Over the years I’ve heard Poltergeist talked about in positive terms. Well now I’ve seen it, and I have to say “mmmmmm”. It’s not bad film, but it’s not what I expected.
First of all, I did like the family aspect of it. It’s absolutely of it’s time, but they’re a believable unit, so the challenges they face later land harder. You believe that they’d go to great lengths for each other. Every family packed into an identikit home, and the lack of care for the area, is a nice swipe at capitalism.
The main issue Poltergeist faces is that it isn’t a scary film, which is a big problem when it’s always been sold to me as one. It isn’t! One creepy clown does not a horror film make.
The questions around Spielberg actually being the director (Google it) might be the bigger drama. As it stands, Poltergeist is merely alright. Perhaps if I ever see it again I’ll have correctly set expectations and it might be better.
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