October 3rd - Suburbia and All Those Bodies Hidden

Regardless if Poltergeist (1982) was really influenced by Spielberg when he was on the set as a big producer, I still feel Tobe Hooper's stamp is all over the film. Especially that slambang, "let it all hang out" paranormal bombastic display as the Freelings leave behind that damned house, located right on a cemetery where the dead really let their presence be felt and then some. JoBeth pulled up the wall and ceiling certainly gave me "Nightmare on Elm Street" vibes since I watched the 1984 film in fits and starts Saturday Night. I just really wanted to return to the film that my mother loves to jokingly refer to as that one that scared the hell out of her little boy. She would talk of me fleeing the living room, all the while, peeking through a window to see what was happening after my exit. Look, I get the Spielberg fatigue and plenty of folks feel he's overrated, but I can't diminish how I personally feel about this film, although, over the years the sequel has improved a lot in my eyes. Still, the film just feels like that perfect summer blockbuster. I noticed that while it was fun to revisit it in early October, "Poltergeist" just feels like it belongs on a Friday night when on vacation in a hotel room right around 10 at night. Although I just adore Heather O'Rourke (she would be about my age today, so I just have a place in my heart for her), and as a father feel the parents' stress and ache throughout this film, why the film hits a homerun with me is Tobe's obvious influence on the nightmarish aspects of the film, especially the coffins bursting from the ground and yielding their skeletal dead. James Karen, as the crooked developer with a very distressing and horrible secret regarding how to save money on moving bodies in favor of just tossing tombstones, has that perfect face for a horror film...he crumbles at the end, knowing he's in deep shit. Williams and Nelson really land the concerned parents trying to keep themselves together instead of falling apart, while Beatrice Straight (who nabbed the Oscar for "Network" a few years prior) and her guys come in to monitor and investigate all the paranormal activity. And I cracked up when Zelda Rubenstein confidently claimed the house was clean, only for the finale once she leaves to prove otherwise. I hope to review this officially for the blog maybe some time in the summer of next year if I'm still around.