Despite being a decent supernatural horror flick Poltergeist has unfortunately become more remembered lately for two things: rumours that co-producer/co-writer Steven Spielberg was apparently unhappy with director Tobe Hooper's work and shot additional footage and that the series must be cursed as young co-star Heather O'Rourke passed away during the filming of the third entry from Crohn's Disease complications (as well, co-star Dunne was murdered just before the film hit theatres). It's unfortunate that what basically amounts to gossip and speculation has discounted the work of Spielberg, Hooper, and their game cast in bringing to the public what amounts to a special effects filled romp that delivers plenty opportunities for scares that's balanced with scenes of a typical suburban neighbourhood and the people who live in it.

Our first introduction to the Freeling family comes one late one evening when everyone in the house if awoken by the youngest daughter, Carol Anne (O'Rourke) who is talking into the static-filled television in the living room like it's a living thing.

As most children her age are apt to have imaginary friends and make things up, they really think nothing of it and continue to live their idyllic lives. Father Steven (Craig T. Nelson) and wife Diane (JoBeth Williams) are a happily married couple that live in the new housing development of Cuesta Verde with their three children. They do the kind of things you'd expect an All-American family to do little realizing that their entire lives are soon to be in turmoil.

Carol Anne is soon talking into the TV again, only this time a ghostly fog drifts out from the set proving the presence of a spirit in the house and leading to the movie's most famous snippet of dialogue when little Carol Anne proclaims, "they're here." From there things start happening quickly as various household objects start moving by themselves and their son is attacked one night by the monstrous tree outside his bedroom window come to life while Carol Anne is sucked (along with almost all the other contents of the room) into the bedroom closet.

Desperate to get their daughter back the Freelings soon call in some paranormal investigators which only angers the poltergeists living in the house as they stop people from entering the bedroom by making the contents have a life of their own as well as making people start having hallucinations (that includes one where an investigator imagines he's pulling the flesh from his face - which might've looked cool twenty-five years back but now looks like exactly what it is: a dummy head). Meanwhile freaky pleas of help from the youngest Freeling sibling keep coming from the nearby television set and we learn that their house just so happens to be built over a cemetery.

The last third of the movie has Zelda Rubinstein arrive as Tangina, a psychic who's been called in to save Carol Ann and head-up a rescue mission that has Diane heading into the void to get her daughter as well as a finale that trots out all the stops with Williams' character being dragged up a wall (a scene I suspect inspired Wes Craven for his similar A Nightmare On Elm Street moment), coffins and corpses popping up from the ground, and a whole slew of wanton destruction.

While some of the scares here tend to look a little bit dated and the mid-section of the movie slows down a bit too much to keep the film's eerie opening mood going, Hooper has crafted a perfectly acceptable "haunted house"-type movie that joins his debut feature, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, as proof that he isn't the complete hack that most of his movies following this one gained him the reputation of being.

Williams and Nelson are steady as our distraught parents but, on the acting front, the movie truly belongs to Rubinstein. Short in stature and with an odd high-pitched voice, Rubinstein brings a feeling of authority and knowledge to her character instead of making Tangina seem like just another crazy "ghost chaser" which makes her, admittedly ridiculous, plan to save Carol Anne all the most plausible.

Even though it was followed by two sequels of lesser quality and an unrelated spin-off television series (Poltergeist: The Legacy), Poltergeist is able to stand apart from those efforts as a well-made effort that contains enough effects, "jump" moments, and macabre sequences to make you forget about all the drama that's followed it behind-the-scenes over the years. (Chris Hartley, 10/10/07)

Directed By: Tobe Hooper.
Written By: Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais, Mark Victor.

Starring: JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne.

Picture Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: As stated on the box this is a "Digitally restored and remastered" version of the film and the transfer gives a good case for this fact as this looks pretty darn good for an older title. The clarity is solid throughout and I barely noticed any film dirt or grain. The only real problem that did stick out, however, was that at around the thirty-four-minute mark the movie makes has an abrupt cut that makes me wonder if the source Warner used may have been unknowingly spliced wrong.

Extras: Considering that this is being touted as a twenty-fifth Anniversary edition you would expect a heck of a lot more than you get here. Sure, the film's original release only contained a trailer (which is absent here), but if you're going to re-release something as a supposed special edition you should give the movie's fans enough material to keep them happy.

All we get here is a two-part featurette entitled "They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists" which is a half-hour look at real-life ghost hunters with one half convering the scientific methods and the second half focusing more on the psychic angles. It does make for an interesting watch, and the movie is mentioned a few times, but a retrospective look back at the movie with cast and crew would've been welcome or even just a commentary track with Hooper that puts to rest the rumour he didn't direct the entire movie. Instead we get a documentary we'll watch once and never revisit.