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Revision as of 11:17, 6 January 2008 by The JPS (talk | contribs) (→Creative relationship: typo/work=)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) 1982 film| Poltergeist | |
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| File:Poltergeistposter.jpgPoltergeist original theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | Tobe Hooper |
| Written by | Steven Spielberg Michael Grais Mark Victor |
| Produced by | Frank Marshall Steven Spielberg |
| Starring | Craig T. Nelson JoBeth Williams Beatrice Straight Dominique Dunne Oliver Robins Heather O'Rourke |
| Cinematography | Matthew F. Leonetti |
| Edited by | Michael Kahn Steven Spielberg |
| Music by | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Distributed by | MGM/UA Entertainment Company |
| Release dates |  June 4, 1982 August 5, 1982 September 16, 1982 |
| Running time | 114 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10,700,000 (estimated) |
Poltergeist is the first and most successful Poltergeist film, released on June 4, 1982 and nominated for three Oscars. The film was directed by Tobe Hooper and was co-produced and co-written by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg had chosen Hooper as director due to his feature film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). This was Spielberg's first major success as a producer. The film's plot revolves around the haunting of a suburban family home that is suspected to be the work of poltergeists.
The film is often referred to as cursed because of the murder of Dominique Dunne and early death of Heather O'Rourke, as well as the fact that actress JoBeth Williams has pointed out in television interviews that she was actually told that the skeletons used in the well-known swimming pool scene in the first Poltergeist film were real. This has been the focus of an E! True Hollywood Story on the Poltergeist Curse.
This film was ranked as #80 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.
The film was re-released in cinemas for one night only on Thursday, October 4 2007. This special one-night event also included a 15-minute never-before-seen glimpse into the real world of poltergeists. This was part of the promotional campaign for the new restored and remastered 25th anniversary DVD released on October 9.
Plot
A group of seemingly benign ghosts begin communicating with five-year-old Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O'Rourke) in her parents' suburban California home via static on the television. Eventually they use the TV as their path into the house itself.
First, there are a few signs that the ghosts have arrived: Carol Anne's pet bird dies; an earthquake occurs that only the Freelings feel; Carol Anne announces, "They're here." The next morning, glasses break at breakfast, forks bend by themselves, and when the mother, Diane (JoBeth Williams), asks Carol Anne, "What did you mean? Who's here?" she answers, "The TV people." At first the ghosts play harmless tricks and amuse the mother, including the chairs in the kitchen moving around and stacking themselves. Of course, Diane must convince Steven (Craig T. Nelson) that night by showing him. His dominant father mode kicks in, announcing that "nobody goes into the kitchen until I know what the hell is going on." Carol Anne's elder sister Dana (Dominique Dunne) leaves to stay with friends.
During a terrible thunderstorm, the ghosts distract the family with a tree coming to life and grabbing Robbie (Oliver Robins), Carol Anne's brother, through a window, and then getting what they really came after. Like a wind tunnel, they take Carol Anne through her bedroom closet into their dimension. With Robbie rescued, and the belief that it was a tornado, the family can't find Carol Anne. They search the entire house including the new swimming pool until Robbie hears Carol Anne through the T.V.
Steven reluctantly calls on a group of parapsychologists from UC Irvine: Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight), Ryan (Richard Lawson), and Marty (Martin Casella), who are awestruck by the manifestations they witness. With the parapsychologists present, the Freelings show them things they've never before seen. They open the door to the children's room to reveal toys and other objects flying around by themselves and disembodied laughing voices. Previously, one of the parapsychologists described a Matchbox car taking seven hours to move seven feet, calling it "fantastic. Of course, this would never register on the naked eye." After they see the Freelings' house, they are all humbled.
Over coffee (and a coffee urn that moves by itself), the parapsychologists explain to the Freelings the difference between a poltergeist and a haunting. They determine that indeed, it is a poltergeist they are experiencing.
It turns out that the spirits have left this life but have not gone into the "Light." They are stuck in between dimensions, watching their loved ones grow up, but feeling alone. Carol Anne—born in the house and only 5 years old—gives off her own life force that is as bright as the Light. It distracts and confuses the spirits, who think Carol Anne is their salvation. Hence, they take her. (A different explanation was given in the second film).
What is also in the other dimension with the spirits is a hateful spirit. It likes that the spirits are confused and lost, and uses Carol Anne as a distraction so they cannot move on into the Light. After witnessing a paranormal episode where they hear Carol Anne talking to Diane through the TV, see spirits, and hear the pounding footsteps of the Beast, they leave, admitting they need more help. When they return, they bring a spiritual medium, Tangina Barrons (Zelda Rubinstein), who informs Diane that her daughter is "alive and in this house." She also explains the malevolent spirit in the house to Diane, saying "it lies to her and tells her things only a child can understand. To her, it simply is another child. To us, it is the Beast."
They realize the entrance to the other dimension is through the children's bedroom closet. By tying a rope around a live person who can enter, and presumably exit the other side, with enough time to grab Carol Anne, they could bring her back. Diane is the only choice to go. What happens next is a terrifying sequence where Diane gets Carol Anne and Tangina coaxes the agonized spirits away from Carol Anne to the real Light (during this, Steve panics and pulls on the rope, causing a giagantic monster head to appear right in front of him). Diane comes through the living room ceiling clutching Carol Anne and holding on to a new head of grey hair, presumably from fright. Tangina pronounces that "this house is clean."
Unfortunately, though the spirits have seemingly moved on, the Beast hasn't, and wants revenge. On their final night in the house, when they are almost packed up and ready to go, the Beast punches a hole back into our world to reclaim what he believes is his: Carol Anne. This time, the Beast does his own dirty work and comes after Carol Anne personally.
Through skill and luck, the Freelings finally escape the house, but not before the anger of the Beast reveals the reason for the spirits being there in the first place—coffins and bodies begin exploding out of the ground throughout the neighborhood. When the neighborhood was first built the real estate developer Steven worked for moved a cemetery that was on the location, but in reality in order to save money they moved the cemetery headstones but left the bodies, building houses right on top of them. As the Freelings flee down the street in their car, the Beast is so angry that the house implodes into the other dimension as stunned neighbors look on. The movie ends with the family checking into a Holiday Inn for the night, pushing the television set outside their room.
This film has been rated PG by the MPAA.
Production
Director Tobe Hooper claims to have experienced poltergeist activity as a young man. During his teenage years, Hooper's father had died and for weeks after his death Hooper witnessed "doors breaking in, dishes flying around the residence and other bizarre occurrences". Hooper comments that's what attracted him to the project.
Creative relationship
A clause in his contract with Universal Studios prevented Spielberg from directing any other film whilst preparing E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Time and Newsweek tagged the summer of 1982 "The Spielberg Summer" because E.T. and Poltergeist were released a week apart in June. As such a marketable name, some began to question Spielberg's role during production. Suggestions that Spielberg had greater directorial influence than the credits suggest were aided by comments made by the writer/producer:
"Tobe isn't... a take-charge sort of guy. If a question was asked and an answer wasn't immediately forthcoming, I'd jump in and say what we could do. Tobe would nod agreement, and that become the process of collaboration."
The Directors Guild of America "opened an investigation into the question of whether or not Hooper's official credit was being denigrated by statements Spielberg has made, apparently claiming authorship." Co-producer Frank Marshall told the Los Angeles Times that "the creative force of the movie was Steven. Tobe was the director and was on the set every day. But Steven did the design for every storyboard and he was on the set every day except for three days when he was in Hawaii with Lucas." However, Hooper claimed that he "did fully half of the storyboards."
The Hollywood Reporter printed an open letter from Spielberg to Hooper in the week of the film's release.
Regrettably, some of the press has misunderstood the rather unique, creative relationship which you and I shared throughout the making of Poltergeist.
I enjoyed your openness in allowing me... a wide berth for creative involvement, just as I know you were happy with the freedom you had to direct Poltergeist so wonderfully.
Through the screenplay you accepted a vision of this very intense movie from the start, and as the director, you delivered the goods. You performed responsibly and professionally throughout, and I wish you great success on your next project.
Several members of the Poltergeist cast and crew have over the years consistently alleged that Spielberg was the 'de facto director' of the picture. In an 2007 interview with Ain't It Cool News, Zelda Rubinstein discussed her recollections of the shooting process. She said that "Steven directed all six days" that she was there: "Tobe set up the shots and Steven made the adjustments." She also alleged that Hooper "allowed some unacceptable chemical agents into his work," and at her interview felt that time "Tobe was only partially there."
Special effects
In 2002, on an episode of VH1's I Love the 80s, JoBeth Williams revealed that the production used real skeletons when filming the swimming pool scene. Many of the people on the set were alarmed by this and led others to believe the "curse" on the film series was because of this use. Craig Reardon, a special effects artist who worked on the film, commented at the time that it was cheaper to purchase real skeletons than plastic ones as the plastic ones involved labor in making them.
Location
Location scouts for the studio decided upon Roxbury Street, Simi Valley, California after realizing it met all of their requirements. The homes were new and, at the time, the land behind the street was free, allowing plenty of access for the studio trucks. The studio didn't tell the residents that the street was to be used in a Spielberg production as they would've demanded more money. Instead they were told it was for a low-budget B movie, and by way of payment, the residents were offered free landscaping in their front yards. The houses which were brand new had no lawns at the time and so all residents accepted. The first house on the street, which looks the same as the Freelings' home, had no one living there. Close observation suggests no landscaping was done there. The coach lamps at the entrance to the pathway of the Freelings' home were added on by production and wires that power them can be seen, taped to the pillars, at the film's climax.
The house used in the movie received substantial earthquake damage in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The garage came free of its foundation, the driveway had to be re-poured, the pinafore wall under the main windows and main garden wall also shook loose and collapsed. Today concrete breeze blocks replace the garden wall.
The same clown doll that tortured young Robbie can be seen at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.
Home release
Warner Home Video released a 25th anniversary DVD of the first film on standard DVD, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray in Spain and the US on 9 October 2007. The re-release has digitally remastered picture and sound, and a two-part documentary: "They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists." It makes extensive use of clips from the film. No other extras are included.
A six disc prototype, from the abandoned 20th Anniversary Special Edition, surfaced on eBay a few years ago and still crops up from time to time. Special features included the The First Real Ghost Story and The Making of Poltergeist featurettes, screenplay, several photo galleries and Fangoria interviews, and the documentaries E! True Hollywood Story, Hollywood Ghost Stories and Terror in The Aisles. The 6th disc was a copy of the original motion picture soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith.
Reception
Poltergeist was a box office success worldwide. The film grossed $76,606,280 in the United States, making it the 8th biggest release and highest grossing horror film of 1982.
Many critics discussed the role of the family in the film. Douglas Brode compares the "family values" in Poltergeist to the Bush/Quayle 1992 reelection campaign. Andrew Sarris, in The Village Voice, wrote that when Carol Ann is lost the parents and the two older children "come together in blood-kin empathy to form a larger-than-life family that will reach down to the gates of hell to save its loved ones." In the L.A. Herald Examiner, Peter Rainer wrote:
Buried within the plot of Poltergeist is a basic, splendid fairy tale scheme: the story of a little girl who puts her parents through the most outrageous tribulation to prove their love for her. Underlying most fairy tales is a common theme: the comforts of family. Virtually all fairy tales begin with a disrupting of the family order, and their conclusion is usually a return to order.
Cultural impact
Poltergeist has been referenced in several films, TV shows and music videos.
An episode of Family Guy called "Petergeist" directly parodied the events in Poltergeist. Peter builds a multiplex in his backyard and discovers an Indian burial ground. When he takes an Indian chief’s skull, a poltergeist invades the Griffins’ home. The episode also used some of the same musical cues heard in the film, and re-created no less than four memorable scenes, including baby Stewie saying "they're here".
At the end of the first Simpsons Treehouse of Horror installment, Bad Dream House, the house in which the Simpsons move turns out to be haunted. After repeated failed attempts to scare them away, it implodes in a way similar to that of the house at the end of Poltergeist, rather than spend life with the Simpson family. In another Treehouse of Horror segment, Homer³, after entering the 3rd dimension, Homer communicates with his family in a reverberating voice similar to that of Carol Anne's when she speaks through the television. In an attempt to rescue Homer, Bart enters the dimension with a rope tied around him, similar to the manner Carol Anne is retrieved by Diane.
In the South Park episode, "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes", the ending of the first film was loosely spoofed when the Wal-Mart vanishes, and in "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", Cartman makes Dr. Nelson say "Carol Anne - don't go into the light" during the fight with him.
In The X-Files episode "Shadows", Mulder and Scully were discussing what had taken over their car and caused them to crash. Mulder believes that a young woman they had just visited had caused the crash via psychokinetic powers. When Scully questions Mulder's beliefs, Mulder also says it could be a poltergeist. Scully then mocks him by saying, "They're here!" Mulder replies, "Yes, they just might be."
In the Wonderfalls episode "Lying Pig", Jaye's brother declares "This trailer is clean, kind of" after helping her remove all of the talking objects a la Zelda Rubinstein. Similarly, in the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective Jim Carrey does a spoof of the "This house is clean" line but mistakenly says "This house is clear". In the Chilly Beach episode "Polargeist", a direct spoof of the first film, Dale discovers ghosts in his house and is abducted into the spirit world through his beer fridge.
In the April 19, 2007 episode of Supernatural, Dean explains to his brother the curse of the set of Poltergeist. In the music video for the Spice Girls song "Too Much" Emma Bunton re-creates a scene from the movie. Also in a first season episode called Home, Dean makes a reference to Missouri Mosley cleaning out their old house of a poltergeist by commenting on her doing her whole Zelda Rubinstein thing. Rubinstein played Psychic Tangina Barrons in all 3 Poltergeist films.
On Gex: Enter the Gecko, a level is named "Poltergex" on Scream TV.
On Earthworm Jim 3D, a level is called "Poultrygeist". Another is called "Poultrygeist Too".
See also
External links
- Poltergeist at IMDb
- Noise and Talk - Philosophical essay about Poltergeist and television by Johannes Grenzfurthner of monochrom.
References
- ^ Brode, Douglas (2000). The Films of Steven Spielberg. New York: Citadel Press. p. 101. ISBN 0-8065-1951-7.
- Brode, pg 102
- Brode, pg 99-100
- "Click over, children! All are welcome! All welcome! Quint interviews Zelda Rubinstein!!!!". Ain't It Cool News. 2007-10-02. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - http://www.hometheaterforum.com/chat/warner07.txt
- http://www.zonadvd.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10045
- http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=poltergeist.htm
- http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1982&p=.htm
- ^ cited in Brode, p. 111
- "Petergeist". TV.com. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
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| Films directed by Tobe Hooper | |
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