For the Deseret News
Madison Bowen (Kennedi Clements) discovers apparitions that have invaded her family’s home in "Poltergeist."
Twentieth Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc.
“POLTERGEIST” — ★★ — Sam
Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kennedi Clements, Kyle Catlett, Saxon
Sharbino, Jared Harris; PG-13 (intense frightening sequences, brief
suggestive material and some language); in general release
Apparently our pop culture nostalgia for the 1980s is boundless. We just got a new Mad Max film, and before the end of the year we’ll have installments for two other Reagan-era franchises: Star Wars and The Terminator.
But first? A remake of the Steven Spielberg-penned 1982 horror film “Poltergeist.”
“Poltergeist’s” official IMDB page insists that producer Sam Raimi and director Gil Kenan are going to “reimagine and contemporize” the original 1982 film, but outside of giving the cast some 21st century technology and enhancing the scares with a little CGI, the evidence is lacking.
The plot feels like a stripped-down version of Spielberg’s original story. An all-American family encounters strange disturbances in a house built on a cemetery and calls in paranormal help when a group of angry spirits kidnap their youngest daughter.
As Eric and Amy Bowen, Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt step into the husband and wife roles Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams handled the first time around. Jared Harris is the spiritualist equivalent of Zelda Rubinstein’s quirky Tangina, and young Kennedi Clements replaces Heather O’Rourke as the little girl with a strange affection for glowing TV sets.
Whether you’ve seen the original or not, the first act of the film faces the same challenge. Twenty-first century audiences are well-acquainted with haunted house stories, so when we see 6-year-old Madison Bowen (Clements) having conversations with invisible people before the realtor has finished showing her parents their new house, we know what’s coming.
When things get rolling — a box of hideous clowns in the attic bedroom, a static-plagued iPhone, a box of books with a flair for unique stacking patterns — Kenan gives the scares a winking self-awareness that betrays the campy wit that launched Raimi’s career with the “Evil Dead” movies. Good times should be on the way, right?
After a late-night TV séance ramps up the party — complete with the classic “they’re here” line — Madison is taken away into an alternate dimension via her bedroom closet. Distraught, Mom and Dad do what any desperate parent would: They call the Ghostbusters.
Well no, not those Ghostbusters. A team of paranormal investigators and a TV spiritualist named Carrigan Burke (Harris) come on the scene to help, and right when “Poltergeist” should start getting good, it starts getting routine.
The disappointment is doubly painful because of the earlier promise. A mindless remake could be quickly dismissed and forgotten. But “Poltergeist’s” humorous edge and quality cast sets the bar just high enough for the film to bang its forehead.
Part of this has to do with the stripped-down plot. At 93 minutes — over 20 minutes shorter than the original — “Poltergeist” doesn’t give us much of a story. Rather than give us anything new, Kenan decided to stay safe, and the result falls flat.
There was plenty of opportunity for a modern twist. We don’t get a lot of character development in “Poltergeist,” but we know that Eric had been laid off, and the Bowens buy the house because they don’t have a lot of options. The new “Poltergeist” could be a reflection of the recession, but nothing happens. Even the cemetery subplot feels underdeveloped.
For about 20 minutes, “Poltergeist” gave you the feeling that you’re in for a fun time. But fun turned into routine way too fast.
“Poltergeist” is rated PG-13 for intense frightening sequences, brief suggestive material and some language; running time: 93 minutes
Apparently our pop culture nostalgia for the 1980s is boundless. We just got a new Mad Max film, and before the end of the year we’ll have installments for two other Reagan-era franchises: Star Wars and The Terminator.
But first? A remake of the Steven Spielberg-penned 1982 horror film “Poltergeist.”
“Poltergeist’s” official IMDB page insists that producer Sam Raimi and director Gil Kenan are going to “reimagine and contemporize” the original 1982 film, but outside of giving the cast some 21st century technology and enhancing the scares with a little CGI, the evidence is lacking.
The plot feels like a stripped-down version of Spielberg’s original story. An all-American family encounters strange disturbances in a house built on a cemetery and calls in paranormal help when a group of angry spirits kidnap their youngest daughter.
As Eric and Amy Bowen, Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt step into the husband and wife roles Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams handled the first time around. Jared Harris is the spiritualist equivalent of Zelda Rubinstein’s quirky Tangina, and young Kennedi Clements replaces Heather O’Rourke as the little girl with a strange affection for glowing TV sets.
Whether you’ve seen the original or not, the first act of the film faces the same challenge. Twenty-first century audiences are well-acquainted with haunted house stories, so when we see 6-year-old Madison Bowen (Clements) having conversations with invisible people before the realtor has finished showing her parents their new house, we know what’s coming.
When things get rolling — a box of hideous clowns in the attic bedroom, a static-plagued iPhone, a box of books with a flair for unique stacking patterns — Kenan gives the scares a winking self-awareness that betrays the campy wit that launched Raimi’s career with the “Evil Dead” movies. Good times should be on the way, right?
After a late-night TV séance ramps up the party — complete with the classic “they’re here” line — Madison is taken away into an alternate dimension via her bedroom closet. Distraught, Mom and Dad do what any desperate parent would: They call the Ghostbusters.
Well no, not those Ghostbusters. A team of paranormal investigators and a TV spiritualist named Carrigan Burke (Harris) come on the scene to help, and right when “Poltergeist” should start getting good, it starts getting routine.
The disappointment is doubly painful because of the earlier promise. A mindless remake could be quickly dismissed and forgotten. But “Poltergeist’s” humorous edge and quality cast sets the bar just high enough for the film to bang its forehead.
Part of this has to do with the stripped-down plot. At 93 minutes — over 20 minutes shorter than the original — “Poltergeist” doesn’t give us much of a story. Rather than give us anything new, Kenan decided to stay safe, and the result falls flat.
There was plenty of opportunity for a modern twist. We don’t get a lot of character development in “Poltergeist,” but we know that Eric had been laid off, and the Bowens buy the house because they don’t have a lot of options. The new “Poltergeist” could be a reflection of the recession, but nothing happens. Even the cemetery subplot feels underdeveloped.
For about 20 minutes, “Poltergeist” gave you the feeling that you’re in for a fun time. But fun turned into routine way too fast.
“Poltergeist” is rated PG-13 for intense frightening sequences, brief suggestive material and some language; running time: 93 minutes
Joshua Terry is a freelance
writer and photojournalist who appears weekly on "The KJZZ Movie Show"
and also teaches English composition for Salt Lake Community College.
Find him online at facebook.com/joshterryreviews.
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