JoBeth Williams in Poltergeist (1982)
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Come on, the kid gets sucked into the TV... That one idiot eats maggots, then peels his own face off...the big sucking closet monster...that damn spooky clown doll...and the swimming pool full of...something. Poltergeist is a classic haunted house movie, transplanted into the suburbs. Enjoy.
Please tell me in what capacity Poltergeist does not entertain. The family is all pretty darn cool, especially those hip parents, smoking joints late at night after putting the kiddies to bed. (Yeah, suburbia, take that.) The kids are considerably less annoying than those in most movies. There are a few brilliant glimpses of consumerist satire, like the scene with the remote controls changing the neighbor's channels, or the dad trying to ride a bike with a couple of six-packs under each arm. It's obvious that Steven Spielberg had considerably more input than 'screenwriter/executive director'. I'd bet on it.
Things start going wacky in the "Freling" household, with chairs sliding around at random and a mini-tornado in the kids' bedroom. The family finally wises up after their youngest daughter is sucked into a TV and they decide to call some authentic-looking university Ghostbuster types. Then "Tangina" shows up. The diminutive actress Zelda Rubenstein is simply great. She looks and sounds pretty silly but she plays it straight and delivers a fun performance.
JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson are pitch-perfect as the beleaguered suburbanites and the supporting cast (particularly that oily James Karen) adds a lot of color. Director Tobe Hooper piles the 'good parts' one on top of another, especially towards the end. The ghosts and monsters and delusions that start popping up are harsh enough for the horror fans, yet just mild enough for the kids to appreciate without freaking out and insisting that you cut all the trees down within a 3 blocks radius. Poltergeist is a true rarity: an excellent Hollywood horror movie. I had to beat the crap our of my fingers to make them type that line!
Perhaps a subtle poke in the chops to suburban living and consumerism but forget all that. There are scares galore and enough real creepy stuff to keep you squirming. (P.S. Avoid the sequels like you would red, flaming syphilis. What, too late? Too bad about the syphilis!)
Nudity Report: JoBeth Williams has that one scene late in the film. You remember…Fresh out of the shower and lounging about in her undies…she suddenly starts getting groped and manhandled by some invisible (and apparently horny) ghosts. Fun stuff.
IMDB Summary: 6,722 IMDb users rate this one at 7.2/10.
Box Office:
DVD Info: Grossed over $76 million against an estimated budget of $11 million and that’s in 1982 dollars! Today you could buy New Zealand for the equivalent buck but then where would you up it?
Written by: Scott Weinberg