Review: Poltergeist (2015)

Remakes can be very hit or miss. I was actually very excited when I heard this was getting modernized. I looked forward to seeing what they did with it. 

If you're unfamiliar with the original Poltergeist, the story centers around a family in their typical suburban home. Strange things start happening, until, finally, their little girl, Carol Anne, is sucked into her bedroom closet and disappears. Paranormal experts are brought in to investigate and do battle with the forces, to save the little girl.

Seems like kind of a cliche` storyline at this point, but keep in mind, the original Poltergeist came out in 1982. A lot of the things that we're used to, that have lost the ability to scare us, were brand new, or even unheard of back then. Still, the special effects and plot twists for the time were incredible and it was exciting to see what they did with the advances in technology and in society. 

I was really looking forward to seeing how awesome this guy would look.

Now, it may just be that all the original Poltergeist's tricks have become stereotypes and cliches, things we've all seen hundreds or even thousands of times with varying levels of detail and special effects. It could be we've since been spoiled by movies like The Exorcist, The Haunting, House on Haunted Hill, and on into the trend of 'found footage' movies. 

Honestly, I was a little disappointed with the new movie. 

The story is almost exactly the same. As one might expect with a remake. The problem is, a lot of the scares and tension-creating moments are the same as well. In a setting where the spirits can literally do almost anything within the confines of the house, I really think they could have stretched their imaginations a bit more, move into a little new territory with their scares. (Oh, and the guy above doesn't even show up.) 

Not to say the new Poltergeist is bad. Far from it. I think it is probably equal to the original. It just suffers from the advancements that have been made since the original was actually scary. When doing a remake of a classic movie, there's a fine line between staying faithful to the original, and being able to capture the imaginations of a new generation. I think the makers of the new Poltergeist stayed much too far on the side of staying faithful. 

Yeah, except the clown looks about ten times more sinister to start with. (Original is on the left)

The 2015 version of Poltergeist is NOT a bad movie. It is well worth seeing, it just suffers from the moving of the bar in reference to what we expect in a good ghost/horror movie. When the original came out, it was edgy, new, and terrifying. Now, all of that is just standard fare and the remake offers very little beyond that. 

I would say skip the theaters, but definitely pick up the dvd when it comes out or catch it on Netflix. 

~ Shaun