Review of Poltergeist (2015) by David E — 30 May 2015

In the typical Hollywood fashion of remaking things just for money comes the remake of the classic Poltergeist, a completely scare-less and unimaginative remake that squanders everything the original accomplished with the use of over the top CGI.

The original Poltergeist is a tent pole for modern horror films so when the remake was announced I was puzzled as to why, but after viewing it I am sad to report that this is more like the remake of The Fog rather than John Carpenter's remake of The Thing.

I must give this movie a little bit of credit here, there are a few instances that did remind me of the magic of the original that made me smile, but then, the rest of the movie set in and thus we have this failure.

The story this time is harmless enough as a family of five, who are down on their luck, move into this neighborhood and their house begins to exhibit some paranormal activity. From there we get catapulted into a much faster paced version of the original film with no surprises what so ever.

If you have seen the original then you have seen this film, it is simple as that. Director Gil Kenan fails miserably here as he rushes some of the more memorable moments such as the clown scene and even goes as far as to nerfing all the moments that could have been truly terrifying.

Nothing in this movie is scary or remotely terrifying, the opportunity was there but Kenan just doesn't deliver anything. It is hard for a horror movie to succeed when it is not scary, but it is even harder when the director doesn't even try.

When he does try there is so much CGI that it looks more like a cheap video game rather than a movie. The script here isn't helping things either. This screenplay is so full of plot holes, useless scenes, continuity errors, and poor dialogue that is can barely tell a cohesive story.

There is also a major change from the original that just hurts the overall logic of the film that if it had been realized and put into the film, this could have been a really intresting film, but since the writer and director didn't care, why should we? The cast atleast tries to make this somewhat enjoyable with Sam Rockwell and Jared Harris trying everything they can but to no avail.

The other members are lesser known, but their delivery is the best it could be with the script and directors inability to do their jobs. Overall I dont know how else to say skip this film. It isn't funny, it makes no sense logically, and believe it or not you have seen the best parts in the trailer.

Everything else outside of a few moments that harken back to the original just fails miserably. Skip Poltergeist, you will be glad you did.