May 28, 2015
Poltergeist
(1982) changed the face of horror and paved the way for new horror
tropes. The horror genre already had its share of great haunting movies
(e.g.,
Ghost Story, The Amityville Horror), but
Poltergeist changed
the game when it yanked little Carol Ann into the spirit world and
called in the paranormal researchers for help instead of the police (who
surely would get the wrong idea) or a priest (for some sort of
exorcism). The concept of “the other side” had not been approached so
effectively before nor in such a direct manner. And the use of
paranormal researchers had never been so brilliantly portrayed. In many
ways I consider the original to be a perfect film even today.
Both
Poltergeist (1982) and
Poltergeist II (1986) stand as excellent proof that
the best horror came from the 80s and even today I enjoy these films for reasons beyond simple nostalgia. However
Poltergeist III (1988),
while watchable and not a “bad” horror movie, suffered a drop in
quality so noticeable that many Amazon shoppers prefer to buy the
Poltergeist/Poltergeist 2 DVD
combo pack in lieu of the “trilogy pack.” Now why is that? I’d
suggest that by part III the novelty had worn off and the “new tropes”
pioneered by the franchise had already become that overplayed song on
the radio you once loved but now can’t stand even though you can’t help
but to sing along because you know all the words. Similarly, I loved
Paranormal Activity (2007) and
Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)—actually very
Poltergeist-esque films. But sadly, just as with the
Poltergeist franchise, things started to fall apart with
PA 3 (2011), and
PA 4 (2012) really just upset me. To that effect, I’ll say that I never felt a remake was necessary for
Poltergeist, but I was admittedly excited to see what they’d do with it after the success (and my enjoyment) of the recent
Carrie (2013) and
Evil Dead (2013) remakes.
The following is an article (not so much of a review) comparing the
approaches, strengths and weaknesses of the recent remake to Tobe
Hooper’s 1982 predecessor. But before we proceed…
SPOILERS!!! If you have not yet seen this
remake then DO NOT READ THIS. SPOILERS abound! Instead I’d suggest you
visit my older article:
John’s Horror Corner presents Strong Opinions: on remaking Poltergeist (2015)
A great tagline and a great poster for the 1982 original. 2015…the exact same tagline with a less effective poster.
The Parents. As the remake begins, we are
introduced to our family. The only element that made me like them was
Sam Rockwell as the sarcastic, out-of-work and somewhat
irresponsible father. Rockwell steals the show right away with his
snippy commentary,
his support of his wife and
his interactions
with his kids. The problem here is that he—or more so his
one-liners—is the keystone to me giving a damn about the entire
family…and I didn’t care all that much. Despite his great one-liners,
he pretty much phoned it in and DeWitt was (and I’m so sorry to say
this) awful as the mother. In the original, Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth
Williams were perfect. Every time you saw their faces you felt
whatever they felt and feared what they feared. They were just normal
people with normal hopes, but these characters “felt” like people you
wanted to succeed, or at least you wanted them protected from restless
spirits.
The original casting in 1982’s Poltergeist felt perfect.
But this portrait of an American family is, in fact, reproducible.
Shame they failed to do it again in 2015.
The Kids. The teenaged daughter went from a
typically self-interested teen to someone devoid of appropriate human
emotion. When Maddee is taken to the other side, she doesn’t seem
traumatized or sad or scared. But once the TV medium shows up she is
excited to meet him and nothing but smiles…as if her kid sister’s soul
wasn’t in jeopardy…as if the worst thing that would EVER happen to her
family wasn’t happening right now. I guess this is no major drop-off
from the original. The character just seemed “off.”
The young boy is likable but he pulls a totally unwarranted 180. He
goes from being afraid of everything (including the dark) to behaving
like a first class hero at the drop of a dime. Worse yet, this
scaredy-cat should be traumatized to the point of catatonia! He has
attacked by an evil clown doll and attacked by a possessed evil tree
monster! Yet he somehow musters the courage to plunge himself into the
deep end of the CGI swimming pool of other side and is completely
unphased by the zombie-like twisted souls that form the corridors of the
netherworld? Who is this kid? Constantine!?!?! I’m sorry, but there
was nothing credible about this and instead of feeling inspired by this
brave little boy I just felt annoyed by the stupidity behind penning
that scene. The boy in the original was a traumatized mess and he dealt
with a much scarier evil tree and at LEAST an equally evil clown doll!
Just because your kid sister needs help it doesn’t justify emerging
from a Marvel chrysalis as a superhero.
And our brunette Carol Anne, Maddee? She was a cute kid and did an
appropriately passable job. But she was no Carol Anne! Both Maddee and
Carol Ann were cute, you wanted to save them, and when things got
creepy so did they. But Carol Ann seemed to have more personality than
Maddee, thus seemingly reducing Maddee to a storytelling device rather
than a character.
The Paranormal Researchers. In the original
the academics were great and Tangina was amazing. Their highly
different approaches, background and personalities somehow found
excellent synergy in the story and added extra character dimensions
without adding confusion.
Tangina was perfectly weird. She is NOT
reproducible! I’m glad they didn’t try. Any medium can be a weird
character, but if they go super short then they’re just trying too hard.
In the remake the academics are okay and Jared Harris is at times
good as a modern ghost hunter medium with legit skills. As excited as I
was to see him in this after his role in
The Quiet Ones
(2014), I didn’t feel that Harris added any suspense or legitimacy to
the story. Adding Harris’ character was not an improvement; it was just
adding “more.” I wish his role was better written and more integral.
Meanwhile the academics came off as a less interesting, less credible,
and less well-acted version of the 1982 troupe. Also, for better or
worse, they didn’t remake the crawling steak scene or the bathroom
mirror scene of 1982, both of which involved the paranormal
researchers. I’m half glad they didn’t.
I’ll admit this looks fake. But the 1982 clay-faced
fakeness of this actually made it seem more surreal and off-putting.
This was really hard to watch as he tore his own face apart! This scene
may have stood the test of time…and the test of gross-outs. Really
hard to watch! I thought they might try to recreate this iconic and
gory moment. Instead we got a weird closet scene involving a young
researcher and a power drill. It was highly predictable and dumb;
although I was mildly entertained by its tropiness.
Jenga! The original boasted a startling
scene in which the haunters stack things in the kitchen. It sounds
overly simple, but it was very effective and was delivered cleverly
masked beneath Carol Ann’s playful connection to the spirits early in
the story. Rather than reproduce this, the remake decided to impossibly
stack comic books to barricade the young boy from escape. I can offer
no more elaborate opinion than to simply say:
it was dumb.
2015 tried to get needlessly clever with this scene. I’d say it backfired. This image has no place in this or any movie.
1982…perfect. It made an unscary scene startling while demonstrating Carol Ann’s sensitivity to the spirits.
It was copycatted much better by Dark Skies (2013).
The Evil Tree. In both films we find the
young boy placed in a room with a view of an ancient, almost
sinister-looking tree. The buildup was effective in both with the child
appearing noticeably troubled by the tree’s appearance, but somehow the
CGI-ness of it all made the 2015 remake vastly inferior to me. We see
the tree swiftly reaching around corners and whipping the boy down the
hall like he was on a rollercoaster. While visually dynamic, the
remake’s take on this scene just lost its creepiness once the tree’s
effects came into play. What’s more is that the original evil tree
tried to EAT the boy, leaving him covered in filth. The remake’s tree
simply menacingly held him in the air like
Harry Potter’s womping
willow playing a game of keep-away. This 2015 tree felt like a
not-so-scary scene from an adventure movie rather than something of
horror.
So what’s scarier? Having the tree from Hell try to eat you in 1982? Or being hung upside down in 2015?
Attack of the Graveyard. The 1982 original
boasted an elaborately intense scene as coffins erupted from the back
yard during a storm and terrified the mother (JoBeth Williams). This
was the scene that properly revealed the anger of the poltergeist and
justified the story while also delivering one of the most memorable
scenes of 80s horror. The remake squandered this notion entirely by
reducing it to a CGI muck-covered arm reaching for the selfish teenage
daughter (who nobody likes anyway) through a hole in the floor in the
garage. I’m not a CGI-hater…I just hated
this CGI scene.
Calling Carol Ann. The scene is simple and
integral. The paranormal researchers just arrived at the house and the
parents need to provide some evidence that their daughter is still
there even though she “isn’t there.” In the original this was a very
powerful scene. The parents had just given a tour of the house
including Carol Anne’s telekinetically disturbed bedroom and we see
Craig T. Nelson’s sleep-deprived and exhausted demeanor as he almost
comically calmly explains the situation with an inexpressively deadpan
face. Their desperation is palpable and they need these researchers’
help. So they stand near the TV, which serves as sort of a
White Noise (2005)
conduit, and call out her name awaiting a response. JoBeth’s calls for
Carol Ann are followed by a plaguing silence. But when Carol Ann
responds with her sweet tone and the uplifting score, we are moved with
hope. Calling The tone and the score were intense and even scary, and
then so uplifting once Carol Ann responded, then so “off” when she was
scared thinking she saw her parents. for Maddee (our brunette Carol
Anne reincarnate) on the other hand, was done with no tension, urgency
or hope. This remake squandered that touching scene…and by the same
means screwed up the recovery of Maddee from the other side. The
parents’ disposition after losing Madde, meeting the paranormal
researchers and “calling” for Maddee from the other side simply never
felt like they were “all in”
when any other parents would be,
nor did they appear as disheveled (at least emotionally) as they should
have. To call 2015’s remade scene bland would be polite. It was
boring and reproduced without life; like a cupcake devoid of sprinkles
or icing or a cake made without sugar.
The Other Side. In the original the other
side is something mysterious and abstract, and consequently scary in its
unknown nature. Carol Ann (and her SOUL) was trapped in this alternate
dimension and JoBeth Williams simultaneously wore shades of
vulnerability and mama bear bravery as she dove in to save her, emerging
from the otherworldly portal with Carol Ann in arms and covered in
gelatinous ectoplasmic afterbirth. Neither of them breathing after this
perhaps unsurvivable experience, the father (Craig T. Nelson) scrambles
to clean the slime from their noses and mouths desperately repeating
“breathe, baby, breathe…breathe.” Deep down we all knew we’d get a
happy ending—but that made the scene no less intense nor any less
satisfying when Carol Ann awakens and most adorably and in her itty
bitty voice mumbles “hi, daddy.” My heart about sunk and my eyes nearly
watered as a relieved smile traversed my face. That scene was
perfect. Flash forward to 2015 and the young boy out of nowhere steals
the role of netherworld spelunker. He wanders corridors of flailing
zombie arms and spirit whispers without a fear in the world (but not
coming off as credibly brave either) and emerges from the portal with
his sister by plopping on the living room floor like a trout dumped from
a fisherman’s net on a boat deck. Then they wake up and that’s it.
Basically there’s no sense of tension in the decision to venture to the
other side, no urgency while waiting, and no concern about their welfare
upon their return; just a weakly rehashed scene from the original. And
while we’re at it, “showing” us the other side was not a good
decision. Just because
Insidious
(2011) borrowed it from the original and decided to show it to us
doesn’t mean you need to show it here! If you ask me, both films failed
to produce a credible depiction of 1982’s other side.
Why weren’t the scary guardians of the other side enough? Why did we have to go in, 2015?
SUMMARY. The pacing didn’t feel right at
all. I felt like we were rushed from recreated scene to recreated scene
so quickly and forcefully that there was no time (nor the writing) for
the characters to develop or for us to decide to give a damn about
them. The characters more than anything are what made the original work
so well, and the ball was dropped for the remake. The original had
synthesis. I feel like if I hadn’t already seen the original, I’d be
off put by the pacing even more.
The original is still a great film but I no longer consider it an
effective “scary” movie to an adult audience. To kids, yes, very
scary. To adults…? Nope. Not horror fans anyway. The upcoming remake
was criticized on Cinema Blend and other horror forums as being a
horror movie for kids. But that’s actually what the original would
serve to be today! I still love the original as it remains emotionally
powerful today and intense, even if not scary. The 33 year old effects
were better, too.
