POLTERGEIST and E.T. feel irrevocably connected to each other and that’s
just the way it is. The reasons are obvious and just as intertwined,
particularly that Spielberg suburbia north of Los Angeles in some Simi
Valley neighborhood that I’ve never ventured, making it feel as if both
films are taking place right down the street from each other. They each
also came out in the summer of ’82, only a week apart--POLTERGEIST came
first, notching a strong opening weekend even though it was released the
same day as the all-holy STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN while E.T. had
it a little easier the following Friday opposite GREASE 2. E.T. owned
the world in the blockbuster summer of ’82 but doesn’t seem to have the
same sort of cachet these days, maybe because it’s too sentimental,
maybe because everyone just had enough of the thing by a certain point.
It’s also long been blamed on the concurrent box office failures of the
R-rated BLADE RUNNER and THE THING that same month and those films
becoming officially sanctioned classics by now feels like someone
atoning for some sort of cinematic sin that was committed (in truth, I’m
kind of an E.T. agnostic but that’s a conversation for another time).
In addition to its ongoing popularity POLTERGEIST maintains an unending
air of mystery due to people wanting to know just what went down on set
between producer Steven Spielberg, who had not yet begun principal
photography on E.T. at the time, and director-of-record Tobe Hooper with
many reaching the conclusion that the fingerprints of Spielberg are
just too obvious to ignore. But people still ask those questions, as if
trying to solve the unanswered mysteries of our own childhood, something
we really should have moved on from long ago, holding on to the hope
that someone who’s still around will eventually write a tell-all book or
do an audio commentary. There are films I’ve seen way too many times by
now to get much from and POLTERGEIST may be one of them—it’s basically
the equivalent of an Eagles song that I wish the classic rock station
would just stop playing already. So is there anything left to say about
POLTERGEIST or is it an evergreen beyond any sort of commentary?
There’s definitely not much point in spending time on a plot synopsis
about the Freelings of the Cuesta Verde Estates and how their idyllic
suburban existence is shattered when supernatural forces apparently
abduct daughter Carol Anne, leading to the horrible secrets they
discover about their beautiful home. A look at the doing away with of
60s ideals and how 70s cover-ups gave way to the corruption of the 80s,
the decade is clearly forming in POLTERGESIST. With a plot (story by
Steven Spielberg, screenplay by Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais and Mark
Victor) that focuses on the tearing apart of the family in the one
place where everything is supposed to be secure, it’s about an America
that just wants to put the past away and sell out so everything can look
the same, letting them just fall asleep in front of the TV, which is
the one part of the house that matters most, after drinking too much
beer. Unlike, say, the working class middle American couple played by
Richard Dreyfuss and Teri Garr in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, JoBeth Williams and
Craig T. Nelson’s Diane and Steve Freeling apparently have some sort of
counter-culture past that they’ve buried except for those nights when
Diane brings out the joints while Steve reads about Reagan to rid
himself of the way he was back when he ‘had an open mind’ once and for
all (while A GUY NAMED JOE, later remade by Spielberg as ALWAYS, plays
on the TV). Presumably this was a past when 16 year-old Diane gave birth
to their first daughter, now 16 herself--I always imagine there was a
break after having Dana so young considering the gap between her and the
other kids so she never seems to be treated as more than a visiting
relative by the family. Whatever the story is involving Dana it feels
like the stuff that would interest Spielberg the least and it’s a
background that feels drained out as the running time goes on in order
to make them basically another suburban family in the movies.
That background at least roots POLTERGEIST in some sort of time-frame,
even if it doesn’t matter that much; both films may be set in the early
80s but E.T. doesn’t have much interest in the specifics of the era
beyond pop-culture ephemera and makes no bones about how its adult
characters are essentially as irrelevant as the teachers in old Peanuts
cartoons. POLTERGEIST, on the other hand, while it contains some of
those same pop culture signposts (did the Freelings really let their
kids see ALIEN?), is about the terror and desperation felt by the adults
in trying to protect their children while feeling very much aware of
the yuppie rot sprouting up at the beginning of the Reagan era to
terrorize the American Dream. Everything’s going to be ok, says E.T.,
childhood can be eternal if you want it to be and that’s all that
matters. POLTERGEIST seems to know that it’s not so easy. It’s a film
that doesn’t have any answers. The film’s best, most potent moments are
when the adults realize just how powerless they really are.
The director gets “A Tobe Hooper Film” during the opening credits but
they also take the time to declare itself “A Steven Spielberg
Production” at both the beginning and close of the film and I wonder if
that’s a violation of some DGA bylaw. Of course, I’m hardly the first
person to speculate who really directed POLTERGEIST and there’s not much
point in pretending to reach a grand conclusion in regards to who’s
responsible for what. There are elements that feel like Hooper, much as
they’re overshadowed by the film’s producer. But it’s all just
guesswork. Of course, different people who worked on the film have
provided different answers when asked through the years and each one of
them would have a different perspective anyway—Jerry Goldsmith, for one,
was quoted as saying he never worked with Hooper at all and since
Spielberg’s regular editor Michael Kahn cut this film (E.T. was in other
hands) that of course causes one to reach certain conclusions.
Whatever the absolute truth is, the lived-in world of POLTERGEIST brings
to it the right tone and adds immeasurably to its believability. The
cluttered Freeling home has a natural feel that every Spielberg family,
doesn’t right down to the eerie quiet after the kids head out to school.
The plotting never feels too calculated and gets down to business
surprisingly fast, with a pace that makes every second count as the
tension of the first half-hour builds and we get to know the family
(makes me think of that early scene which has always concluded with an
odd edit—it’s been there whenever I’ve seen it in 35mm too). The film
shows its affection for them while still maintaining a playful way of
teasing us, whether the iconic use of that clown doll seated near
Robbie’s bed or even that shot of the chair immediately after it’s
pulled across the floor which makes it seem like an actual character for
a brief instant. The film clearly enjoys itself in laying out the jump
scares—even after all these years, when the big tree attack first
happens it always occurs a few beats before I think it will. We know
it’s happening eventually but Robbie doesn’t and the lack of buildup at
that particular moment, almost as if the movie is willingly jumping
ahead of itself, works beautifully. There is the feel that we’re also
skipping past a few big chunks to keep up that pace—I always imagine
more scenes of Steven at work and I can’t help but picture somebody
ripping ten pages of emotional breakdown and police investigations out
of the script during filming to cut to the chase faster, reminding me of
how the original cut of THE EXORCIST cut out the doctor’s examination
because William Friedkin knew all that was just a waste of time.
The pop nature of POLTERGEIST means there isn’t that much of a feeling
of dread in this suburbia outside of ominous clouds telling us what’s
coming—Steven Freeling may drink too much beer but this isn’t THE
SHINING, after all. Even when the door is opened for the big rescue of
Carol Anne we’re greeted with wind and flashing lights instead of
horrific imagery to keep everyone away. But amidst all the light and
sound and ILM effects work and monologues from Zelda Rubinstein’s
Tangina Barrows it’s surprisingly small scale for what was once thought
of as a summer blockbuster so what sticks out are the small moments that
build to the gradual fracturing of this family, showing that in the
Spielberg universe that’s a more horrifying occurence than anything
having to do with the supernatural. Whatever the true motives of the
spirits they’re nothing compared to the real world personified by the
great James Karen (previously in ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN and later in
NIXON, making him as ideal a figure of big business corruption
imaginable) as Steven’s boss Mr. Teague—his phrasing of how they’re
moving the cemetery by stating, “It’s just…people.” is so beautifully
cold in how he can’t even refer to the residents of that cemetery as
“they”. Things. Not individuals. They don’t matter.
There are points when I’m most interested in the characters are just
being observed during the silent moments, particularly the kids, holding
on Oliver Robins’ Robbie as it creates almost a full character arc out
of that silence or Dominique Dunne’s Dana crying that she can’t stay in
the house any longer. And maybe because the iconic nature of Zelda
Rubenstein’s Tangina has become so connected to the franchise I now find
myself wondering more about less flashy spinster Beatrice Straight’s
pre-GHOSTBUSTERS parapsychologist Dr. Lesh and her flask of whiskey, an
interesting type of character that summer movies don’t care about
anymore, one who doesn’t get to do much in her last moments onscreen
beyond stare lovingly at this couple, a fulfilling life that she in her
stuffy academia never got to experience. Again, these outside forces are
almost more of a threat to the family like Lesh’s colleague Marty
(played by Martin Casella, Spielberg’s assistant on RAIDERS) wrongly
raiding the Freeling’s fridge late at night looking for a steak. It’s
not his house--then again, the house doesn’t belong to any of them--but
he’s even more of an intruder than the Freelings are and he pays the
price for it. Plus tying it all together is the score by Jerry Goldsmith
(presumably because John Williams was on E.T.) which feels almost
psychically connected to the characters in its emotion—if it’s not one
of the best Goldsmith scores ever it at least contains one of the best
cymbal crashes in a Goldsmith score ever. We never follow Diane into the
closet when she goes to retrieve Carol Anne but that score almost
convinces us we have, it tells us what it looks like, what it feels
like.
It’s a case where I’m not entirely sure if POLTERGEIST still works
because I’m so damn familiar with it or if it just works. Even after all
these years I’m a little hazy on the whole go into the light/don’t go
into the light confusion that throws things for a loop briefly during
the Tangina setpiece, as if they’re just trying to give that part of the
plot busy work before the inevitable happens. It doesn’t matter, I
suppose. Whatever the parental origins, it’s hard enough to make a film
that works as well as this one does after all these years. Plus it takes
cojones for any film to reach a narrative point where anyone would by
any logic would ever go back in the house after what’s happened,
allowing the climax to take place. Maybe we buy it because the film
knows it has to happen, for this family to break away from Cuesta Verde
completely in the end it has to isolate them from the experts who
supposedly knew everything and even their annoying neighbors who
couldn’t care less. Maybe I buy it because I’ve seen the film so many
times already.
The climax finally pays off a lot of what we’ve been waiting for,
including the attack of JoBeth Williams which skirts the edge of R-rated
sleaze, something you can imagine Tobe Hooper doing something with if
he could have, but avoids it in favor of the ROYAL WEDDING-styled
effects as she’s dragged up to the ceiling. Maybe they’re Spielberg
ghosts, so they wouldn’t be interested in that sort of thing anyway. The
climax throws everything it can at both us and the family, as if the
ghosts know this is their one last chance, and it does it in the best
‘haunted house’ fashion. Maybe any problems that occurred during
production helped to allow the film to be that much more effective, that
much more human, making all those special effects having even more of
an impact at times. And whoever it was specifically responsible for
directing James Karen’s wordless final scene, the result is every bit as
memorable as the quite frankly jaw-dropping implosion of the house. One
friend of mine has long been convinced that Dominique Dunne’s Dana,
seen incessantly eating at various points, is pregnant throughout the
entire film and I’m pretty sure he’s right. She’s her mother’s daughter
after all and she’s got a giant hickey on her neck at the end to prove
it, just like the one Diane’s father used to check her for. The world of
POLTERGEIST is one big circle and no matter how much we try to flee to
some lush suburbia to avoid who we are there’s no escaping the past.
We’re part of the family we’re born into and eventually we all have to
deal with the bodies that have been buried a little too close whether we
deserve it or not.
Again, part of the success of the film lies in the performances which
keep things grounded during those stretches when the effects threaten to
take things over. JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson are always a
completely believable couple and so much of how they interact with each
other feels totally genuine. Points to the film as well for giving
Williams a slightly stronger role and she’s just wonderful while Nelson
never seems afraid to let his vulnerability come through. The kids are
most effective when they’re not trying to be movie-cute, when it seems
like the camera is just catching them, Heather O’Rourke during certain
playful moments, Oliver Robins and his voice cracking during his
whispered conversation with Beatrice Straight late at night, Dominique
Dunne keeping her secrets while still very much just a teenager. The
adults playing against them—Straight, Karen, Rubinstein and Richard
Lawson—help keeping things immeasurably grounded and are a big part of
why the effect of the film still holds, from our childhood all the way
to us finding ourselves relating more to those adults in various ways.
And for a film reference that has nothing to do with STAR WARS action
figures Joseph Walsh, screenwriter of the Robert Altman gambling classic
CALIFORNIA SPLIT (which Spielberg almost directed), is the one who
shouts, “I bet my life on this game!” during the remote control battle
at the start.
Thinking back to the summer of ’82, POLTERGEIST and E.T. have always
been connected in my head as well even though I’m pretty sure I never
saw POLTERGEIST until it hit cable a year later. I’m guessing my parents
felt the film, originally given an R rating by the MPAA before it was
downgraded to a PG, was too much for me. So my initial memories are from
watching it on TV but I’d imagine that along with BLADE RUNNER and THE
THING multiple viewings helped to serve as a sort of gateway drug for me
towards darker films, even if POLTERGEIST seems to belong to the school
of the family friendly Spielberg multiplex of the 80s than the pages of
Fangoria. The silence at the end right before the end credits roll, as
if the movie is stopping on an unresolved note more than actually
reaching a true climax, feels appropriate for a film that seems to end
with the characters turning their back on the outside world, on
technology, on the future, on the 80s. That could never last forever, of
course, but it’s a nice final shot. As the credits roll the Goldsmith
score tries to tell us that the family will endure, complete with little
girls laughing at the very end and we can believe that as long as we
want. What came next, aside from real life tragedies and eternal queries
about the production, has mostly been tossed aside which is almost
surprising considering how even the JAWS sequels are used as punchlines
nowadays. The non-Hooper/Spielberg (but with the same writers)
POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE is mostly forgotten now and a second
sequel made by others was compromised by the death of Heather O’Rourke
several months before release. That one’s pretty much forgotten too. Not
to mention a recent remake but I don’t care about that and you don’t
either so it doesn’t matter. At this point in time POLTERGEIST is pretty
much at the breaking point where I’ll never need to see it again. But
eventually I’m sure I will anyway, on one of those nights where I want
to remember what it was once like to go to the movies during the summer.
Those mysteries stay alive in your head, whether you want to keep the
ghosts that are in there buried or not.
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