This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, for the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.
Night 4: Haunted House Night Redux
“They’re here.”
Poltergeist is the rarest kind of horror movie: a
non-R-rated horror movie that is truly terrifying. It also proves that a glossy
mainstream studio movie can be as scary and disturbing as any indie or
underground horror movie. Steven Spielberg produced and co-wrote the screenplay
and it feels very much like a Spielberg movie that picked the wrong path
through the forest. The dark, at times gruesome, nature of the scares can be
attributed to director Tobe Hooper, most famous for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). There is controversy over who actually directed the movie,
with claims that Spielberg either filled in for Hooper or micromanaged every detail of the production (the reason why depends on
the source). Of course, this is all background and regardless of any
behind the scenes controversy the final film is a horror movie that doesn’t
pull any punches but is still widely appealing.
Poltergeist is about a reasonably content average
American family who lives in an idyllic suburb. A good portion of the movie is
spent just getting to know the family on an emotional level. We don’t get much
background about the parents, Steve (Craig T. Nelson) and Diane (JoBeth Williams), but thanks to the intimate moments we see and their performances, we
feel as though we know them very well. Then, out of nowhere strange things
start happening in their home. Their youngest daughter Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) starts talking to voices only she can hear coming through the static
of the television. In one of the best non-monster scares in the movie, or maybe
any movie, Diane looks away for a brief moment and when she looks back all of
the dining room chairs have stacked themselves on top of the table. Things
escalate quickly to terrifying levels when one night, again seemingly out of
nowhere, an old spooky looking tree reaches into the son’s bedroom and takes
him and tries to swallow him. Meanwhile, Carol Anne is sucked into another
plane of existence by a vortex in her closet. Steven and Diane reach out to
paranormal investigators at a university to try to figure out how to get Carol
Ann back.
From low key creepy touches like the flickering blue glow of
the static on the television with its roar like a storm to a screaming demonic
monster face to being tapped in a muddy swimming pool with corpses, there are
all kinds of scares in Poltergeist. Perhaps one of the most memorable scenes
involves an oversized clown doll that is already creepy to begin with before
any paranormal activity starts. There are scares that involve only practical
effects and makeup effects and scares that involve optical effects and
composite shots. It’s no surprise that Poltergeist received Oscar
nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Effects. They hold up very,
very well and still pack tremendous shock value. It’s hard to pin down any one
moment or scene as the scariest. There’s a good scare for
everyone in Poltergeist and that is what makes it a great and lasting
horror movie. 
As much as the special effects take center stage, the cast
is great and what really grounds the film and makes all the scary moments so
affecting. JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson are cast perfectly as the
parents and they have a great casual chemistry. Maybe my favorite scene in the whole movie happens after they first experience the seemingly benign paranormal
activity and go to a neighbor’s house to ask if they have experienced anything
similar. In the middle of their question Steve and Diane become awkwardly giddy
as they realize the strangeness of what they want to ask, all the while mosquitoes
buzz around them. Child performances are always tricky as they can make or
break an entire movie and O’Rourke does a great job as Carol Anne, too young
and innocent to be suspicious of the voices she hears. A perfect example of the
“there are no small parts” adage is Zelda Rubinstein as Tangina, a psychic the
paranormal investigators turn to after they are totally overwhelmed. Emanating
her own spooky atmosphere, she enters the film late, doesn't have much screen
time and still manages to be one of the most memorable things about the movie,
even along with the special effects.
Poltergeist is a movie that a lot of kids end up
watching because it is rated PG. At the time the PG-13 rating did not exist but
it's still hard to believe that this movie is only PG and airs on television
unedited. This was always a popular rental at Vulcan Video around Halloween in
part because parents were renting it to watch with their kids or for their kids to
watch on their own. It should be remembered, however, that this is a movie
where, in one of the most impressive
and grossest use of practical effects, a man hallucinates ripping his face apart and it’s not even the
scariest thing in the movie. Horror movies that are just as scary 40 years
after their first release are a rare thing indeed. It’s not a stretch to call Poltergeist
a classic horror movie.
Poltergeist airs on TCM on Friday, October
28th at 7PM CST and is streaming on HBOmax.
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