Poltergeist (1982) is SO SCARY, Yet Optimistic? | First Time Watching Movie Reaction & Commentary 

What do you love about Poltergeist? If you're looking for more scary movies, I won't be waiting until next October to do more! Coming up: Train to Busan, John Wick, Jaws 2, & Aliens!

"Why are they not at a hotel???" Because....their daughter is trapped in this house....As a Mom, I can tell you, I'd NEVER leave my child if I thought they could be alive. And, YES, graveyards get "relocated" all the time (there are rules that are supposed to be followed if that happens). "Is she gonna come out the living room ceiling all covered in goo? Is something amazing gonna happen? Is something terrifying gonna happen?" Yes. Yes. and Yes.

There are few horror movies where no-one dies. Poltergeist (1982, as one must now always state it thanks to the 2015 nonsense) manages to be scary by exploiting our fears of the unknown rather than implying death at every turn. There are references to The Wizard of Oz (1939) - the alive tree with a mouth and a face, the tornado, 'Which side of the rainbow are we working tonight Dr. Lesh?', the munchkin seer (Tangina - yes I know the politically correct term is 'little person' but I'm making a point). It's almost like Carol-Anne has been sucked off to Oz and, instead of going with her, we're watching from her family's point-of-view while they wonder where she is and if she will ever come back.

Graveyards get moved sometimes. The law forbids moving the graves and bodies without the approval of a relatives. There are even a couple grave markers cast in the concrete of a runway in the Hilton Head International Airport Savannah, Georgia because the family said their relatives wanted to be buried on the land they lived on. You can see pictures of them on Atlas Obscura.

JoBeth Williams should have been nominated for this. Classic case of certain genres not being taken seriously where acting is concerned. But Williams is the heart and soul of this story and should have been recognized.

I love that you're old enough to know what the "snow" on the TV was. Yes, there was a time when the TV actually signed off for the night. I grew up in the suburbs outside NYC so even in the 50s we had more channels than most of the country. I would keep the tv on through the night as white noise. So I heard the Star-Spangled Banner many a night. Love your reaction!!!

I love that you loved this movie. You are spot-on about the acting in this, and the "taking time with moments" being so important to what makes this movie work. I first saw Poltergeist on cable in the 80's, maybe a year or two after it's theatrical release, and I was afraid to go to sleep that night. P.S. You are 100% my favorite new RU-vidr: your reactions are so perfect, and funny.

I think you're right. The stellar acting by all involved is what really sells "Poltergeist"...my fave is JoBeth Williams as the mom and thought Zelda Rubenstein's turn as Tangina (the 'house cleaner') was wonderfully 'scenery chewing' at It's most fun! Poor Heather O'Rourke (Carol Ann), passed away tragically about 7 years after this came out. Another Great reaction! 👻🎃

Fun special effect fact, Poltergeist used real skeletons for the end scenes. They bought them from a local medical supply house because it was cheaper to buy real skeletons rather than build them. The supply largely came from India.

I think my Parent's overprotectiveness and the fact I was scared of my own shadow as a kid really enhanced my love of Horror films as an adult.

“You can’t have more than one weird thing happen at a time!” *me staring awkwardly at the rest of the movie…*

Ahhh, one of my favorite scary movies from my childhood! Still scares me all these years later. JoBeth Williams and Craig T Nelson were excellent along with all the supporting cast. Tragic what happened to Heather O'Rourke and Dominique Dunne. Sometimes it's hard to watch this one knowing how talented they were and how we were all robbed of it.

Your last comments about wanting a film to affect you in just the way the director intended is so heart warming. I have found there is a groundswell of people who tend to watch films with a cynical attitude - eager to pick holes and defy to be affected by the nature of the movie. That just doesn't make sense to me. You watch a film to be a part of it and to experience something you wouldn't normally get to experience in your life. Whether it's happy or sad, scary or euphoric it should enrich you and make you feel alive. Of course this only works with films that are well made and have the audiences expectations first and foremost catered for. Sometimes you can watch a film which you admire and appreciate technically but you realise it was made just for the director or the studio perhaps so whilst a good film it doesn't necessarily connect with you, you are outside looking in. The best films are the ones that immerse you in their universe and you totally empathise with what is going on. This film is the latter. Yes it looks dated now but at its centre it is all heart and presented with such conviction you are swept along with it. Please don't bother with the remake. Everything this film has the remake is devoid of. The sequels are worth a watch - especially Poltergeist II, neither reach the peaks of the first film but it was nice to go back to this world and revisit the characters again. Recommendation: The Haunting - 1963

"Why would you leave the bodies?" Welcome to corporate America.

There'd debate even among the cast who directed the film with some actors saying they were only ever directed by Tobe Hooper (whose Salem's Lot is one of my top 3 favorite vampire films of all time and his Texas Chainsaw Massacre is, of course, a horror legend) while other cast members indicate they were almost exclusively directed by Spielberg. One thing is clear, Spielberg has been publicly insistent that the director's credit belongs to Hooper. It's likely a mystery we'll not have definitively untangled. The acting, as you point out, is stellar with the MVPs being JoBeth Williams (who stars in one of my favorite fun comfort films - the little seen comedy adventure mystery American Dreamer) and Zelda Rubinstein (Tangina - the "cleaner"). Interesting fact, Rubinstein was among the very first public figures to embrace the fight against HIV/AIDS in the early 80s at the very beginning of the fight against the virus. She was a real one of a kind performer and a woman of genuine character, grit, and empathy.

As a kid... TV's all stopped broadcasting about 2..3am. Then the anthem would play and the TV would switch to snow (the dead air / static).. So if you fell asleep with TV on you would wake up to anthem to turn TV off and go back to sleep.

I totally agree with you- when I watch a movie, I want total immersion. I don't want to have seen fifty trailers, interviews with everyone and behind the scenes stuff. Watch LIFEFORCE next- same director but an even crazier concept. A great movie to get lost in.

The film was nominated for 3 Oscars: Best Visual Effects Best Sound Editing Best Original Score, but lost all 3 to ET The Extra Terrestrial.

Hey, there! It’s Mr. Trivial again! Yes, Spielberg did ghost direct this. He was doing principle photography on E.T. He originally hired Drew Barrymore for Poltergeist and Heather O’Rourke for E.T. He was determined he was going to use both actresses and switched them. Wise choice. Heather was way more vulnerable than Drew and so it makes you hurt to see her go through these bad things. Every night, Spielberg would go over to the Poltergeist production and watch the rushes from that days filming. He didn’t like what he was seeing from Tobe Hooper, so he micro-managed the filming. He would,every night, go over to Poltergeist and TOLD Hopper to reshoot this scene that way and that scene this way. Spielberg has a unique style of shooting and you can see his signature shots all over the film. (The kids racing their remote controlled cars to crisscross in front of the man on the bike is classic Spielberg… low shot filming eye level of the action of the cars, for example.) Because Steven wasn’t there for principle photography every day, there are A LOT of blatant gaffs. (At Carol Ann’s abduction into the closet, you see the door open and light come in with a lot of wind blowing. Then Carol Ann’s body is airborne while she holds on with two hands to her bed’s white, wicker headboard. Left hand comes loose and she’s now holding on with the right hand only. Close up shot of her right hand slipping off, so her hands are empty. Cut to Carol Ann flying into the closet, screaming, as she has both hands firmly clutching the top of the white, wicker headboard.) There are quite a few more gaffs that wouldn’t have happened if Spielberg had been there everyday, but E.T. was his baby. and YES… those were true, real human skeleton’s with Diane in the swimming pool sequences. JoBeth Williams was not told they were real until all of the shots were complete. If you would like more back stories, just let me know, after you wake up from my droning on with all of my backstories! 🙃

19:05 "Don't smell it! Ew, weirdo." Dying!! 🤣 It is so much fun watching movies with you!

Thanks for sharing your reaction to this. I saw this when I was a 7 or 8 (I remember seeing part 2 at the drive in a couple years later) and several more times over the years. It really is just a great movie and it actually gets scarier as Ive gotten older as I now identify with the parents and not the kids. It's rare to find a scary movie that still manages to feel pretty wholesome.

I grew up with a strict Christian family too and wasn’t allowed to watch Pokémon, read Harry Potter or draw dragons. Now, I’m absolutely fascinated by spooky creepy things but am a complete chicken so watching reactors like you is how I watch scary movies. Thanks for one for the team!

Settle back and I'll tell you a story about a radio station I used to work for out here on Long Island.. The station used to go off the air at 11pm, but no one had access to the transmitter room so the station would stay "on" 24/7. Now, when you have nothing being broadcast, they call that "dead air". Because you are essentially a dead spot on the dial. Sitting IN the station at the base of the antenna, it should be impossible to hear ANYTHING on that frequency unless we were sending it out. -- 2:30am, Wednesday... I am the only person in the station since we went off the air and everyone went home. I'm sitting in one of the recording studios and thought I was going to be cute and pull a prank. So I get this "phantom broadcast" / "pirate radio takeover" all cued up and go live. For 60 minutes, I ran an unauthorized show, played whatever I wanted, violated a couple of FCC rules... Basically had a good time. 3:30am, I end the broadcast with a pre-recorded bit of the FCC breaking down the door, angry yelling, gunshots, and then SILENCE. -- Of course, none of that actually happened.. It was all a prank. What happened next... Still makes my hair stand up.. During the portion where there was nothing going out over the air, I still had my headphones plugged in and was listening to the master mixing board signal.. Slowly, and among the background hiss that you would normally hear from FM radio.. I started hearing shifts in the static. At first, I didn't know what it was. Figured maybe atmospheric disturbances or power fluctuation in the station or transmitter... --- That was until I slid the volume pot all the way up.. Voices.. Layered voices.. Like a small crowd of people having conversations just barely on the edge of hearing.. I couldn't make out words or distinct voices.. They weren't whispers. More like what you would hear in an auditorium before the show starts.. --- Most people would say, "oh that's just overlapping frequencies from stations far away." --- And normally I would agree. But that isn't possible when you're in a station underneath an active transmitter. There should have been NO possible way to hear anything getting through on that frequency. I was suddenly VERY aware, that I was alone, in an isolated radio station, in the middle of the night, with conversations taking place all around me... Just me, two million dollars worth of electronic gear, and the ghosts...

I Watch 4, or 5 different reaction channels on a regular basis, and this might be the best reaction I've seen. It is certainly the best reaction to Poltergeist. I really liked what you said at the end about feeling what the people in the movie are feeling, and not trying to outsmart the movie.

My favorite movie ever. I saw it when I was nine and have been researching the paranormal since. I’m a nurse, but I have a paranormal team and we’ve traveled all over the country to help people who have no one else to call. I am a Christian and very firm in my faith. I am also studying to be a religious demonologist. This is a fantastic movie but the name is wrong. This is the demonic, the “beast.” They often trick children into inviting them in. I’ve seen things I that are impossible but they do happen. It’s very satisfying to work with the Church and help families with demonic activity; however it is very rare. Most hauntings are human spirits who are lingering for whatever reason. The paranormal TV shows glorify the “demonic” and give viewers misinformation. It’s not to be played with and is a calling, a ministry that is very serious.

I love your reactions, you’re absolutely adorable. Poltergeist was the first horror movie I ever saw. I think I was like 8 years old. It didn’t scare me then I think because I didn’t understand everything going on. I saw it again when I was 20 and it terrified me. Go figure!

About what you said regarding building over a cemetery...I don't remember the specific names but there have been towns that were formerly cemeteries, 'course in those instances they actually bothered to move the bodies along with the headstones. I agree that the whole thing is all kinds of awful and disrespectful. I also think it might be illegal since the boss in the movie didn't properly move the dead when doing construction.

the couple/family were completely believable. The mom was cool and the dad was hip. My parents were square.

8:03 To answer your question, I assume the father dug his fingernails into the eyes that had appeared on the tree. The tree would've likely loosened its bite due to the pain, enabling the father to then pull his son out. And the director was Tobe Hooper, the same guy who directed the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre eight years prior to Poltergeist.

Now check out the movie "The Haunting", from 1963. Since you like mystery and unseen. As a child this movie scared the crap outta me.

"Should my guard not be all the way down?" 😈

The people who did the special effects in this film, left to start their own SFX company, and two years later, worked on another film with almost exactly the same ideas that they used in this film, and that movie went on to do better than this film did. It was Ghostbusters 👻

Those skeletons were real. I heard the production was sued over using the footage of mom in the muddy pool with all those real skeletons during the storm.

Fun fact. 1% of that "snow" on the TV you used to see back in the day is actually the CMB, AKA the cosmic microwave background. In other words when you see static on the TV you are looking at the echo of the big bang and the creation of the universe.

I highly recommend watching the rest of the trilogy. Not all at once, but save it for the Halloween season. Fun Fact: During all the horrors that proceeded while filming, only one scene really scared Heather O'Rourke: that in which she had to hold on to the headboard while a wind machine blew toys into the closet behind her. The young actress fell apart. "Producer" Steven Spielberg stopped everything, took her in his arms, and said that she would not have to do that scene again.

The actress who played the older sister was murdered by her abusive boyfriend shortly after this movie came out and the girl who played carol Ann died after making the second poltergeist. They used real skeletons in the pool scene because they were cheaper then fake ones but they neglected to tell the actress who played the mom until after she filmed the scene. In those days some tv stations would stop broadcasting at like 2 or 3 am and it would be static until they started broadcasting again at 5 or 6 am. There have been incidents where towns or cities have relocated cemetery’s to build parks or buildings, I saw a video recently about a haunted park that was the site of a cemetery and apparently they didn’t move a lot of the graves just the headstones.

A long time ago, I had a guy friend (I'm female) who moved into one of these cookie-cutter neighborhoods in Riverside (we were from L.A.), so when I went to see his house for the first time, I was going to stay over because I didn't think I'd feel like driving back to L.A. late at night. EVERY house looked the same and I teased him (immediately upon my arrival) that he bought a house in a "Poltergeist" neighborhood. Strike One. That night, we went to go see one of the "Hellraiser" movies. Strike Two. (For the record, "scary" movies have never affected me like they do some people). His bedroom was at one end of a long hallway, and I chose to sleep in the bedroom at the opposite end (two others in the middle). Strike Three. To this very moment, I don't know what really happened that night. If it was just a nightmare, it was the most vivid one I've ever had - including childhood night terrors. I had the physical sensation of some sort of entity LITERALLY throwing me around the room. Somehow, I had the weird twist on reality - in the midst of the horror - to think that if I can wake my friend up, he can then come and wake ME up, so this torturous experience could end. I mustered up all of my strength to scream, and... nothing. I hit the wall again, and felt physical pain in my back. I was determined to try again to awaken my friend (but I'd heard him snoring like a lawnmower when I was still completely awake), so I really didn't like my chances. But I still pulled every ounce of energy I could find from my toes on up in an effort to scream. I only managed a pitiful whimper, but it was enough for me to break free of whatever had a hold on me (something real or my own mind that seemed hellbent on tormenting me). Needless to say, I didn't go back to sleep and took off for home as soon as the sun came up lol. And my back hurt. I didn't visit that friend at his home again until he moved 😆.

Speilberg is one of the Greatest of all times for his action thriller and scary movies. It's totally wonder to be an 80s kid, times were so different back then and I really miss a lot from some things we've pushed by the wayside. Hope remains, I really love this film. Parts 1&2 are my absolute favorites! Back in the day movies lines were extremely developed, thereby creating the most memorable movies of ALL TIMES till this day. Our films were more than technicality and formulas. No "easy answers" and fake reactions. These actors took us on a journey back in the day. Characters and casts were picked from the best of the best! They also were amazing to watch and instilled values in us! Even the scary movies. Cinema moved us, made us laugh and made us cry and all that's in between. And That is GREAT!!! Glad to have been alive during these times and so happy to see how the movies are still some of the greatest to this day with new generations!

Back in the day before all channels were 24 hours, All local channels would play the National Anthem before going off air at the end of their broadcast day. That allows the ghosts to communicate to Carol-anne through the now "open" channel.

'Some people die but they don't know that they've gone.' and we just witnessed the birth of M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Sixth Sense'. Still love this movie, and I still can't (but also still can) believe that this was a kids movie, and that 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' 's director Tobe Hooper did this one, no wonder it was so freakin' scary.

'nother film directed by Tobe Hooper (yeah, he did Texas Chainsaw) is Lifeforce, written by the cat who wrote Alien. I'll just point out that the actress who plays naked-space-vampire-lady was terrified to film her numerous nude scenes, but said that Tobe Hooper was super respectful and put her at ease throughout filming so props to the Hoop. The film'll blow your mind btw; it's quite cray.

It’s hard to get scared for characters you don’t recognize as real, and don’t care about. The first thing this movie does is get you comfortable with the characters and the setting, before placing them in jeopardy. At heart, this is a movie about a family in crisis. Replace the haunting with a serious illness or major family financial crisis, and this would still be, at core, compelling, in many of the same ways. No haunted-house movie before this had been set in a modern post-WWII housing tract. That was also unsettling.

The scene with the steak and the follow-up in the bathroom where the man pulls off his face was a formative movie trauma for me.

I think it was Kubrick who joked that all ghost stories are inherently optimistic, because they suggest the possibility of life after death. I remember the two Poltergeist sequels being decent, but it's a long time since I've watched them. Did you know that "I'm ready for my close-up" is a line from the classic film Sunset Boulevard (1950)?

You probably have someone else telling you this. But the swimming pool scene. They used REAL skeletons because they were easier and less expensive to get. But,, they didn't tell JoBeth Williams that, her shrieks in the water were pretty much all real.

16:27 --- uhhh.. wellllll.... It' d be nice if our final resting areas were... final... But it happens more often than you think. I believe it's the Brooklyn Queens Expressway that cut it's way through a cemetery here in NY. They moved the stones and as many bodies as they could.. But there's been stories about work crews having to stop every time they hit another casket. Also stories about workers looting the graves... Unmarked graves and ones they didn't want to bother moving being paved over.. Frankly, horrifying.. And not the last "road construction" story I'd heard either. Down in Florida there's a stretch of either I-10 or I-75 that went through an old abandoned town and I don't think they bothered moving the bodies..

Imagine watching this when you're six years old. That shit messed up so many kids in the 80's.

You must watch 1408. I'm not a big fan of this genre, yet Poltergeist and 1408 are among my favorite movies.

17:13 -- apply that to people who are in comas... Neither awake, nor asleep. (well, not in the way we normally think of sleep.) --- A perpetual limbo.

I absolutely love this film ever since seeing it as a child. I'm not sure if anyone else has mentioned already that this film series allegedly has a curse on it. From the eldest daughter being murdered by her husband in real life, the skeletons in the swimming pool being real, to the son nearly being choked to death on set from the clown when it was strangling him and then the death of Heather O'Rourke who played Carol Ann while filming the 3rd film.

Great reaction. I loved this movie when it came out. I agree so much with your comment about the power of not seeing everything. There are several modern movies I could do without because they want to show me every single detail of something horrific...and I really don't need to see that! there is something to be said for leaving something to the imagination. Less really can be more. Especially in horror.

Back in the day, before 24/7 television, they had a time limit. They would play the national anthem 🇺🇸 before fading to the fuzzy snow. Nothing would be on until the next morning.

I'm not sure what's better. This or the Family Guy parody of it. Easy answer. "looks like I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque" he he he

The actress who played the older daughter was strangled by her boyfriend shortly after the film, and the younger daughter died of septicemia from peritonitis (IIRC, due to a burst appendix) when she was 12. And two of the stars of Poltergeist II died shortly after filming.

Second fun fact. Back in the day forming and casting skeletons was more expensive then buying real human skeletons. So the bodies in the pool at the end were REAL skeletons. And nobody told the actress until after the shot was completed.

I loved this on the big screen when I was a kid. It's still a good film, definitely more about story than gore and such.

As a mom of multiple children if one was being eaten by a tree and another being sucked into a closet void.. Like really where would you go to help. Forsake one for the other. The hell. I love this movie.

In those days, the National Anthem signaled the end of the programming day, followed by the "snow". Usually, people would turn off the TV at that point!!

Don't get mad at me, but your frustration had me laughing all the way through. It was, however, an empathic laughing, understanding why your eyes were popping out and you were pulling out your hair. Very entertaining reaction. By the way, Jerry Goldsmith did the music. In the past, several cemetaries were moved to make way for something else, but I don't believe they left the caskets in the ground. That just gave the writer a cause for the haunting in the movie, but I was shocked to find they have moved cemetaries in the past.

Also just so you are aware, the director Tobe Hooper also directed The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).

Loooooved this one as a kid! It was the first horror film my parents let me watch! Glad yer watching 😊

In the old days at the end of broadcasting for the evening usually between 11 and 12…they would play the national anthem then it went to static for the rest of the night.

👋 hi!! I’m a new subscriber. Two things: The “snow” on the tv was actually pretty Soothing. That’s why they have sound machines that still have that Noise. I would geek out like that. Been around ghost my whole life and I still jump up and laugh when something crazy happens.

What I love about Poltergeist: To be emotionally invested with characters and a story, you have to care about the characters. Thus, in Alien we have a long introduction to the characters and the ship before the story gets going. Here, we have a slow introduction to the characters before things go awry, and we have loving moments between the parents. Nowadays, with ADD audiences, non-stop action means that we are given no “moments” with characters so we don’t care about them. You don’t just open a bottle of wine and start chugging it; you have to open the wine and let it breathe a little. Also, who would not want to be married to JoBeth Williams ?

At the time this was made. Some TV stations signed off at midnight. In the USA the stations played THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.

The horror movie with the biggest heart! The cast all say that Tobe Hooper (who directed Texas Chainsaw Massacre) was the guy who directed them, called action and cut. Spielberg wrote and produced it and brought the full force of Industrial Light & Magic with him to help with the effects. I think it's clearly a collaboration. This was originally a sci-fi movie, an alien abduction.... and Tobe Hooper convinced him to change it into a haunted house movie, so he gets major credit of that, right? :D 12:46: You nailed one of the reasons I love this movie. And 26:16: a great moment in which you speak for all of us! lol. You ask what do I love about Poltergeist? It's imagination and originality - for instance, a tree eating a kid. It's humor and, just like Close Encounters, taking the time to get a feel (and feeling) for the family. I think JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson are outstanding as the parents, excellent casting. I like how there are subtle undercurrents and themes about motherhood, and even politics (which I won't get into here!). But mostly I love it just because its a damn good movie! I bought my ticket, bought my popcorn, Twizzlers, M&Ms and soda, and when it was all done, I felt as if I had really "gone to the movies", if you know what I mean. (I actually had sneaked into Poltergeist when I saw E.T. Both movies came out the same month, and Poltergeist was the one I wanted to see more, but it was E.T.we first went to see. To this day, I think I would have enjoyed E.T. more if I had seen Poltergeist first. By the way, E.T. and Poltergeist were shot on practically the same set, and there are lots of pictures of the kids from both movies playing together! (I'm sure everyone has already commented on the tragedy of Dominique Dunne, who played the oldest daughter, which happened just a few months after the movie, and then of course Heather O'Rourke, who played Carol Anne. So sad, and always a little bittersweet watching, especially because the whole movie is about a mother's love for her kids.) Anyways, as usual, great reaction!!!! So happy you loved it as I always have!

Chris, my grandmother on my father's side lived on a property in a tiny little S. GA town where her grandfather had sold off a bunch of adjacent land to the town for a water treatment plant, various other things including a big "new" town cemetery, which was next to the house, just over a honeysuckle hedge. When we'd drive down from Atlanta to visit every year-sometimes for weeks, since I can ever remember-there was hardly anything for children to do around there, so my cousins and I would be left to wander through the cemetery to play, so we weren't constantly distracting GrandMom from her housekeeping routine. *BY DAY ONLY,* I might add. I never once set foot in there after dark in 18 years of visiting. I'm no idiot. We were all always super-respectful toward the graves and old mausoleums, never even treading over a grave, as that was considered massively disrespectful in the region to set foot over a gravesite. (I was always very uncomfortable watching movies where people would visit graves and squat at the tombstone, right over the coffin underneath. Still kind of am.) Sometimes, I had to sleep in this one bedroom on the side of the house which had windows facing the cemetery. We'd always visit during summer, and there was, of course, no a/c, so the windows had to remain open all night. I would lie awake for hours, the graveyard in view out the windows, shuddering at the certainty that at any time, all the ghosts who were undoubtedly wandering around the graveyard all night, might suddenly pour through the window at any moment due to my *not being able to STOP THINKING ABOUT THEM!* Like visions of ghost-wolves, and shit . . . So you can imagine the effect of seeing the reveal in this film had on me, even at the age of 15. By then, I had seen The Exorcist, The Omen, Carrie, etc., and this still did my head in.

Despite the rumblings going on that Spielberg actually directed the film and Hooper didn't, I heard that Hooper wanted to improve his directing chops after having been replaced as a director on 2 films prior to Poltergeist. Hooper and Spielberg admired each others works on each others TV Movies (Hooper directed the 2 part version of Stephen King's "Salems Lot" and Spielberg directed a short film in the TV series "Night Gallery" having the chance to direct the legendary Joan Crawford). So Spielberg lend a helping hand whenever Hooper felt he needed it which was often. After Poltergeist you can see in the remaining films that Hooper did how much improved his movies looked the way the actors acted and how he directed the movements of the camera. Compare "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" made in 1974 to the sequel made in 1986. There's quite a difference.

M dad as a state attorney helped "condemn" and take land from a major cemetery to put in new freeway exits and offshoot highway. They left some of the Cemetary next to the traffic intact.

This movie gets you… it’s AWESOME

Enjoyed your reaction. I was 10 when one of my older sisters took me to see this movie. Gave me nightmares and really angered my parents when they found out. 🙂 I still love this movie so much. I didn't much care for the sequels or the remake.

This was a box office and critical success, making $122 million dollars against a $10 million dollar budget. The movie is now Considered cursed as most of the actors listed died after the films release: Dominique Dunne, Dana, was strangled by her ex boyfriend, leaving her Braindead at the age of 22. Heather O'Rourke, Carol Anne, died from Crohn's Disease at the age of 13 during filming of Poltergeist 3. Will Sampson, whom plays Taylor in Poltergeist 2 The Other Side, died from open heart surgery in 1987. Julian Beck, Reverand Kane, died from cancer in 1985, a year before Poltergeist 2 was released.

I truly don't know how I ended up here but I love your reactions!!!

I wish I grew up in the 1980s. It was such a decade for movies. everywhere you looked, you got hit in the face with such amazing films. This decade is a mixed back. we have the Marvelverse and Legendary's Monsterverse, but then you have Disney's live action remakes...

You get me every time with some one liner... "Alright, Star Lord, pay attention!" LMFAO!

I thoroughly enjoyed your reaction to this movie. This is one of my favorite Spielberg movies. Just watched Top Gun and am so pumped for the new one opening May 27 so excited for that. Have you ever seen Witness with Harrison Ford. Awesome I think you will love

Just found your channel, and I love it! I'm really enjoying your reactions. As for this movie, at its heart, Poltergeist is actually a movie about family. The family is fairly "ordinary", they are just living their lives, then they find themselves in a terrifying, life altering situation. Instead of falling apart they come together, fight through the situation, and, even if it wasn't a traditional "happily ever after" (in real life it rarely ever is), they get a happy ending and their family is stronger. This is a real "no family member left behind" story, albeit a very scary one. lol

I'm very happy to see you enjoy Poltergeist and how you appreciate the quieter moments between the scares. If you ever get the chance, watch the Poltergeist ( 2015) remake and look at the different and less effective approach to it....I think you will understand how much better the original movie worked. Also it would be cool to see you react to Poltergeist II and III.

New subscriber here 1 - because this is my all time favourite movie and 2 - you.....are.....hilarious!! What a brilliant reaction, can't wait for more :)

"...if I keep breathing, I think I'll be OK." I hate to tell you, but it's your breath that they want.

I love how this is a family horror film where the family never turn on each other, and always work together. The parents are the best to me, and the mom especially, she's the true hero of the story. I don't know how young I was when I first saw this film, but I would guess around 9ish. I remember the only scene my mom didn't want me to watch was the bathroom with the melting face.

Poltergeist was my first horror movie. I was 7, and from then on I was hooked and wanted to do special FX for horror movies when I grew up. Never quite happened as a career, but I did make the prosthetic you see in my profile picture and other stuff just for myself. The US anthem gave me the heebies for quite a while after watching this though, lol BTW, during the scene where Marty rips off his face, those were Spielberg's hands, tearing away at the prop head.

"Holy crap is that?" ... best line ever

The Swedish birch-tree has a reputation for eating small children (infants) from time to time, but the last confirmend incident was way back in 1987, so it's pretty rare nowadays. ;)

The part where they were walking down the stairs at the beginning was filmed backwards.

in the days before cable and satellite TV, TV stations signed off around 12:00 to 2:00, and signed back on around 5:00 to 6:00, with the National Anthem playing at both times. the in-between times had all the snow because of no signal.

You need to watch Poltergeist 2 to understand who Carol Ann was talking about when she says "HE" won't let her go.

I was 12 years old when this came out. I think it's super scary and has stayed with me. Love the Star Wars references!! As to your question regarding if this has ever happened in real life...look up Denver Colorado- Cheesman Park. Cemetery converted to public park.

The national anthem used to play right before the channel went off the air for the day. God I’m old to remember that. 😂

I think it would be possible to just move the headstones if you were building houses without basements. If they had to dig a hole for a basement, they would have found all the coffins and bodies. This was a great reaction. It was interesting to see this movie the first time at a drive him that had foot high weeds and looked halfway abandoned.

Has anyone mentioned yet that the skeletons in the mud pool at the end were real, because they were cheaper than getting plastic ones, and they didn't tell the actress until after they filmed it?

The Stair Scene and teh Door Demon are both my most favorite scenes in this movie. Also, a LOT of people died shortly after making this movie. Some say it's cursed.

A lot cheaper to move headstones than exhume an entire graveyard.

I'm pretty sure Speilberg was filming ET in the same neighborhood at the same time. So it was easy for him to drop by the set.

thats crazy, Oktokrool just released their poltergeist reaction last night. cant wait to see yours. also, ill say the same thing i said on their video. its so hard to believe this movie was rated PG here in the UK. which means 7 and older. under 7's must be adult accompanied. this should have at least been rated 15

That friggin clown. Why did it have to be a friggin clown?😂

This is such a fantastic film, but it makes my arm hurt. I saw it in the theater with my then-girlfriend. She SQUEEZED are arm so hard during the ghost in the hall scene. I remember the pain when ever I see this film.

OMG!! Another fantastic reaction. I love how invested you get and how much you appreciate the filmmaking and the elements that make these films classics. 😊 I think you definitely need to check out the original Halloween if you haven’t seen it…I think you’d really like it’s thrills and appreciate the masterful filmmaking…and dare I suggest…The Exorcist? 😱😱

To restore your faith in the potential of a backyard pool, it's time for Encino Man (Brendan Fraser, Pauly Shore, Sean Astin).

I saw this in the theater in 7th grade - was terrified in such a fun way! Still love the movie, still holds up in a fun wild horror ride.