The plot: Enter the nice, suburban town of Cuesta Verde, and the home of the Freeling family: Diane, her husband Steven, their son Robbie, their oldest daughter Dana, and their cute-as-a-button little girl Carol-Anne. The Freelings live a normal everyday life, until strange disturbances occur and Carol-Anne begins to make contact with eerie voices in their TV set. Then things get scary when Diane and Steven discover that Carol-Anne has been whisked into another dimension, one of terror, pain, and fear. The Freelings are being terrorized by ghosts, and extremely ferocious ones at that.
"Poltergeist" is one of the most perfect haunted house movies ever made. It's filled with scares, a witty sense of humor, and enough goo for the fans. It gives you a few chances to breath, but when the horror begins, there's no stopping it. And all of this came out of the mind of Steven Spielberg, director of "Jaws." One of the reasons "Poltergeist" works so well is the setting. This family is living in a normal home, lending the viewer the idea that this can happen to anybody. Not until "Paranormal Activity" have I seen such terrifying supernatural events in a horror film. The movie is plenty creepy. Sometimes, there won't be anything happening during a scene, then Diane will turn around and all the table chairs are stacked up. The movie psychologically plays with you, and only throws in special effects when they're most needed.
The acting is stellar. The entire cast comes off as pure and real, especially the Freeling family. JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson have wonderful chemistry as the parents, Beatrice Straight creates a great parapsychologist who is not the only one who is stunned by this ghostly activity, and Heather O' Rourke is to die for as Carol-Anne. And don't miss out on an awesome performance by Zelda Rubinstein as psychic Tangina.
Nobody quite knows who directed "Poltergeist" the most: Steven Spielberg himself or his partner Tobe Hooper, the dude who brought us the classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Most of the movie comes off as Spielberg's, and I think the scenes of the special effects are probably Hooper's material. Until we hear it from Spielberg and Hooper, we won't know.
It's been nearly 30 years, and "Poltergeist" still has the ability to scare you, to make you jump, to amaze you, and to make you laugh. This is one 80s haunted house movie that everyone remembers, and we still love Carol-Anne's classic line: "They're heeeere." P.S. If you're horrified of clowns, check this out.
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