Poltergeist

Poltergeist comes to Blu Ray in book format.

The film itself is according to the book information characterized by intense scenes of crisis and horror.

I wouldn't go as far as the above but it is a very atmospheric film which does have some good spooky moments if you watch it in the dark.

The tagline at the time of the film's release was "It knows what scares you"

The actual term poltergeist comes from the German words "poltern" meaning to rumble or make noise and "geist" meaning ghost or spirit. 

One third of the budget for the film went on the special effects created by Industrial Light and Magic.

The movie grossed $76 million dollars in America.

The film itself was also said to be cursed after a series of events happened during the making of the film and after the production ended.  Among the most notable of these was the death of Dominique Dunne who plays the teenage daughter.  She was strangled to death by her ex boyfriend after the film was released.

Six years later during the filming of the second sequel Poltergeist III it's young star Heather O'Rourke who played Carol Anne died of septic shock thought to have been brought on by Crohn's disease.

The film was originally given an R rating by the MPAA but an appeal led to a PG rating.  It would be three years before the MPAA introduced the PG-13 certificate on the advice of Steven Spielberg who rightly felt there was a huge gap between the PG and R certificates.

Tobe Hooper is credited with directing this but see below for more info.

Among the trivia for this film is that the skeletons which can be seen later in the movie were actual real skeletons but star Jobeth Williams did not know this. 

The clown and tree scenes in the movie actually come from Spielbergs own fear of clowns and tree's when growing up.

Mrs. Freeling's line "Mmmm… smell that mimosa." is taken directly from the 1944 movie The Uninvited.

Steven Spielberg not only had a hand in writing the screenplay but also produced this film and for years there has been a rumor that will not go away that he also directed it. 

There was a clause in Spielberg's contract stating that while working on E.T. he could not direct another film so it's plausible he got around this rule by hiring Tobe Hooper and indeed Zelda Rubinstein who plays Tangina and members of the cast and crew say Spielberg cast the film, designed the storyboards and directed the actors.

Film Plot

A young family in a new neighborhood experience strange events in their new home. The events become more frequent so the family call in paranormal investigators.

The spooky events get scarier and more alarming and then their young daughter Carol Anne disappears.

Could they have a Poltergeist in their home!!!

Positives

This is film making at it's best.  The story draws you in and you feel you are right there in among the family as events unfold before your eyes.

The effects work might seem dated to those brought up on CGI but i feel the optical work seen here is still effective and works extremely well for this type of film.

The beautiful music score by the late great Jerry Goldsmith really enhances the onscreen visuals and the widescreen cinematography is just fantastic.

This film comes from a time when movies were slower and pulled you in rather than just wowed you with their visuals.  This movie does wow you with some great visuals which have held up well but it's main strength is the acting, the atmosphere and the wonderfully engrossing script.

The picture quality on this release is very good and looks film like. The film grain structure is intact and the detail levels are very high.

Sound quality is impressive for a film made in 1982 and the clarity and dynamics of the music score come through well.  You should not expect many rear split surround effects as this soundtrack was made well before the advent of digital sound and remixes can only do so much but it's a very good and open sound which uses the rear speakers for ambience.

Negatives

I would have liked a lot more extra's on the disc telling the making of this classic film as the only extra does not actually deal with the film itself just the subject matter. 

There is some print damage noticeable on some parts of the film.

Final Thoughts

I first saw this film when i was about twenty years old and it impressed me then and many years later it still impresses me.

This is film making at it's best. Love and attention to detail has gone into the production and everyone involved should be congratulated for a superb film.

Jerry Goldsmith has done some amazing film music scores over the years and he is one of my favorite film composers and his score for Poltergeist is excellent and enhances the movie in so many ways.

An intelligent and witty film that deserves your attention and i would highly recommend it.

The script is involving and the cast are all great.

You can see some Blu Ray screencaps of the film by clicking here.

Technical Disc Specifications

Releasing Studio – Warner Bros
Film Running Time – 114 minutes
Disc Format – BD-50
Encoding – VC-1
Film Aspect Ratio – 2.40:1
Blu Ray resolution – 1080p/24
Audio Format – Dolby True HD 5.1
Starring Craig T Nelson, Jobeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke
Directed by Tobe Hooper

This is a region free release

Film Entertainment Rating – 9/10
Transfer Quality Rating – 9/10
Sound Mix Rating – 8/10