Poltergeist (2015)
Certified: 15
Duration: 93 minutes
Directed by: Gil Kenan
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jared Harris, Jane Adams, Saxon Sharbino, Kyle Catlett, Kennedi Clements, Nicholas Braun, Susan Heyward, Soma Bhatia
KRS Releasing Ltd
Eric and Amy Bowen (Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt) have been hit hard by the recent economic troubles and so need to move house.
The couple finds the perfect home for them near the Illinois State University. They have three children: Kendra (Saxon Sharbino), who is a teenager and is not happy about this move; young Griffin (Kyle Catlett), who is not enthused with the house as his room is way up in the attic and he is very scared of the tree that is outside the skylight as it looks very threatening; and then there is Maddy (Kennedi Clements), the youngest one, who is happy with the house as she has new friends in her closet.
Soon strange things start to happen in the house. Both Kendra and Griffin undergo attacks that come from nowhere while Maddy disappears and her voice seems to be coming out of the television.
Eric and Amy, under severe duress, call in Dr Claire Powell (Jane Adams), who is the head of the parapsychology department at the university. She brings along her assistants Boyd and Sophie (Nicolas Braun and Susan Heyward), as well as some of the latest technology. Soon they realise they are not a match for what is happening in this house and call in Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris), a medium and star of a reality show based on supernatural events.
That is when they discover that Maddy is now caught in another realm, where she will be used as a conduit for all the souls and ghouls that are on the other side to come charging into this world.
The 1982 film Poltergeist, written by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, was a fresh take on the horror genre and a genuinely scary movie back in a time when there was little competition in this field. The film generated two sequels that are best forgotten and now comes the remake, which is quite good.
This is a scary movie that lets you also have a good time
The film’s production has several kudos to its benefit, mainly that it is produced by Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures and is directed by Gil Kenan, who had delivered the suitably scary Monster House (2006).
Kenan has taken a decision whereby his movie primarily caters for those horror fans that have not seen the original movie. The formula that has worked well for other remakes is here repeated: the same plot of the original is kept but is updated to the modern trends of the genre and some sequences from the original have been changed or trimmed.
This time around, the overall objective of the movie is to shock rather than to haunt. The classic scenes have been kept and amplified, such as the clown doll and the tree in the backyard, which are given more prominence. The film is, however, more streamlined in its approach and there have been updates to the reasoning of what is happening on screen.
Slickly produced and well made, Poltergeist is effective and appropriately menacing and will keep its audience on the edge of their seats. It is reverential to the first film but not slavish, and so ends up being an interesting watch, something which is quite surprising.
A new audience will leap and get scared at the right moments, while seasoned veterans will enjoy this remake.
The film is boosted by all-round good performances but Harris as the ghost hunter is a particular screen delight. His is an updated version of the character as played in the original by Zelda Rubinstein.
Kenan takes a haunted wonderland trip mood to the picture where you know that this is a tricked-out scenario but you still get scared and are entertained rather than be troubled or upset.
This is a scary movie that lets you also have a good time, something we haven’t had for a while.