Poltergeist (film)

This article is about the 1982 film. For other uses, see Poltergeist (disambiguation).

Poltergeist
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Tobe Hooper
Produced by	Steven Spielberg Frank Marshall
Screenplay by	Steven Spielberg Michael Grais Mark Victor
Story by	Steven Spielberg
Starring	Craig T. Nelson JoBeth Williams Beatrice Straight Dominique Dunne Oliver Robins Heather O'Rourke Zelda Rubinstein
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Matthew F. Leonetti, ASC
Editing by	Steven Spielberg Michael Kahn
Studio	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer SLM Production Group
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	June 4, 1982 (1982-06-04)
Running time	114 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10.7 million
Box office	$121,706,019

Poltergeist is a 1982 American horror film, directed by Tobe Hooper and produced by Steven Spielberg, and is the first and most successful film of the Poltergeist film trilogy. Set in a California suburb, the plot focuses on a family whose home is invaded by malevolent ghosts that abduct the family's youngest daughter.

The film was ranked as #80 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments and the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 20th scariest film ever made. The film also appeared as #84 on American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding movies. Poltergeist was also nominated for three Academy Awards.

The Poltergeist franchise is believed by some to be cursed due to the premature deaths of several people associated with the film, a notion that was the focus of an E! True Hollywood Story.

Plot

Steven and Diane Freeling live a quiet life in a California suburb called Cuesta Verde, where Steven is a successful realtor and Diane is a housewife who cares for their children Dana, Robbie, and Carol Anne. Carol Anne awakens one night and begins conversing with the family's television set, which has started transmitting static following a sign-off. The following night, while the Freelings are sleeping, Carol Anne becomes fixated on the television set as it transmits static again. Suddenly, an apparition emerges from the television screen and vanishes into the wall, creating a violent earthquake within the house in the process, to which Carol Anne announces "They're here."

Bizarre events begin to occur the following day, such as glasses and utensils that spontaneously break or bend and furniture that moves on its own accord. The phenomena seem benign at first, but quickly begin to intensify. That night, a gnarled backyard tree becomes animated and grabs Robbie through the bedroom window. While Diane and Steven rescue Robbie, Carol Anne is sucked through a portal in her closet. The Freelings realize she has been taken when they hear her voice emanating from a television set.

A group of parapsychologists from UC Irvine—Dr. Lesh, Ryan, and Marty—come to the Freeling house to investigate and determine that the Freelings are experiencing a poltergeist intrusion. They discover that the disturbances involve more than just one ghost. Steven also finds out in an exchange with his boss, Lewis Teague, that Cuesta Verde is built where a cemetery was once located.

After Dana and Robbie are sent away for their safety, Dr. Lesh and Ryan call in Tangina Barrons, a spiritual medium. Tangina states that the spirits are lingering in a different "sphere of consciousness" and are not at rest. Attracted to Carol Anne's life force, the spirits are distracted from the real "Light" that has come for them. Tangina then adds that among the ghosts inhabiting the house, there is also a demon known as the "Beast", who has Carol Anne under restraint in an effort to manipulate the other spirits.

The assembled group discovers that the entrance to the other dimension is through the children's bedroom closet, while the exit is through the living room ceiling. As the group attempts to rescue Carol Anne, Diane passes through the entrance tied by a rope that has been threaded through both portals. Diane manages to retrieve Carol Anne, and they both drop to the floor from the ceiling unconscious. As they recover, Tangina proclaims afterward that the house is now "clean".

Shortly thereafter, the Freelings prepare to move elsewhere. During their last night in the house, Steven attends a meeting with Teague and Dana goes on a date, leaving Diane, Robbie, and Carol Anne alone in the house. The Beast then ambushes Diane and the children, attempting a second kidnapping. Diane and the children escape the house to discover coffins and rotting corpses erupting out from the ground throughout the neighborhood. As Steven and Dana return home to the mayhem, Steven realizes that rather than relocating the cemetery for the development of Cuesta Verde, Teague merely had the headstones moved and the bodies left behind, desecrating the burial grounds. The Freelings flee Cuesta Verde while the house itself implodes into another dimension, to the astonishment of onlookers. The family checks into a hotel for the night, and Steven shoves the room's television outside onto the balcony.

Cast

• Craig T. Nelson as Steven Freeling
• JoBeth Williams as Diane Freeling
• Heather O'Rourke as Carol Anne Freeling
• Dominique Dunne as Dana Freeling
• Oliver Robins as Robbie Freeling
• Zelda Rubinstein as Tangina Barrons
• Beatrice Straight as Dr. Lesh
• Martin Casella as Marty
• Richard Lawson as Ryan
• James Karen as Mr. Teague

Production

Creative credit

A clause in his contract with Universal Studios prevented Spielberg from directing any other film while preparing E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Time and Newsweek tagged the summer of 1982 "The Spielberg Summer" because E.T. and Poltergeist were released a week apart in June. As such a marketable name, some began to question Spielberg's role during production. Suggestions that Spielberg had greater directorial influence than the credits suggest were aided by comments made by the writer/producer:

"Tobe isn't... a take-charge sort of guy. If a question was asked and an answer wasn't immediately forthcoming, I'd jump in and say what we could do. Tobe would nod agreement, and that become the process of collaboration."

The Directors Guild of America "opened an investigation into the question of whether or not Hooper's official credit was being denigrated by statements Spielberg has made, apparently claiming authorship." Co-producer Frank Marshall told the Los Angeles Times that "the creative force of the movie was Steven. Tobe was the director and was on the set every day. But Steven did the design for every storyboard and he was on the set every day except for three days when he was in Hawaii with Lucas." However, Hooper claimed that he "did fully half of the storyboards."

The Hollywood Reporter printed an open letter from Spielberg to Hooper in the week of the film's release.

Regrettably, some of the press has misunderstood the rather unique, creative relationship which you and I shared throughout the making of Poltergeist.
I enjoyed your openness in allowing me... a wide berth for creative involvement, just as I know you were happy with the freedom you had to direct Poltergeist so wonderfully.
Through the screenplay you accepted a vision of this very intense movie from the start, and as the director, you delivered the goods. You performed responsibly and professionally throughout, and I wish you great success on your next project.

Several members of the Poltergeist cast and crew have over the years consistently alleged that Spielberg was the 'de facto director' of the picture, while other actors have claimed Hooper directed the film. In a 2007 interview with Ain't It Cool News, Rubinstein discussed her recollections of the shooting process. She said that "Steven directed all six days" that she was on set: "Tobe set up the shots and Steven made the adjustments." She also alleged that Hooper "allowed some unacceptable chemical agents into his work," and at her interview felt that time "Tobe was only partially there."

Special effects

In 2002, on an episode of VH1's I Love the '80s, JoBeth Williams revealed that the production used real human skeletons when filming the swimming pool scene. Many of the people on the set were alarmed by this and led others to believe the "curse" on the film series was because of this use. Craig Reardon, a special effects artist who worked on the film, commented at the time that it was cheaper to purchase real skeletons than plastic ones, as the plastic ones involved labor in making them. Williams was not afraid of the prop skeletons, but she was nervous working in water around so many electrically powered lights. Producer Spielberg comforted her by being in the water during her scenes, claiming that if a light fell into the pool, they would both be killed.^{[citation needed]} Poltergeist was awarded the BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

Soundtrack

The music for Poltergeist was written by veteran composer Jerry Goldsmith. He wrote several themes for the score including the lullaby "Carol Anne's Theme" to represent blissful suburban life and the young female protagonist, an elegant semi-religious melody for dealings of the souls caught between worlds, and several dissonant, atonal blasts during moments of terror. The score went on to garner Goldsmith an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score, though he lost to fellow composer John Williams for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Reception

Poltergeist was a box office success worldwide. The film grossed $76,606,280 in the United States, making it the highest-grossing horror film of 1982 and 8th overall for the year.

Poltergeist was well received by critics and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1982. Douglas Brode compares the "family values" in Poltergeist to the Bush/Quayle 1992 reelection campaign. Andrew Sarris, in The Village Voice, wrote that when Carol Anne is lost the parents and the two older children "come together in blood-kin empathy to form a larger-than-life family that will reach down to the gates of hell to save its loved ones." In the L.A. Herald Examiner, Peter Rainer wrote:

Buried within the plot of Poltergeist is a basic, splendid fairy tale scheme: the story of a little girl who puts her parents through the most outrageous tribulation to prove their love for her. Underlying most fairy tales is a common theme: the comforts of family. Virtually all fairy tales begin with a disrupting of the family order, and their conclusion is usually a return to order.

The film received three Academy Award nominations: Best Original Score, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects.

Nearly 30 years after its release, the film is regarded by many critics as a classic of the horror genre and maintains an 87% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Poltergeist was selected by The New York Times as one of The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made. The film also received recognition from the American Film Institute. The film ranked number 84 on AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills list, and the tag line "They're here" was named the 69th greatest movie quote on AFI's 100 Years…100 Movie Quotes.

Home video release

In 1997, MGM released Poltergeist on DVD in a snap case, and the only special feature was a trailer. In 1998, Poltergeist was re-released on DVD with the same cover and disc as the 1997 release, but in a keep case and with an eight page booklet. In 1999, it was released on DVD again by Warner Home Video in a snap case with the same disc, but a different cover. Warner Home Video tentatively scheduled releases for the 25th anniversary edition of the film on standard DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray in Spain and the US on 9 October 2007. The re-release claimed to have digitally remastered picture and sound, and a two-part documentary: "They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists", which makes extensive use of clips from the film. The remastered DVD of the film was released as scheduled but both high-definition releases were eventually canceled. Warner rescheduled the high definition version of the film and eventually released it only on the Blu-ray disc format on October 14, 2008.

The Blu-ray disc release still had the "25th Anniversary Edition" banner even though this particular release was a full year behind the actual anniversary of the film. The Blu-ray disc release was packaged in collectible, non-standard Blu-ray disc packaging Warner Home Video calls "digibook" which is supposed to resemble a coffee table book and contains pictures from the film on its pages.

A six disc prototype, from the abandoned 20th Anniversary Special Edition, surfaced on eBay a few years ago and still crops up from time to time. Special features included The First Real Ghost Story and The Making of Poltergeist featurettes, screenplay, several photo galleries and Fangoria interviews, and the documentaries E! True Hollywood Story, Hollywood Ghost Stories and Terror in The Aisles. The 6th disc was a copy of the original motion picture soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith.

Reissues and sequels

The film was reissued on October 29, 1982 to take advantage of the Halloween weekend. It was shown in theaters for one night only on October 4, 2007 to promote the new restored and remastered 25th anniversary DVD, released five days later. This event also included the documentary "They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists," which was created for the new DVD.

The film spawned two sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III. The first retained the family but introduced a new motive for the Beast's behavior, tying him to an evil cult leader named Henry Kane, who led his religious sect to their doom in the 1820s. As the Beast, Kane went to extraordinary lengths to keep his "flock" under his control, even in death. The original motive of the cemetery's souls disturbed by the housing development was thereby altered; the cemetery was now explained to be built above a cave where Kane and his flock met their ends.

Carol Anne is the sole original family member featured in Poltergeist III, which finds her living in an elaborate Chicago skyscraper owned and inhabited by her aunt and uncle. Kane follows her there and uses the building's ubiquitous decorative mirrors as a portal to the Earthly plane.

In 2008, MGM announced that Vadim Perelman would helm a remake, to be written by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White. The remake was put on hold in 2010, because of MGM's financial problems. However, on February 18, 2011, MGM announced they still had plans for the remake.

Novelization

A novelization was written by James Kahn, adapted from the film's original screenplay. The copyright is 1982 by Amblin' Enterprises, Inc. It was printed in the United States through Warner Books, with the first printing in May 1982. The novel expands upon many scenes that took place in the film, such as an extended version of the kitchen scene in which Marty watches the steak crawl across a countertop, as well as introducing new elements, including a benevolent spirit, "The Waiting Woman," who protects Carol Anne in the spirit world.

References in popular culture

Poltergeist has been referenced in several films, television shows and music videos, including American Dad! ("The American Dad After School Special"), Simpsons ("Treehouse of Horror" and "Treehouse of Horror VI"), South Park ("With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes", "Dead Celebrities"), Chilly Beach ("Polargeist"), All Grown Up! ("Curse of Reptar"), and many others.

In "Petergeist", the tree is based on the one that captures Robbie.

An episode of Family Guy called "Petergeist" parodied the events in Poltergeist. Peter builds a multiplex in his backyard and discovers an Indian burial ground. When he takes an Indian chief’s skull, a poltergeist invades the Griffins’ home. The episode also used some of the same musical cues heard in the film, and recreates several of its scenes, including baby Stewie saying, "They're here", the chairs stacked on the kitchen table, the portal in the closet, a hallucinating Peter ripping his face off to reveal that of Hank Hill from King of the Hill, the house imploding, and Stewie being able to communicate through the TV. However, the clown is replaced with Ronald McDonald, and after Lois leaves the television outside, Peter pushes the television back and leaves Meg outside.

External links

• Poltergeist at the Internet Movie Database
• Poltergeist at AllRovi
• Poltergeist at Rotten Tomatoes
• Poltergeist Online