Background
Poltergeist
(1982)
is a memorable supernatural horror film from co-producer/co-writer
Steven Spielberg who teamed with director Tobe Hopper (known for
his cult horror classic
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
).
It was Spielberg's first smash hit as a co-producer, who was paired
with Frank Marshall (who later produced
Who
Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
).
It was the highest-grossing
(domestic) horror film of 1982 (bested by
E.T.:
The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
at # 1), and the eighth highest-grossing
film overall in the same year.
This classic 'haunted house ghost story' is fascinating
to watch, with its extraordinary special effects created by George
Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic team, and a screenplay by Spielberg,
Michael Grais, and Mark Victor. However, in the early 80s, it was
criticized for only receiving a PG rating (after the filmmakers protested
its original R rating), given its intense scenes of horror - accentuated
by the new Dolby sound system technology. In reaction (in part),
the
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
in 1984 created
a new ratings category in between PG and R ratings - PG-13.
This Spielberg production was released at the same
time as another suburban tale with visitors:
E.T.:
The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
. It could also be interpreted
as a threatening, scarier version of director Spielberg's pre-E.T.
film:
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
.
Compared to both films,
Poltergeist
was the
dark flip side for a suburban couple: Diane and Steve Freeling (Williams
and Nelson), who lived in the brand-new Cuesta Verde housing development
of suburban California. They became distressed when ordinary objects
turned threatening (for example, a suburban tract dream home,
a backyard tree, a favorite clown doll, a closet, and a TV screen).
The famous poster reflected one of the more memorable,
spookier moments of the film, with young 5 year-old Carole Anne (Heather
O'Rourke) pressed against a television showing nothing but white
noise, and saying:
"They're
here
."
Another tremendous
trick scene was the one in which the camera slowly panned away from
a kitchen table - and then returned to view of self-stacked chairs.
There were two less successful sequels in subsequent
years, and a modern remake. The only actors to reprise their roles
in all three films were Heather O'Rourke and Zelda Rubenstein (as
psychic Tangina):
Poltergeist 'Trilogy' of Films, and a Remake
|
Film Title
|
Director/Notes
|
Poltergeist (1982)
|
d. Tobe Hooper; with Steven Spielberg as co-producer
and co-writer; the most commercially-successful film of all the
Poltergeist
films
at $76.6 million; re-released in 1983
|
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)
|
d. Brian Gibson; with domestic revenue of $41
million, set one year after the original film
|
Poltergeist III (1988)
|
d. Gary Sherman (co-writer); with domestic revenue
of $14.1 million; with the tagline: "He's Found Her"
|
Poltergeist (2015)
|
d. Gil Kenan; a "revisionist" or "reimagined"
re-make, starring Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt as the parents
(Eric and Amy Bowen) of three children: Kendra (Saxon Sharbino),
Griffin (Kyle Catlett), and Maddy (Kennedi Clements).
|
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards without
any wins: Best Original Score (Jerry Goldsmith), Best Sound Effects
Editing, and Best Visual Effects (Richard Edlund, Michael Wood, Bruce
Nicholson). All three of
Poltergeist
's nominations were lost
to Spielberg's own
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
(1982)
.
Many filmgoers were intrigued by the seemingly-tragic
legacy of the film, with the unexpected deaths of two of the stars:
- Dominique Dunne (in her last film role before her
tragic strangulation murder at the age of 22 in November, 1982
by her obsessed boyfriend)
- Heather O'Rourke (the 12 year-old star who died
six years later in February 1988 from surgical complications related
to intestinal blockage just before the second sequel's release)
Plot Synopsis
Prologue: The Introduction of Family Members, and a
Foreshadowing Series of Dark Happenings
The film opened with the playing of the National
Anthem during a TV station's sign-off. The highly-pixeled image was
from a close-up, magnified shot of a television screen. The picture
went 'dead' - it was in the middle of the night. The head of the household: athletic, affable
Steve Freeling (Craig T. Nelson) had fallen asleep in the downstairs
living room in front of the tube. The family dog visited and introduced
each of the members of the sleeping Freeling family in the upstairs
bedrooms of their suburban home - thirty-two year old sturdy wife
Diane (JoBeth Williams), sixteen year old Dana (Dominique Dunne),
eight year old Robbie (Oliver Robins), and young, five year old blonde
nursery-schooler Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke).
In the famous image that advertised the film, the youngest
daughter descended down the serpentine staircase from the second
floor, walking through the flickering, strobe-effect lighting that
was cast over the room. She sat in front of the fuzzy, snowy image
of the television and imaginatively conversed with strange entities
- she believed that every inanimate object was anthropomorphic:
Hello? What do you look like? Talk louder, I can't
hear you! Hey, hello! Hello, I can't hear you! Five. Yes. Yes.
I don't know. I don't know.
She awakened her parents and siblings, who stood in
silence and watched her communicate with the grainy picture tube.
She placed her two palms on the glass.
The family lived in the peaceful Cuesta Verde Estates
tract housing development - their house was indistinguishable from
other subdivision homes. The bedroom of the two youngest children
was decorated with other-worldly items - two
Star
Wars (1977)
characters (R2D2 on the bedspread and an ominous
Darth Vader toy figure on the shelf), two related film posters, an
Alien
(1979)
poster from the science fiction horror film, and CLUE
- a classic who-dun-it board game.
Various events signaled the greater threats to come.
The family's canary bird
"Tweety" unexpectedly expired - strangely, the only death
in the film. The middle of a football game was suddenly switched to
the 'Mr. Roger's Neighborhood' children's show - Steve was having an
on-going battle of 'remote controls' with his nearby neighbor Ben Tuthill
(Michael McManus). Carol Anne saved "Tweety" from being unceremoniously
flushed down the toilet, and carefully prepared a cigar box for
its burial, adding items:
(a piece of red licorice) For when he's hungry.
(a polaroid picture of Carol Anne, Robbie, and the family dog) For
when he's lonely.
(a yellow napkin) And for when it's nighttime.
At bedtime, a storm with thunder and lightning (signalled
earlier by rolling cloud formations) strangely illuminated the gnarly,
lifeless, twisted tree outside Carol Anne's and Robbie's window.
Diane cautioned her daughter about over-feeding the goldfish - an
opportunity to mention co-producer Spielberg's earlier film,
Jaws
(1975)
: "They grow up to be sharks!" Scared of
the dark, Carol Anne wanted the closet light left on. That same evening,
Steve was watching a film in their bedroom:
A Guy Named Joe (1943).
[Note: The return-from-the-dead MGM fantasy film was about an expired World
War II pilot who came back to Earth from heaven to help a young
aviator. Years later, Spielberg directed the film's remake -
Always
(1989).
]
He was also rolling joints for Diane and reading
Reagan:The Man The President
.
In the film, Spencer Tracy had just arrived in heaven and asked quizzically: "You
mean this is for good?" Diane was smoking pot, getting high, reading a book on Jungian psychology
and metaphysics, and pondering the dangers of sleep-walking:
Nocturnal somnambulism. You know what? You know what?
I will bet you anything it's genetic. I mean, Carol Anne last night,
and all last week, you know, and me when I was ten...You know,
I once slept-walked four blocks. And I fell asleep in the back
of this guy's car. He drove all the way to work before discovering
me. Oh God, I woke up. I started screaming. People came running
from everywhere. They called the cops. The cops came. They took
this poor dude downtown. My father...Big Ed has me examined for
like bruises and hickies. Oh you name it. Oh God, I was so embarrassed.
Oh s--t, Steven, what if we, like, dig the pool, you know, and
Carol Anne sleepwalks and she falls into it before there's any
water?
More Eerie Paranormal Events and Supernatural Physical
Disturbances - by Prank-Playing Poltergeists or Ghosts?:
A seemingly harmless, half-sized
clown doll with a red bulbous nose and a malevolent grin sat in a
chair in the middle of the children's room - it centralized all Robbie's
fears during the stormy night. He covered the doll with his jacket
so its ominous stare wouldn't scare him - the back of his jacket,
with the
Star Wars
character Chewbacca, replaced the clown's grin. Fearful
of the storm that was "getting closer," Robbie retreated
to his parents' bedroom for reassurance. His father returned to
his bedroom with him - the young boy was nervous that the tree might
be alive:
Robbie: I don't like the tree, Dad.
Steve: It's an old tree. It's been around here a long time. I think
it was here before my company built the neighborhood.
Robbie: I don't like its arms. (whispering) It knows I live here,
doesn't it?
Steve: It knows everything about us, Rob. That's why I built the
house next to it, so it could protect us...It's a very wise old tree.
Robbie: It looks at me. It knows I live here.
Both younger children eventually retreated to their
parents' bed. Again, the television was left on - at 2:37 am, the
National Anthem plays (accompanied by patriotic symbols of democracy
in the nation's capital), followed by snowy static.
[Note: Was the number
237 a reference to Room 237 in Kubrick's
The
Shining (1980)
?]
Carole Ann crawled across the bed toward
the inviting screen and positioned herself in its flickering glow.
A eerie, mysterious, ghostly green strand of light emanated from
the image - the TV screen became a gateway to the spirit world.
The strip of light snatched out at her, snaked its way around the
bed, and then blasted a beam of light at the opposite wall, burning
a hole and creating violent shaking in the room. In a memorable line,
Carol Anne turned back at everyone and announced a warning:
They're here.
The next day, as a bulldozer prepared to dig a hole
for their swimming pool, the machine unearthed the cigar box grave
of the canary bird - a foreshadowing of the future. Steve believed
there was a damaging "6.5" earthquake during the night
- Dana suggests: "Maybe the faultline runs just directly under
our house." The children ate breakfast in a kitchen nook, while
Diane half-watched Gene Shalit's 'Critic's Corner' on
The Today
Show
. Carol Anne explained what she meant by "They're here" -
Diane: Well, who did you mean? Who's here?
Carol Anne: The TV people.
Suddenly, other odd paranormal events began to occur
in their house. Robbie's milk glass broke in his hand. Robbie's
fork and spoon were unusually bent and twisted. Carol Anne switched
the TV channel to a station with static, and stared at the snow.
Her mother thought her habit was unhealthy: "Oh honey, you're
gonna ruin your eyes. This is no good for you." She turned the
channel back to another channel playing a violent combat film. When
Diane returned to the kitchen, all the breakfast chairs had been
mischievously pushed away from the table. Her daughter startled her
and Diane reacted: "Don't do that honey! You wanna see Mommy
lying in a cigar box covered with licorice?" She turned her
back for just a few moments, walked to the cabinet under the sink,
[the panning camera followed her with one long take], and then turned
back toward the table - the chairs had repositioned themselves in
a balanced configuration atop the table.
The next scene transition was crisp and neat - Steve
was showing a prospective couple of buyers the same kitchen configuration
in "Phase Four" of the housing development. He was the "best
rep" of the real estate company that had cleared the land. As
part of his sales pitch, he explained how he himself lived in Phase
One, built earlier: "We were the first family to set up housekeeping
in the Cuesta Verde Estates...We had to pass through my neighborhood
to get here."
By evening, more unusual events had occurred and Diane
excitedly demonstrated for her shocked husband how the paranormal
forces could first slide furniture, and then Carol Anne, across the
kitchen floor. To her, the phenomenon was amusing and entertaining:
It's like, it's like, there's this tickling, you
know, right in here. And it starts to pull you. The tickling pulls
you. And all of a sudden, it's like there's no air except that
you can breathe.
When they spoke to their neighbors the Tuthills, the
Freelings were the only ones being attacked by biting mosquitos.
They felt foolish explaining what was happening in their home: "Somethin's
funny goin' on here next door. Somethin', uh,...We were wondering
if maybe you had experienced any disturbances lately?...Oh you know,
like dishes or furniture moving around by themselves." They
decided that they would call for help, but weren't quite sure where
to turn: "I already looked in the Yellow Pages. Furniture movers
we got. Strange phenomenon, there's no listing."
More Malevolent and Abnormal Happenings - Robbie
Was Violently Seized by Tree and Carol Anne Was Kidnapped Into
Closet:
Another dramatic storm threatened the community that
evening - the arm branches of the tree outside Robbie's window became
animated, crashed through the glass, and seized him from his bed.
[Note: This scene was inspired by Spielberg's own childhood memories.]
As the Freelings were diverted from the bedroom to go outside to
rescue their son from the grasp of the tree, a menacing tornado similar
to the one in
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
approached.
Strange noises emanated from the blinding brightness of Carol Anne's
closet - toys, stuffed dolls, furniture, and other objects were sucked
into the white-light. As she held onto her bedboard, her legs dangled
vertically in mid-air. The grinning doll was pulled through the air
into the void - Carol Anne couldn't resist the strong forces and
she was sucked in too. The bedroom was stripped bare. Outside, the
tree half-devoured Robbie, but he was rescued by his father, just
as the gnarly tree was whisked away in the swirling eye of the tornado.
When the family returned upstairs, Carol Anne had disappeared
- she had been kidnapped into the spirit world which had found a
gateway through the bedroom closet. The parents panicked, fearing
that she had been drowned in the muddy hole being dug for a swimming
pool next to the house. Her metallic, echoing voice could be heard
from behind the walls and from the ceiling, and also from behind
the grainy picture screen of the television in their bedroom: "I
can hear you Mommy. Where are you?"
With a psychotic look on his face and with dark circles
under his eyes, Steve consulted with Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight)
who headed a team of parapsychologists at a local college: Ryan (Richard
Lawson) and Marty (Martin Casella):
Dr. Lesh: Would your family welcome a serious investigation
of these disturbances by someone who can make first-hand observations?
Steve: Dr. Lesh, I don't care about the disturbance, the pounding
and the flash, the screaming, music. I just want you to find our
little girl.
In a first-hand observational tour of the Freeling
house, the team of college parapsychologists were told that Carol
Anne's room had been "locked up from the rest of the house...We
don't go in the room anymore." Before they entered the locked
room, the investigators described other modest paranormal episodes
they had observed and witnessed for themselves:
Ryan: Mr. Freeling, we'll record any psycho-tronic
energy or event.
Dr. Lesh: Yes. Ryan photographed an extraordinary episode on a case
in Redlands.
Ryan: That's right. It was a child's toy. A very small matchbox vehicle
just rolled seven feet across a linoleum surface. The duration of
the event was seven hours.
Steve: Seven hours for what?
Ryan: For the vehicle to complete the distance. Of course, this would
never register on the naked eye. But I have it recorded on a time-lapse
camera. It's fantastic.
When Steve opened the door to the children's bedroom,
their discussion abruptly halted. The bedroom's inside space was
swirling with psychotronic energy displayed with marvelous special
effects - a lamp, lampshade, records, books, and toys were in mid-air
circling around the beds. The base of a table lamp inserted itself
into a lampshade and the bulb turned itself on. A book fluttered
its pages at them. A student's circle-drawing tool flew dangerously
into Dr. Lesh's awe-struck face. A spinning record played.
A trembling Dr. Lesh struggled to drink tea from a
teacup after their tour. According to her, "the determination
as to whether your home is haunted is not very easy." A heavy
teapot slid across the table in front of her, mocking her statement. "What
I meant to say was, it might very well be a poltergeist intrusion
instead of a classic haunting." Ryan extended his hand to feel
the energy: "It's electrical. You can smell the charge." The
researchers described other-worldly
poltergeist
- malevolent,
supernatural spirits that infested the house and were responsible
for physical disturbances:
Dr. Lesh: Poltergeist are usually associated with
an individual. Hauntings seem to be connected with an area, a house
usually.
Marty: Poltergeist disturbances are of fairly short duration, perhaps
a couple of months. Hauntings can go on for years.
Diane: Are you telling me that all of this could just suddenly end
at any time?
Dr. Lesh: Yes, it could, unless it's a haunting. But hauntings don't
usually revolve around living people.
Diane: Then we don't have much time, Dr. Lesh, because my daughter
is alive somewhere inside this house.
The half-skeptical researchers wished to record the
spirits with automatic video cameras and audio recorders, to find
some scientific reason for the disturbances, but they had little
luck and heard mostly garbled noises. Diane and Steve attempted
to speak to Carol Anne's voice through a particular channel on their
television. Their daughter responded and described the presence of
some kind of light: "Mommy, where are you?...I can't find you, I can't! I'm afraid
of the light, Mommy. I'm afraid of the light." With Dr. Lesh's
urgings about the danger of the 'light,' Diane warned: "Stay away
from the light. The light is dangerous. Don't go near it. Don't even
look at the light." Objects were regurgitated from a spot on the
living room ceiling with accompanying clouds of smoke and light - wristwatches
and other items of jewelry covered with dusty slime fell to the floor.
Even more disturbing was Carol Anne's next horrible
revelation: "Mommy, there's somebody here...Mommy, somebody's
coming. Mommy, Help me, please!...Get away from me. Leave me alone." At
the foot of the stairs, Diane felt ecstasy as her young daughter
moved through her and left an imprint: "She just moved through
me. My god, I felt her. I can smell her. It's her...She's all over
me...She went through my soul." A loud pounding and growling
noise followed by a blast of wind moved powerfully through the room.
Marty, who had gone upstairs to check if the voice emanated from
a CB transmitter somewhere in the house, emerged from the upstairs
with a bruise on his side: "Something took a bite out of me."
Later that night, the three researchers whispered to
each other about the passageway that brought the supernatural, unfriendly
spirit into the house:
There's been some ionization flux. I'd like to make
sure they're not caused by humidity coming from structural leakage,
but I'm not goin' up there to find out. We have got much more than
the paranormal episode taking place here. There's measurable physical
signs in this house that goes far beyond any of the creaking doors
or cold spots I've ever experienced. The voices on television -
where is it coming from? The absence of a signal on the channel
that is not receiving a broadcast means that it is free to receive
a lot of noise from all sorts of things - like short wave, solar
disturbances, car ignition sparkings, outer space - or inner space.
Yes, what if these people had an aerial by location in their own
living room. If that is the way out (he pointed up at the living
room ceiling), then maybe somewhere in this house, there's a way
in.
To Diane, Dr. Lesh admitted embarrassingly her primitive
fear of the forces she didn't understand but was attracted to in
her profession:
Parapsychology isn't something you master in. There
are no certificates of graduation. No licenses to practice. I am
a professional psychologist who spent most of my time engaged in
this ghostly hobby, which makes me I suppose the most irresponsible
woman of my age that I know...I'm absolutely terrified. It's all
the things that we don't understand. I feel like the proto-human
coming out of the forest primeval and seeing the moon for the first
time and throwing rocks at it.
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