Review of Poltergeist (2015) by Julio S — 19 Aug 2015

"BOO! It's another lame remake of a popular horror film from the 80's".

Movie Review: Poltergeist.

Date Viewed: May 28 2015.

Directed By Gil Kenan (Monster House and City of Ember).

Screenplay By David Lindsay-Abaire, Based on the 1982 film by Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais and Mark Victor.

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt,.

Jared Harris, Saxon Sharbino, Kyle Catlett, Jane Adams, Nicholas Braun and Kennedi Clements.

The remake-itis in Hollywood has to stop. How did a remake of "Poltergeist" get made? You know what, I knew Hollywood would do a remake of "Poltergeist" because by now the executives in Tinsel Town have remade every popular horror flick from the 80's except "Poltergeist". Instead of having true scares like in the superior "Babadook", "Poltergeist" has jump-scares that you can see coming from a mile away, CGI branches and a no-so-spooky clown doll. Sorry folks, Chucky is not in this movie.

The 1982 original was directed by Tobe Hooper who gave us "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and was produced and co-written by Steven Spielberg and "Poltergeist" really started the supernatural-haunted house movie. Many years later, the genre involved thanks to hit films like "Paranormal Activity", "Insidious" and "The Conjuring". Despite surprisingly effective performances from Sam Rockwell and Jared Harris, the new version of "Poltergeist" sucks, it's barely scary thanks to those dumb CGI branches and that clown doll, who wants to be more scary than Chucky but he isn't scary because the doll is just an old horror movie cliche.

"Poltergiest" focuses on Eric and Amy Bowen (Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt) as they move in to their new suburban home with their three kids, Kendra (Saxon Sharbino), Griffin (Kyle Catlett) and Madison (Kennedi Clements). The first night into his new home, Griffin hears strange noises in the walls and he finds a box of clown dolls. Let's see here, a box of clown dolls and strange noises in the walls, Ummmm, Chris Christie: "GET OUT NOW!". Griffin tries to tell his parents about the spooky things that are happening in the house but they don't believe him.

Soon, Griffin gets attacked by the clown and gets grabbed by the branches of the old tree outside the house and young Madison gets sucked into the darkness by the ghosts. She is trapped inside the TV so the best thing to do is to call the Paranormal Research department for help. The lead investigator, Dr. Brooke Powell (Jane Adams) tells Eric and Amy that this haunting is a poltergeist so she tries to reach TV personality and ex-husband Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris) to come to the haunted household and stop the supernatural from taking Madison away forever.

The 2015 remake of "Poltergeist" doesn't add anything new to the genre, it's just a blatant rip-off of much better horror movies from the past. The 3D is pointless, the direction is slow and I was not invested in any of the characters except for Jared Harris and Rockwell who is pretty good as the father.

The new "Poltergeist" doesn't have Craig T. Nelson or Zelda Rubinstein in it nor do we hear the name Carol Anne. I knew a few movie critics who were tired of that name after "Poltergeist III". The filmmakers wanted to bring something new to the table but "Poltergeist" (2015) is just a by-the-numbers, scare-fest with nothing new to offer.