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Poltergeist [DVD]
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Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
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January 8, 2008 "Please retry" | 5th Anniversary Edition | 1 |
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| $3.70 | $2.51 |
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October 2, 2018 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $13.95 | — |
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June 1, 2019 "Please retry" | — | 1 | $15.97 | — |
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Purchase options and add-ons
Genre | Horror |
Format | Color, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC, DVD |
Contributor | Craig T. Nelson, Michael McManus, Lou Perryman, Beatrice Straight, Steven Spielberg, JoBeth Williams, Mark Victor, Zelda Rubinstein, Virginia Kiser, Michael Grais, Heather O'Rourke, Dominique Dunne, Richard Lawson, Tobe Hooper, Martin Casella, Oliver Robins See more |
Language | English, French |
Runtime | 1 hour and 54 minutes |
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Product Description
Product Description
This awesome supernatural thriller stars Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams as a California couple swept up in a wave of horror after sinister spirits invade their home and kidnap their child. Year: 1982 Director: Tobe Hooper Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Jo Beth Williams, Beatrice Straight
Amazon.com
What a combo! Tobe Hooper, the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, teamed up with family-oriented producer Steven Spielberg to make Poltergeist. The film is about a haunted suburban tract home in a development very much like the Arizona one in which Spielberg was raised. (Because it came out the same summer as Spielberg's E.T., it was tempting to see both movies as representing Spielberg's ambivalent feelings about childhood in suburbia. One was a fantasy, the other a nightmare.) Spielberg also cowrote the screenplay, which taps into primal, childlike fears of monsters under the bed, monsters in the closet, sinister clown faces, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. At first, some of the odd happenings in the house are kind of funny and amusing, but they grow gradually creepier until the film climaxes in a terrifying special-effects extravaganza when 5-year-old Carole Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is kidnapped by the spooks and held hostage in another dimension. Though not nearly as frightening as Hooper's magnum opus, or the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, which came along two years later, Poltergeist is one of the smartest and most entertaining horror pictures of its time. --Jim Emerson
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 2.35:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Product Dimensions : 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.53 inches; 0.01 ounces
- Item model number : 011661055728
- Director : Tobe Hooper
- Media Format : Color, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC, DVD
- Run time : 1 hour and 54 minutes
- Release date : January 28, 2000
- Actors : JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne
- Dubbed: : Spanish
- Subtitles: : English, Spanish, French
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0), Unqualified (Dolby Surround 5.1)
- Studio : Turner Entertainment
- ASIN : 0792833201
- Writers : Mark Victor, Michael Grais, Steven Spielberg
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #123,446 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #88,940 in DVD
- Customer Reviews:
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On the surface the Freeling clan would seem your normal, middle class, American family unit living among the suburban splendor of Cuesta Verde Estates. There's the father Steve (Nelson), mother Diane (Williams), and their three children Dana (Dunne), Robbie (Robins), and youngest daughter Carol Anne (O'Rourke). Life proceeds normally, that is until Carol Anne begins talking to the static that appears on the television once the broadcast day is completed. This is soon followed by strange phenomena (inanimate objects moving of their own accord and so on), all of which seems to be localized within the Freeling's home. It's all harmless enough, that is until the old, gnarled tree outside Robbie and Carol Anne's bedroom window tries to eat a family member, followed by an unseen entity absconding off with Carol Anne into another dimension of reality (while no longer present in a corporeal sense, her parents can still communicate with Carol Anne through the television). Unable to comprehend the situation fully Diane and Steven call in a parapsychologist named Dr. Lesh (Straight) in an effort to get their daughter back, who then, in turn, after witnessing the extreme paranormal activity firsthand, brings in a diminutive, clairvoyant troll named Tangina (Rubinstein), who's something of a cross between E.T. the extraterrestrial and Yoda, only a lot less adorable. Once on the scene Tangina reveals Carol Anne has been taken by an extremely powerful and malevolent spiritual entity, one that covets Carol Anne life force dearly, so much so it has somehow managed to transverse its own plane of existence into ours in an effort to shanghai the cherub faced little girl. A plan to recover Carol Anne is formulated, and is successful, but soon the real nightmare begins as the aforementioned malignant spirit pulls out all the stops to reclaim that which it lost...
As I mentioned earlier, this was the very first film I saw in the theaters that really put a good fright into me (the first film I saw that truly scared the hell out of me was Halloween, although I saw that on video tape). In watching the film last night I thought it odd that the film was released with a `PG' rating (back then there was no PG-13 rating), but apparently it was going to be rated `R' until the filmmakers appealed and got it changed. I do remember there being some public concern at the time that this film was unsuitable for the likes of me and my peers given the frightening nature of the material, said concerns eventually redoubling after the films Gremlins (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) were released, both of which were ultimately responsible for the creation of the `PG-13' rating we've all come to know and love. Regardless, I'm just glad I was in the right place at the right time to see this film in the theater as I did, as it was one of the more memorable experiences I've had during my misspent youth. Watching the film again last night I find I'm able to appreciate it much more than I did when I was younger, specifically in terms of just how well the film was put together. The character development alone is really amazing. The first sequences feature the Freeling household at night, as the family dog wanders the house looking for things to eat. In following the dog, we see all the family members, while they slumber, the last being Carol Anne. Whether we realize it or not, we've just gotten a large hunk of exposition through a relatively simple and efficient visual manner, which is definitely a Spielberg trademark. Spielberg co-wrote and produced the film, but it's also believed by many he was directly responsible for much of the visual appearance, with Hooper basically overseeing the mechanics of shooting that which he was instructed to shoot, by Spielberg. It's also believed Spielberg, who was making the family friendly E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) around the same time, refused to take more credit than he did specifically because he didn't want people to associate such a terrifying feature with his touching, fantasy/adventure drama. This seems entirely plausible, as I do believe Spielberg is something of a control freak, and if he didn't like the way things were progressing under the helm of Hooper, he most certainly would have intervened. I suppose it doesn't matter all that much as the end result was a truly frightening and memorable film, one that will linger in the recesses of your mind long after viewing it...the special effects, provided by Industrial Light & Magic, were spectacular, and still hold up well some twenty five years later, although I will admit the face removal scene looks a bit goofy now. As far as the performances, I thought they were all wonderful, especially in terms of JoBeth Williams, who provides an incredibly strong female lead. I've read some complaints the performances weren't realistic, but really, who knows how one would react in such a situation? To me, it was all the characters could do to hold themselves together during their ordeal. They knew their daughter was still alive and relatively safe (for the time being), and their focus was on trying to get her back. Everything else here worked for me...Jerry Goldsmith's vibrant and appropriate musical scoring, the level of development of the various characters (both primary and secondary), the pacing, the scares, the revelations, the ominous sense of something malignant, the spectacular finale, it all adds up to a remarkably entertaining feature, one definitely worth owning.
The picture on this DVD release, presented in both widescreen anamorphic (2.35:1) and fullscreen (1.33:1), looks sharp and clean, with minor signs of age present (I did see some dust specks in a couple of scenes, but nothing overly obvious). The audio, available in Dolby Surround 5.1 in English, and Dolby Surround stereo in both French and Spanish, comes across strong. Regrettably, there really isn't much in terms of extras other than subtitles in English, French, and Spanish, along with the original theatrical trailer.
Cookieman108
By the way, this film was followed up by a couple of sequels, Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) and Poltergeist III (1988), both of which were fun, but unnecessary, at least in my opinion. Also, Warner Brothers has hinted at a special edition, 2 DVD set, anniversary release in the works, so if you haven't purchased this film on DVD yet, you might want to hold off.
Mysterious things like Dominique Dunne who played the oldest sister who's only movie was Poltergeist and who was choked to death that year by a boyfriend.
Heather O'Rourke who played Carol Ann who only appeared in the Poltergeist trilogy and the same year part III was released died of initially described as an acute form of influenza but later changed to septic shock after bacterial toxins invaded her bloodstream.
Oliver Robins who played Robbie during the clown scene where he is being choked by a clown in his room, something went wrong with the prop and Robins was actually being choked and Spielberg had to rush in to help him. This is included in the jacket of the original release.
I also read an interview with Zelda Rubinstein that played Tangina on Movie web website a couple of days ago and there is a somber feel of her interview when commenting on the film, this was just a feeling I got.
Jim Hemphill from reeldotcom also points out the clash between director Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1974) and Spielberg who wrote and produced and describes how their styles turn out one good horror film, he makes a lot of good points and I recommend taking a look at his review if your a fan of Poltergeist on Reeldotcom.
Another of Hemphill's points I would agree with is his comment of Poltergeist being "touching and horrific at the same time". I felt the strongest performance was between Jobeth Williams who played Carol Anne's mom and Heather O'Rourke who played Carol Anne it was indeed touching and Jobeth gave a solid performance. Oscar winner Beatrice Straight also portrays a believable connection with the mother. Last but certainly not least Zelda Rubinstein playing Tangina with limited screen time and standing at only 4' 3" tall she gives a big performance and steals the scenes she is in.
I think Spielberg is a genius of a director and can take things to the limits himself but I could feel his influence on this film which Tobe Hooper directed and not in a good way. It had a happy feel like from E.T. and the music to me just didn't fit. Although on the flip side the music and effects I'm not in agreement with are the 3 Oscar nominations the film received, so maybe I'm wrong and the effects are just dated and were amazing in 1982.
All the talk about the curse and the mystery is freaky stuff. I firmly believe what you don't see can be much scarier and your imagination will fill in the blanks with something far worse. That being said I felt some of the special effects very dated and crossed over into Sci-Fi instead of staying with horror.
Great examples of subtle, effective, and scary moments: The mother fixing the chairs and turning around and there all on the table: Freaky. The Clown in the chair and then not in the chair: Freaky. Carol Anne just sitting and talking to the television at first: Freaky. Hearing the voices mumble back oh so slightly: Freaky.
Some perhaps over the top venturing into Sci Fi and loosing some horror: The Clown with a different face on it once it attacks, although it'll make you jump initially just a bit over the top and not so eerie. The tree as a kid was very scary to me but this time around it looked pretty fake and the fact it comes in the window to eat the kid, again over the top. Some of the ghosts at the end were something I remember seeing in Ghostbusters and the house crumbling up into the ground again Sci Fi ish and over the top.
Without a doubt there were many many moments that were genuinely scary and stick with you and it is a good horror film that should be in every horror fans collection but I felt it could've been so much more in terms of actually horrific. Maybe Hooper can do his own remake and go to as dark a place as he wants.
To recap you don't get commentary talking about what went down on the dvd but in my opinion it keeps the mystery of the film going. I recently watched the older version on dvd still available and the picture quality needed an upgrade and to quote Hemphill again "the gorgeous transfer on this disc beautifully preserves some of the most elegant widescreen compositions and expressive lighting effects since the glory days of Nicholas Ray and Vincente Minnelli. Along with a few new interesting features at a good price.