper and Spielberg went to the MPAA and they did an appeal and they won on the appeal to get it taken down from an R To a PG which if you watch the film, I don't know how they did that probably some of this a lot of influence from the big studios, but Some people may say well, why wasn't it just downgraded to a PG-13? Actually PG-13 as a rating didn't exist until two years later in 1984 So it probably would have been a PG-13, but that didn't exist So it went all the way down to PG But it holds at a PG right now even though it probably should have been adjusted after the fact to being a PG-13 Which is just the MPAA is kind of weird or very weird So the beginning of this film I think is actually really weird and kind of clunky and there are actually some clunky things about this film in general That a lot of people don't talk about or think about but when you're gonna sit down and like really dissect the film These things kind of pop out to you one of the things is the beginning is weird Because it's the dog kind of just going around from person to person I think it's kind of a way to just show how many people are in the family and just be like Okay, this is everyone in the family. This this is who our main characters are gonna be plus the dog But it also indicates that the dog has a connection with the paranormal stuff That's going on because it seems like the dog is hearing it and then kind of trying to alert the family somewhat and then that comes into play later when the dog can kind of can hear Carol Ann But you know and that's another thing though the name Carol Ann is said so freaking much in this film It is beyond annoying Especially nowadays But I take it to the nth degree because after I watch it I always walk around the house and Annoy my wife by going Carol Ann Carol Ann She's not gonna hear the end of it for about a week. I'll tell you that But my point with the dog is it's a weird beginning. It's just a weird way to begin the film. It just seems like Why you know And like I said, there are a few things that just like why The shot of the back of the girl of Carol Ann's head when she's looking at the TV. That's all static That's a very iconic thing. They often when they're in like documentaries or Films when the referencing poltergeist they'll show that portion because it looks amazing like the shadow like the silhouette of Her against the static and the light of the TV just looks unbelievable And that's one of the great things about this film is that it looks really good And it does hold up looks wise not just from a cinematography and directing standpoint But also from a practical effects standpoint a lot of the practical effects look great They still look great even some of the special effects such as these like the spirits Especially like that skeleton spirit, which you all know what I'm talking about the one with like the kind of animal Like long face with the horrible teeth Awesome, and that's the thing it still holds up. It looks so good so the to have the scene with The silhouette against the static on the TV is a really good one to do kind of early on because it sets a really nice creepy tone to the film With the way it starts in the neighborhood. It's actually kind of points out How interesting the soundtrack is because it sounds very whimsical when they're kind of showing the neighborhood And they're showing people out doing all their whatever they're doing the guy on the bicycle with a case of beer under his arm Which I thought was really funny The sound tracks Particularly over the top at that point and it sounds very whimsical and it sounds like a Spielberg type whimsical film Which I just kind of thought was interesting Yeah, I wrote down the dude biking with the case of beer was great The tree so the first indicator that there's something other than the static on the TV the first physical indicator that something is There's a presence. There's a creepy weird presence is really that tree and how crazy it looks and the way they design that thing It's so weird-looking. It's so creepy-looking. It feels and looks very out of place there but it's kind of a it's a foreshadowing because it's right there on the property and it's the weirdest most messed up looking thing when everything else looks so normal and so nice and so Americana and You have this tree that's so out of place and it's just that contrast of even though everything on the surface is looking So normal and good look in the backyard and you see this tree and there's really something creepy and dark that's there and Then later on obviously the tree attacks, which is an awesome scene a great scene They executed that so well and you know someone seeing that for the first time probably never see that coming really well done The fear of the dark and storms is such a classic for kids and I think that a lot of times it's used in films just as like Oh, that's you know kids are just afraid of the dark and afraid of storms But in this it's actually used as yet another Portion of the foreshadowing that something's about to happen in this instance kids are afraid But they're afraid for a very good reason because there's actually something behind that And that's another thing is nature is used a lot in this film as the tormentor For these individuals. It's like the spirits the evil entities are Manipulating nature in order to do the bidding for trying to get rid of these people basically Either by killing them potentially or you know driving them away, which happens in the end or just sucking their whole house and do Some sort of spiritual portal, which is what happens in the end and looks really great by the way But I just found that very interesting now, I don't know What the reasoning would that would be for that? I guess it's the it seems like maybe the most benign thing, but it's but it also seems like there's kind of this tie of the people when they were living are Dominating nature and then when they're dead they basically become one with nature because they get buried they get absorbed into the soil in essence and then It becomes an intermingling of the human and the nature so in the afterlife I Guess maybe there it's it's an idea that they're so closely related that if they're going to reach into the real world For you know, whatever reason in this in this instance to do bad things to other human beings They're going to use nature because they're so tied to it at that point. So but you know just a point Carol Ann is creepy by the way too Especially how she acts in the beginning of the film she becomes more of a victim later on but in the very beginning She just seems off and weird and creepy. I don't know if anyone else feels that way, but yeah When Carol Ann's watching the static and the mother changes the channel and says that she'll ruin her eyes She ends up turning it to a movie that's on TV. That's a war movie That's very very violent and I feel like this is a very interesting way of kind of Pointing out how parenting is slipping and they do that a few times in this film Like when they're getting high and not really paying attention to the kids and then also this moment that I'm talking about where she's like Oh, you'll ruin your eyes but watch this super violent war movie which will Mess you up potentially like this is stuff you shouldn't really be seeing but she walks away from it then showing how she doesn't really care That much and so this is showing this kind of like parents so in their own world that they're not even paying attention to The actual dangers to their kids Until those dangers are physical until those dangers are the tree and the dangers are the the spirit portal and all that stuff And then they jump into super protective mode and they're they're there So for that reason, I think this movie actually ends up touching a lot on The idea of fears of being a parent How hard it is to be a parent but also how you can kind of lose track of what you should be looking at But then also capitalizing on the fear of What happens if something does happen to your children because that's always a fear for people who are parents from I mean I'm not a parent, but from what I hear there There's this low level of fear that parents always have of something bad happening in the other kid and What happens if spirits are after your child? Terrible all the tree stuff looks extremely good and the closet vortex Happening simultaneously. It's kind of like this amazing double whammy of like great practical effects great practical effects intercutting going back and forth Um, and it made me think like either at this point They're trying to intentionally go after both of the kids or they start with the tree attack To have it as like a red herring to go after Robbie for the parents to go after Robbie Well, they then abduct Carol Ann through the vortex because they're dealing with the Robbie situation and then carol Ann gets abducted So I don't know if it was intended to be they're actually going after both of them Or they were really just going after carol ann because it appears that she's already sensitive in the beginning to The spirits being there that she's like maybe a little bit medium-esque a little bit of a conduit in a sense And Robbie didn't seem to be that I don't know that the comedic aspects of this film actually help it There are a few comedic moments, especially when the paranormal investigators are first introduced into the house They throw some small comedy moments in in there and they just feel Like they don't fit and I understand that like with a PG movie There's kind of this con this idea that like there should be some light moments There should be some, you know, kind of funny moments But it's just the comedy moments didn't really land except in the beginning where They're having like the the remote control wars between the two houses in the neighborhood. That was I enjoyed that. That was funny So when they had paranormal investigators talking to Robbie about kind of where spirits go and You know spirits being trapped between the real world and heaven or hell or whatever The look of her is super freaky because her her face is partially in the dark and partially in the light And she has like these This light in both of her eyes That just looks so weird and creepy and it really made me think to some of the the the imagery in the Exorcist like that moment where you see that I think it's supposed to be like a Pazuzu type face in the Like partially in the dark partially in the light It kind of took me back to that and it looked very similar I don't know if it was kind of ripped from that or inspired by that I don't know but it's something that made me think about but regardless she looks really creepy during that The crazy meat scene followed by the dismantling of the face where the guy's like tearing his face apart in front of the Mirror that is some intense stuff. It's very interesting. It's very cool Once again, it looks really good The concept of the souls Getting stuck is a pretty frightening thing For living people but also for the souls themselves Like when you think about not only what's the impact to these people living here But what's the impact to those actual souls being stuck what they're going through and obviously carol hands one of them at that point zelda rubenstein Tangina I don't such a weird name. I don't get it. She is one of my favorite parts of the film Actually, she is my favorite part of the film other than the practical facts. I would say Her acting in this is really good. Her character is really good. She's like kind of creepy you kind of don't know if she's really good or or bad because she's Saying like She's giving like mixed mixed messages about tell her to go towards the light or tell her to come here And she's like changes So you you are kind of suspicious of her and kind of not and the way she plays the character too and delivers the lines like it's very dramatic and very I don't know. She just she just seems kind of like Forboding in the way that she delivers lines and I love it. I think she's the best part of the film It's a real brave thing for the mother actually to go in through that portal. I was That's a surprising moment that she would just be like I'm going in but you know once again That's kind of the the power of I'm going to save my child type deal It does not make much sense that they wouldn't immediately leave though after all the events of you know Finally getting carolin out of that portal I don't think Realistically they'd be like oh, well, we'll wait a little bit so we get everything packed up and They would be out they would be out of there and then the other thing is too the way it's shot It's like they kind of go back to normal life. Like it's like oh everything's done. We're fine now. Everything's good It doesn't make sense and I think that's a plot hole There's foreshadowing though. This is the interesting thing when everyone's kind of acting normalish There's some really interesting foreshadowing when Carol Ann's laying in bed and she's got her little doll and she kind of like hugs it And the head falls off. That's a foreshadowing that here come Problems again, which I like that. I like that little moment Once again that spirit skeleton thing looks great still. I love it I'm always waiting for that moment in the film when I watch it And the reveal of the bodies that were left behind from the cemetery coming out of the ground Is awesome. Uh, and then it also makes me think yeah, that sounds about right for Real estate developers that they would do something like that. It's very very believable You know, obviously that's the big twist of he was telling them Hey, we we moved the cemetery and then built all these houses. Well, no, they just moved the headstones They left all the bodies and that is why you have the problems that you do because that's messed up That is hallowed ground. Oh my gosh So, you know, when you see that film for the first time that is an amazing twist to it. It is One of those moments where you're just like, oh my gosh, like everything clicks And it things seem even more messed up and seem even scarier. So it was a very effective twist How does anyone in the family get back to any semblance of a normal life after this? Any of them I like the touch when they finally get to that holiday in motel Which they make a very big point of showing that it's a holiday in I like that touch in the end where they wheeled the tv out because that's how everything got started So we're not going there. We're not even going to give it the opportunity So that's obviously already showing some trauma That will carry along with them. Will they ever own a tv again? I don't even know But it does beg that question at the end. How do you rebound from that? Any of them you probably don't and the mother at least she has a physical reminder with those gray streaks in her hair just saying Once again soundtrack amazing. Love it There are some really abrupt cuts in this. This is one of the other problems that I have and it's it's not just like Because I've seen movies where it's like it's an abrupt cut But the scenes make sense. It's like, okay, I know the scene ended and then this one's beginning It's these abrupt cuts where it seems like there was still more to that prior scene And they just accidentally cut it too early or you jump into another scene and it's like already in progress at a point where You're coming into it late And it doesn't happen a lot, but there's at least two moments earlier on in the film before the halfway point where it happens I can't remember exactly them one of them actually one of them has to do with when the canary is going to go into the toilet There's like a really weird like edits there like really weird and it's Disorienting and it doesn't work and then there's something later that's not like tied to any particular scene Where it's like something's going on and then cut and it's like wait a minute I feel like there was more that we should have seen And then we're moving into this scene and it feels like we're behind like what what's happening So just a few problems with it The things uh, sorry Excuse me This actually brings up a lot about the fears of the concerns of parenting which I already talked about but also home ownership That's one of the big things that if you are a homeowner or you're looking into being one You know that one of the big fears is you're going to move into the house And you're going to find out there are problems that you didn't know about prior to buying the house Well, this is a very messed up very Exaggerated version of that because could you imagine if you moved into a house and found out? Oh, they're you're actually built on a cemetery That would freak a lot of people out that would cause some problems I mean similarly, you know, everyone wants to know there weren't any murders here. Nobody died in this house, right? That's another big thing that people look at which is kind of you know tied in So I think this kind of plays along with those kind of home ownership fears that everyone has of What do I not know about that's going to be a problem here? And usually it ends up being things like, you know, the age fact system is really old and it ends up going up Or there are leaks in the roof that nobody really knew about things like that And the last thing I wanted to bring up is it's very interesting They put a lot of americana into this film very early on From how they show the layout of the neighborhood and how everyone's running around playing The the guys drinking beer and watching football The kid robbie's reading a captain america magazine The father is reading a reagan book You know, they throw all this americana in there and I think it's kind of a way to Symbolize that the family is america in a sense and their home is built on The ground of people who have already passed And I think this is kind of maybe a little bit of a tie-in to The issue of america being built on land that wasn't theirs that it was native american ground And they moved in and just built themselves on top of it And yeah, I mean take that for what it is Maybe I'm right on that. Maybe I'm not right on that. Maybe that's not fully fleshed out But that's what I got But anyway, this is a good film. I don't think it's the best film It doesn't obviously it's super influential like I talked about, you know, when I watch it I see all these parallels between that and movies that came after it all these things that were borrowed or inspired other films so It is a good film. There are some problems with it. The other thing is watching it now It's not nearly as entertaining because it's a lot slower but that's kind of a product of Over time we kind of spend things up in film to keep interest So anyway, I think out of five stars. I'm going to give it a four star rating. It's obviously quite good I was between four and four and a half, but I think it's a little more towards the four range It's a good film. It's a quite good film. I You know, obviously everyone knows about it, but yeah, that's about it That's all I have to say about it put some comments down there your thoughts on this And we'll chat about it But do me a quick favor and hit that subscribe button if you like this video or any video I do That's your best way to repay me because it means a lot to me personally I really appreciate that and for you it's literally a second to just click it But if you are going to do that or you have done that also hit the notification bell So, you know, whenever I'm putting up new reviews or unboxings because I'm doing a little bit of that Or doing a live stream, but regardless, thanks for taking your time to check this out and until next time keep it brutal