Review of Poltergeist (2015) by Davidprice96 — 23 May 2015

I went into this movie not having seen the original, so I'm not sure how this movie compares to it. But here's my opinion:

The entire cast is pretty bland. The actors did a decent job (especially the kids) but because of the lack of character development, which was desperately needed, I had no emotional attachment to the any of the characters. The plot was also a bit lacking; very little was explained and the ending was SOOOO lame that the movie left a bitter taste in my mouth.

So if the character development and plot are lacking then the movie should certainly make up for it through its special effects and scariness right? Well the former is actually the highlight of the movie but the latter is actually my least favorite thing about the movie. I'll go ahead and say it. This movie is not scary in any sense. Their are a handful of jump-scares, but they barely even made me flinch. I was practically BEGGING the movie to scare me around half way through, and I ended up being disappointed. The trailer is scarier than the movie. The poster that you've probably seen in movie theaters with the clown doll on it is scarier than the movie. The dark parking lot that I had to walk through to get back to my car after watching the movie was - you guessed it - scarier than the movie.

Is this movie bad? No. It kept my interest through its entirety because of its special effects and cool set pieces. But I expect a horror movie to keep me on the edge of my seat for the whole movie. I was never on the edge of my seat in this movie.

Bottom line:

If you want to go to this movie for the scares (like I did) - STAY AWAY.

If a haunted house movie with cool special effects sounds appealing to you - See it.

If you're on the fence, I would definitely say pass.

If you're considering watching this in 3D, DON'T. I have tried for years to convince myself that 3D could actually add depth to movies (no pun intended), but this movie reinforces my belief that 3D is just a gimmick to milk more money out of movie-goers like myself.