Introduction
Haunted house stories are an institution in the horror genre. Right up there with vampires, werewolves, and zombies, ghosts have captured and terrorized the imaginations of audiences since George Méliès and the Lumière brothers first started experimenting with superimposed images in cinema.
There is something uniquely unsettling about the idea of being threatened by a supernatural force in the safety of your own home. Where you are supposed to feel most secure. When that sense of refuge is thrown into calamity on the big screen, a genuine feeling of dread practically oozes off the celluloid as audiences experience the same fright as their fictional counterparts.
In Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist (1982), it is all too easy to empathize and be horrified right along with the Freeling family as they battle the mysterious spirits who have taken hold of their home. They’ve also inexplicably hidden their precious daughter Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) somewhere in the depths of the netherworld.
Synopsis
The film begins innocently enough as bedtime descends upon the family of five in their cookie-cutter home in a sprawling 1980s suburban housing addition. A looming thunderstorm threatens the peace as Carol Anne and her brother Robbie (Oliver Robbins) try their best to ignore the flashes of lightning and loud rumbling coming from the sky.
When the storm unleashes its full fury, the gnarled tree that has menaced Robbie’s imagination throughout his childhood seemingly springs to life. It breaks through his bedside window, grabbing and pulling him from his bed. A struggle by his parents ensues to free him from the grip of the animated tree. It’s agreed the next morning, however, that the storm merely blew the tree over and the rest was indeed, just imagination.
This outrageous sequence sets the stage for an increasingly peculiar series of events. This includes mysteriously rearranged furniture, enchanted toys, an otherworldly portal, and ultimately the vanishing of Carol Anne.
Following her disappearance, Carol Anne communicates with her family from the beyond. This is done via the static of a blank TV channel that isn’t picking up the regular UHF/VHF signals. With the help of an inscrutable medium, the Freelings hatch a desperate plan to retrieve their little girl from the other side and rid their home of the haunters forever.
Analysis
Freaky is an apt description of Tobe Hooper’s (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) take on this terrifying and heartbreaking tale. The late-director’s film is chock-full of jump scares and visually stunning surprises. Yet, it’s also brimming with the kind of slow-burn anxiety and parental angst that provides emotional chills along with the jolts.
As if being displaced in your own home isn’t scary enough, the angst and helplessness of losing a child is another kind of terror altogether. In a genius twist, the ghosts themselves ironically take on a sympathetic tone as it’s eventually revealed why they have been caught in their interminable limbo.
Horror maestro Hooper plays up the warrior guardian theme, with parents willing to do whatever is necessary to assure the safety of their child. This innate loyalty is beautifully juxtaposed with an onslaught of hair-raising scares. It creates a well-rounded story that will make your heart ache and your skin crawl.
Effective and creepy visual effects that range from wispy phantoms to gruesome gore reinforce the scare factor throughout this gut-wrenching tale. The mix of old and new techniques utilized in Poltergeist became a new standard in genre storytelling. ILM’s Richard Edlund was nominated for the Best Visual Effects Oscar. However, he lost to another ILM team working on Spielberg’s other release that year – E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
Further Discussion
Jerry Goldsmith’s score is iconic. Most notably, the creepy lullaby ‘Carol Anne’s Theme’, amplifies the film’s unease. In a similar situation as the visual effects team, Goldsmith was bested by John Williams for that year’s Academy Award for Best Original Score. Williams won the statue for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
Jo Beth Williams as matriarch Diane Freeling thoroughly captures the essence of a determined yet desperate mother. Though her character somehow holds it together, Williams gets to flex her scream queen muscles when it counts. In addition, Craig T. Nelson embodies Steve Freeling with the agony of a powerless father teetering close to the edge of insanity. Nelson’s vulnerability helps accentuate an overall feeling of terrified helplessness.
A show-stopping performance by Zelda Rubinstein as the peculiar medium Tangina helps accentuate the film’s disturbing tone. Moreover, her performance also provides a hint of camp. This is what propels Poltergeist beyond your typical haunted house fare.
Conclusion
To say Poltergeist is full of horrors might be the understatement of the century. Indeed, you can almost feel Hooper reveling in the fact that his biggest box office success is jam-packed with spooks and hideous gags. Despite stories over the years alleging that writer/producer Steven Spielberg helmed much of the film himself, Hooper’s unmistakable mark is cast boldly on one of his greatest directing achievements.
