Poltergeist Review

This may be the generation gap or my disillusionment about the horror genre speaking, but I found this film, to put it in a word: meh. Granted this film set a solid foundation for haunted house films. I see films like this as a foreign film: I can’t seem to connect. The setting was certainly one I as a viewer don’t recognize. Or I am overthinking the entire setting. Maybe my joy of the horror genre has been maimed by mainstream horror?

Anyway, if there is one thing that I took away from this film is how the supernatural interacted with the physical. Granted the portal in the closet was a bit comical, in my view. However, after Carol Anne was taken into a different dimension, the creepiness factors spiked. She was there, but not really. At that point, I felt for her parents. No so much her brother—I was rooting for the tree to eat him. Ha, rooting! Anyways, the issue I had with the supernatural was two-fold. I found it lighthearted and absurd in a negative way. The supernatural seemed a mix of light and dark. In hindsight, the supernatural seemed to be there and the family just happened to move there, it just so happens that Carol Anne was sensitive to the aspect of her new home.

There’s usually a common theme or character in these haunting stories: a sensitive, or a living conduit. With that in mind, this gave the film a creepiness to it, I didn’t notice until after I watched it. The supernatural elements in the film used her sensitivity to break the barrier between the two worlds. This harkens to Lovecraft for me: the key and the gate as one.

If I could make another complain about the story it would have to be character. The family seemed stereotypical and there didn’t seem to be much development beyond the reaction to Carol Anne being taken to another dimension. This film didn’t frighten me as much as other films from the period. If anything, this film forgoes the violent, demonic haunting, and this film could have easily gone that way. However, the source of the haunting is certainly more tragic. When the video of the different spirits was shown, I got the feeling the tragedy was there, but swept under the rug in a way.

Overall, Poltergeist stands alone. The comical aspects of it were likely spawned from my own personal aesthetic when it comes to hauntings. I am more familiar with the dark, violent hauntings, and even drawn to them. The haunting in Poltergeist wasn’t necessarily frightening, however it did follow the structure and plot that do make for creepy ghost films. To compare (or contrast) The Other’s, the supernatural was always present, it was just not seen until the two sides touched. In the case of Poltergeist, Carol Anne was that thing that connected the two sides. I like to think of The Other’s as Poltergeists dead twin in some respects.