Poltergeist

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jared Harris, Saxon Sharbino, Kyle Catlett, Kennedi Clements, Jane Adams, Susan Heyward, Nicholas Braun
Directed by Gil Kenan
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Horror, Thriller
2015

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A family fights against supernatural forces when their daughter (Kennedi Clements) is whisked away to another world.

Review:

Tim: I'm saying this way too much, but this is another unnecessary Hollywood sequel. The original Poltergeist is one of my favorite (and best) horror films of all time. It's an incredible film. This 2015 remake is about on par with the disappointing, lackluster sequels. There's nothing overtly terrible about this film- it's an average, generic horror movie. When you think about how good the original film is, it's shocking how far below it this remake is.

This movie tries to be clever by paying homage to the original. It doesn't really work out. One character makes a crack about the cemetery not being "an Indian burial ground, or anything". The writers thought they were being clever, but it's not. The exorcist now has a hashtag #thishouseisclean catchphrase. I suppose it might be somewhat of an interesting twist on the best line from the original film, but it felt more like a farce than anything to me. It felt like this film couldn't stand on its own. The original was so good, it casts a long shadow. This remake felt completely comfortable nestling into that shadow. I hated that about it.

Trying to look past that, though, this is at least a decent horror film. I might have liked it better had I not known about the excellent original. Looking at just this film, it's somewhat scary and engaging. Like so many recent horror movies, it's about a family who moves into a new house and is haunted by a supernatural presence. There's nothing especially unique or new about this, and this film doesn't do anything to differentiate itself. It's the same generic story we've seen before. The story isn't bad- it's just predictable. That translates into a decent, but not great movie.

I liked the cast, so I was a bit disappointed the movie wasn't better. Sam Rockwell is a good actor, although he wasn't great here. His performance was kind of weird- he never felt fully comfortable in the role. At times, I felt like he was really giving his all, and others, like he was sleepwalking through the scene. It occasionally felt like he recognized the movie wasn't going to be very good. Rockwell deserved a better film than this. I also like Rosemarie DeWitt. She was a little more straightforward in her performance. It's fine, a usual horror movie mom performance. I liked seeing Jared Harris here, although his character wasn't as impressive as I expected him to be. He was a bit too one-note, which made him less interesting than he would otherwise be. Tangina (and Zelda Rubinstein's performance) was one of the major highlights of the original movie. Harris doesn't even come close to that level of impact. That's disappointing, but mostly due to the script.

The special effects are creepy, certainly an improvement over the 1982 original. I wouldn't say anything especially scared me, but the scenes of the other world filled with tortured souls was an interesting, memorable visual. The scenes with the clown were fine, but not nearly as effective as they wanted them to be. I'd say the movie was about average for creepiness. It doesn't match the original.

I'm all for keeping franchises going, and I like the idea of resurrecting the Poltergeist franchise. Unfortunately, a shoddy remake was not the way to go. Rather than bring something new to the table, everyone involved here took the same path that the original tread, but did so in a significantly less effective manner. This movie might have recouped its budget, but the fact that it made significantly less unadjusted dollars at the box office, 33 years after what the original made will tell you that this was not much of a success. It's a perfectly fine horror film, but we deserve much better.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Poltergeist (1982), Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Poltergeist III