Directed by: Tobe Hooper
Starring: Jobeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Dominique Dunne, Heather O'Rourke, Oliver Robins, Beatrice Straight, Zelda Rubinstein, James Karen
Poltergeist, produced by Steven Spielberg, takes place in suburban California like E.T., released the same summer as this horror film. Things seem normal at the outset of Poltergeist, with a typical suburban family in the Freelings going about their daily business. But, the white noise of the television station which just went off the air (remember that?), beckons the Freelings' youngest daughter Carol Ann (O'Rourke), who is able to see and feel the ghosts which have taken refuge in the television set.
It is not a spoiler that Carol Ann is soon sucked into the television and the Freelings call on parapsychologist Dr. Lesh (Straight) to locate her and return her to the family. It is here where the movie sags a bit, with Dr. Lesh and Diane Freeling (Williams), having discussions about the hereafter and the spirit world while Carol Ann sits helplessly in the boob tube. Meanwhile, Steven (Nelson), a real estate agent who sells homes in the neighborhood where he lives, doesn't get much sleep and begins to look like the corpses which would soon show up in his unfinished swimming pool.
Poltergeist is more of a suspense thriller than anything else. Most of the time it works on its intended level, and even somewhat as a satire on suburban life, and it's fun just to see a television station playing the Star Spangled Banner with the American flag waving in the wind on the screen. I'm old enough to remember when local stations actually went off the air.
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