Poltergeist

Name: Poltergeist
Released: 1982-6-4
Cast: Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins

Poltergeist

PG
1h 54m
1982

85%

age 13+

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A typical family in a quiet suburb of a normal California faces a frightening ordeal when its home is invaded by a Poltergeist. Late one night, 10-year-old Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O'Rourke) hears a voice coming from inside the television set ... At first, the spirits that invade the Freeling's home seem like playful children. But then they turn angry. And when Carol Anne is pulled from this world into another, Steve and Diane Freeling (Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams--In the Land of Women) turn to an exorcist (Zelda Rubinstein) in this horror classic from director Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre films) and producer and screenwriter Steven Spielberg.

Director:

Tobe Hooper

Producer:

Writer:

Cast:

Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins, Heather O'Rourke, Zelda Rubinstein

Special Features

Locked video

Science of the Spirits

Locked video

Communing with the Dead

Locked video

Gallery

Rotten Tomatoes® Score

TOMATOMETER®

85%

Critics Consensus: Smartly filmed, tightly scripted, and -- most importantly -- consistently frightening, Poltergeist is a modern horror classic.

Reviews

El Pais (Spain)

Diego Galán

Poltergeist doesn't deserve serious attention... It lacks minimal logic and a coherent objective....

The sweet, angelic face of Heather O'Rourke swirled together with viscous, ectoplasmic demons and...

A slick, entertaining ghost story and a stomach-turning gore-fest in equal measure, the balance of...

[It] raises interesting psychological issues in the context of a baroque ghost story. It's a devas...

Spielberg's intent may be satirical, but I find these stereotypes even more depressing than hobgob...

January 30, 2018

FULL REVIEW

Common Sense Media

age 13+

Common Sense Says

One of the all-time great haunted house movies.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Poltergeist touches on many things that are frightening to kids (and some adults), including scary shadows in the dark, monsters in the closet, and separation from family. A character rips the flesh from his face (though eventually we see he's hallucinating). A young boy is attacked by a ghost-inhabited tree. A girl is taken from her parents and held in a netherworld where she's menaced by a character it's intimated is evil. The parents are seen smoking marijuana, and are apparently regular users.