It’s not nice to pick on the elderly, I know, but Poltergeist is one movie where I disagree with the critics. One of my “old movies,” I saw it sometime back in the eighties and although there were scary scenes, it felt rather lackluster to me. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t watched it several times, of course. As one of the horror films that my wife will see with me, we pulled it out this October and it just felt silly to me. Part of the reason is that it doesn’t seem to have the style of either Steven Spielberg or Tobe Hooper. The story is a bit too protracted and apart from the over-the-top ending it’s not clear what the “poltergeists” are. I’m probably forgetting what it was like to see it in the eighties when it was new and fresh.
Or maybe it’s just that far scarier movies have come out since then. Reading about it afterwards, it was strange to see how highly rated Poltergeist is among critics. For me, the problem was partially the illogic of parts of it. A tree tries to eat a kid and the authorities aren’t called? The neighbors didn’t see anything. If the whole development was built on a graveyard, why does only one house show it? And after many years have passed? Naturally, the movie does have some classic moments. When Marty (who is a rather silly character, along the lines of scientists in a John Carpenter film) pulls off his face, that was shocking the first time. And Zelda Rubenstein does a great job as the psychic. Much of the rest of it doesn’t make sense. Why decide to stay that last night, given what’s happened before? Of course, without that night there’s no climax.
The fault must be my own. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve seen enough movies now that the input of two directors with different visions seems to’ve pulled the film in too many directions. It feels much more like a Spielberg movie than it does a Hooper film. Where’s the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (also an old movie) subtlety and social commentary? Of course, Hooper’s next film was Lifeforce, which, although fun to watch, also seems not to know where it wants to go. I know that Poltergeist was a formative movie in the horror genre. It was a big budget success. Perhaps the relative dearth of religious explanation hurts it. There’s plenty of talk of when happens when we die, but it doesn’t have the backing of the conviction of a Fr. Merrin or even (God help us!) Ed and Lorraine Warren. Or maybe I need to let go and just watch it for fun.
