"Poltergeist"
This is one of the few movies that creeped me out as a kid and still creeps me out today. It starts with a nice suburban family. They are living a nice quiet life. Then some funky stuff starts to happen.
Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams are Steve and Diane Freeling. They have three kids and live in a nice house. Steve sells houses in the development. Diane is busy with the kids. Their youngest child, Carol Anne played by Heather Rourke is adorable and also very imaginative. Or is she?
[first lines]
Carol Anne: Hello? What do you look like? Talk louder, I can't hear you! Hey, hello! Hello, I can't hear you! Five. Yes. Yes. I don't know. I don't know.
One night the parents are woken up by the television and their daughter in front of a snowy screen.
Carol Anne: They're here.
Before you know it, Carol Anne is sucked into another dimension and they can hear her through the television. They call in help.
This woman is freaky. She still to this day, with her Minnie Mouse voice, is just plain odd.
A lot of stuff happens in this movie. There are gross moments, emotional moments and a seriously creepy clown.
I did learn that you can tell how far away a storm is by watching for lightning and then counting until you hear the thunder. I also learned that you shouldn't bury houses on a graveyard and then try to dig a pool.
There is a bloody rescue.
This movie spawned a home phrase. We are often known to shout, when appropriate, "Don't Go Into The LIGHT!". We are also fond of a squeaky little "This house is clean!".
It is a different kind of creepy and scary as an adult than it was as a kid. When you have a child, suddenly everything seems terribly fragile. The thought of a defenseless child trapped and no way to rescue them makes it terrifying.
I love the ending. The family has been through hell. They have watched their house get sucked off the face off the earth. They go to a motel and shuffle wearily into a room. The door closes.
Seconds later the door opens and the television is pushed out of the room. Great movie.
This is probably my favorite horror movie of all time. It's a typical Spielberg masterpiece of special effects (and the effects were definitely state-of-the-art for the movie's time), but the story itself is what makes it work. You can't help but feel for the family and their terrified children as their pleasant house turns on them. I love Zelda Rubenstein, and I've never been able to watch the last part of Sixteen Candles (in which she plays the church organist) without thinking of Poltergeist. This is the perfect movie for Halloween. :)
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