Review of Poltergeist (2015) by Claire C — 25 Jan 2016

The original Poltergeist scared me more than any horror movie I've ever seen. I was quite young, but more than that it is just a masterfully made horror movie that set many of the precedents for supernatural horror films to come. I only saw it once more than a decade ago, and I still remember it vividly. This remake is just okay. There's nothing overly bad about it, and if it didn't bear the Poltergeist name it may have gone down as a perfectly acceptable supernatural horror film, but since it bears a legacy name it must be compared. It hits a lot of the same marks of the original and follows the same basic plot, but it makes a few changes that are pretty detrimental overall. The biggest is that it plays its biggest cards too early. The tree and the clown, two of the scariest moments in the original, are recreated here but blown way out of proportion and happen way too early. It gives its money shot before it has earned it, and makes the rest of the film feel a bit of a let-down. It also makes a few pointless story changes like removing The Beast from the story, and relies too heavily on sub-par CGI in place of practical effects when CGI just isn't as frightening.

Still, the movie does enough things right to partially recommend it anyway. If you want a horror masterpiece, go with the original, no doubt, but this one hits enough of the originals marks to make it worthy of the name. It also benefits from a great cast. Sam Rockwell as the father is charmingly sarcastic and likable, and the kid actors all do surprisingly well. The actor who plays the son is particularly notable, giving a wide range of expressions of terror and providing a decent character arc.

In the end the Poltergeist remake isn't really a movie you need to see, but as far as remakes go it really could have been a lot worse. It will never replace the original, but if your curious it's not bad.