Brandon Comments:
We welcomed in the month of Halloween 2007 with Tooda’s Selection of ‘Poltergeist’ – a truly creepy film – a truly creepy film in which I had forgotten how good it was. The character setup at the film’s beginning was long and thorough, so much so that you really feel for the family when the hauntings start happening, because you feel like you actually know the family. The film’s director, Tobe Hooper, must have taken some points from the film’s producer, Spielberg, because the flow of the film was methodical and well crafted. And that mom in the film…good Lord, what a fox!
More Kudos to Tooda for re-igniting the website, and making it stronger, faster, and even cooler than before. I feel like we’re back in the game again. And I’m really looking forward to this month of MovieNight, because it is the month of scary films – my favorite kind of films. So let’s see some blood and guts and some machetes and masked men with deformed faces in the Back Yard this month.
Viva la MovieNight!
Netti Comments:
I remember watching ‘Poltergeist’ at the age of 8 or 9 when it came out on cable. I was home alone after school, my mother hadn't come home from work. The leaves had turned and were now beginning to fall. I think I recall a bit of moisture and chill as the National Anthem began. I fixed myself a huge bowl of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream (probably 3 through the course of the film). I was scared out my shorts and remember thinking I was glad that it was still daylight.
I watch it now and I don't feel all that much. Very little, in fact. The film is well made and there are some camera moves that I really enjoy. Particularly the one that slowly pans and tilts up the stairs as you are being mercilessly instructed that something is going to be coming out of that bedroom.
However, I will say there is a nice jam worthiness to the Pick in that Craig T. Nelson appears two weeks in a row as a father trying to do what's right, and the family struggling through adversity is common to both films. Other than that I feel like this would be watching ‘The Hunt for Red October’: A really fun movie that you might just finish watching if it happened to be on TV, but you wouldn't set out to rent it because it's been on TBS pretty consistently.
Nubs Comments:
Ben managed to give us a Slam Dunk of a kickoff to our Tour de Halloween. I’m so glad he audibled from his predetermined first choice, ‘The Dead Zone,’ for the sake of the jam session that has been grooving in our new Dicks, or digs.
Tooda used Craig T. Nelson, or the Dad we would aspire to be if JoBeth Williams or Elastigirl were our milfy wives, to tie in our family rotation with horror. ‘Poltergeist’ is the perfect segue from our themes of growing family and growing children to our deepest fears, though now I think growing family and children are my new deepest fears.
It’s been a long time since I re-watched this classic that caused many restless nights for me as a young boy of 8. I can’t believe my parents took me to see this. It’s just cruel, see my ‘The Thing’ review. I’m thankful Ben gave me another chance to overcome my childhood nightmares by watching this with some new perspective and wisdom. What really impressed me in this viewing is the care that Hooper/Spielberg takes to warm us up to this intimate family. He devotes a great amount of film time showing this family as naturalistic as any neighbor, albeit from a very specific 1982, but very real nonetheless. The performances he gets out of his whole cast makes me think Spielberg did more coaching than producing. I think JoBeth and Craig T’s acting sell the whole movie. Jo Beth’s performance is literally breathtaking and she is definitely the milfiest Milf from the 80’s era of cinema. Doob up!
Surprisingly the parts I remember as the scariest throughout my childhood just seem corny now. I suppose a lifetime being raised by the fluorescent babysitter has desensitized me to 80’s special effects. The skeletons in the pool, the obvious fake head pulling off it’s own flesh, and even the clown really test my ability to suspend 8 year-old disbelief. It is a cinematic triumph, however, that they were able to instill these horrors into a PG family film and my nightmares forever. Thanks MPAA for fucking me up for life and thanks Tooda for showing this true horror film in it’s proper forum.
SELECTOR Comments:
Man is it nice to be typing again.
Sure, Movienight started without a Web Site or critiques of the picks, but these two additions have become an important part of this ritual of ours. The past month or two of Picks have seemed to exist in a vacuum. I regret not having the chance to berate Netti in the days after he chose to celebrate the end of our second full year with a ridiculously tone deaf Selection. Or to apologize to Buffy for getting all worked up about her Pick being formatted for a TV screen when in fact ‘True Stories’ was shot in that format.
Perhaps we will all make the time to write reviews for the films that screened while the Site was down, but the Founding Members certainly haven’t submitted any reviews for ‘Fight Club,’ or any of the other films that screened before the Site was built. (For the record, the first film reviewed by the Membership was Nubs ‘The Meaning of Life.’)
Either way, it’s good to be back in business.
I haven’t seen ‘Poltergeist’ since I was a kid, but as soon as the credits rolled on Nubs’ ‘The Incredibles’ part of me started thinking it would be the perfect kick off to our Horror Cycle. Craig T. Nelson essentially plays the same part in both films, and I was eager to juxtapose the two performances. That the magnificent Beatrice Straight returns from her ‘Network’ debut made it all the better. Her work here is a text book example of simple work and well-trained speech elevating pedestrian dialogue to a higher plane. I had originally planned on bringing Cronenberg’s ‘The Dead Zone.’ I bought the film weeks before. I had enjoyed Mr. Wiener’s ‘Videodrome’ so much last year, and as ‘The Dead Zone’ was Cronenberg’s follow up to that film, I thought it would be an elegant pick. Still, this horse kept winking at me, and I had no choice but to audible.
Not a perfect film, ‘Poltergeist’ captures an era with precision. This is the era of my youth, and it lives in this film as I remember having lived it. I had friends whose homes had ridiculous stairwells like the one figured here, and Lenny Mead’s pool seemed to always be under construction. I also remember well the sign off at the end of the day when the National Anthem played over slow motion images of flags and battleships. How quaint it seems now to think that networks shut down for the night (or that they had some sense of National allegiance).
Past the trip down memory lane, ‘Poltergeist’ has some scares to offer, but not too many. In particular I was shocked at how awful the face ripping sequence was. That scene gave me nightmares for years, and not only doesn’t it hold up, it sucked for its day. This is the same era as ‘An American Werewolf in London’ and ‘Videodrome.’ That rubbery head sucked then and it sucks now.
Still, ‘Poltergeist’ is an adventure. It is a fun and efficient yarn, and while it may not hold up in the annals of great cinema, it sure was fun to share it with you all. I am glad I made the audible in the end. There is a nagging bleakness to all of Cronenberg’s films, and Movienight has had too much despair of late. The jaunty thrills of ‘Poltergeist’ reminded me of how much fun it is to share a film with all of you, Wednesday is my favorite day of the week.
I look forward to hearing what everyone else has to say. It sure is good to be back.
Onwards.
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