Video/DVD Review: Poltergeist
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this movie 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.
Families can talk about what makes this movie so scary. Are the
effects, the ghosts and other things that you see, that are so
frightening? Or is the situations? Did you identify with the
little girl who was taken away? What about the little boy
attacked by a tree? Did this movie make you think of the times
when you were little that you thought there were monsters in
the closet or under the bed? Why do people like watching movies
that frighten them?
Written and produced by Steven Spielberg, POLTERGEIST is one of the all-time great haunted house stories, as a family's "perfect" suburban home becomes the target of a ghostly invasion. Steven and Diane Freeling and their three children are happy in their new home in a California housing development built by the company Steven works for. They don't notice at first that 5-year-old daughter Carol Ann is receiving messages from voices that speak to her through empty channels on the television set. But Diane soon begins to see more physical evidence of a ghostly presence, one that moves things around the kitchen. The unseen beings grow more malevolent, inhabiting a tree that attacks son Robbie. And when they take Carol Ann away, the Freelings call in a team of experts, including a diminutive psychic who holds the key to the other world.
The story of a family assaulted by ghosts is still compelling. Well-written characters played by a strong cast make up for once top-of-the-line special effects that now look a bit cheesy. Kids raised on movies of the '90s, with their seemingly limitless digital effects, probably won't be too terrified by the ghosties on display here, which look dated by comparison.
But the most frightening parts of the movie arise from our empathy with the characters. Everyone in the family is sympathetic, likable and believable, which helps involve us emotionally in the movie. And the film doesn't abuse the fact that we've come to care about them: We're scared at the ordeal they face, but they all come through OK, saved by their love for one another.
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