I’m going to admit right away that this probably won’t be a fair review. Usually, I tend to shrug my shoulders or roll my eyes at outrage over a cherished film being remade for modern audiences. Regardless of the remake, the original lives on. And if the update somehow manages to improve on the source material, well, isn’t that a good thing?
But I’ve been in full grumpy old man, “Get off my lawn!” mode about the new version of Poltergeist. The 1982 original (directed by Tobe Hooper — or Steven Spielberg, if you’re a conspiracy theorist) was a movie I watched frequently as a kid, probably because it played constantly on cable, but also because it was the rare scary movie that a family could view together. I distinctly remember watching Poltergeist with my extended family at my grandma’s house after a birthday or holiday dinner. How many so-called horror movies could you do that with?
To be fair, Gil Kenan’s remake should really be judged on its own merits. After all, the original movie was released 33 years ago. Even though its life stretched out for years on video and cable, it’s reasonable to assume that there’s an entirely new audience and generations of movies fans unaware of the first Poltergeist and just want an entertaining, scary movie to watch. Even more promising is the possibility that those who grew up with the original could watch the remake with their children, perhaps near the same age as their parents were around 1982.
Unfortunately, I don’t think this updated version of Poltergeist delivers a fulfilling experience.
Before watching, I wondered if I might be capable of viewing this film with fresh, objective eyes, rather than constantly comparing it to the original. Yet if that’s truly what MGM wanted, the studio probably shouldn’t have slapped the “Poltergeist” name onto this project to capitalize on a previously established brand and intellectual property.
I couldn’t do it. I was comparing 2015 to 1982 throughout the remake’s entire 93-minute run time. Would Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt — two actors whose work I’ve thoroughly enjoyed — be as good as Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams were in the original as the parents trying to get their little daughter back after she’s abducted by ghosts? Would advances in both practical and digital special effects result in cooler or scarier monsters than the light shows, goop fests and animatronics we got in 1982? And could Jared Harris possibly be anywhere near as memorable and culturally resonant as Zelda Rubenstein in the role of psychic medium/ghost hunter?
For me, the answer to all of those questions and more is no. There’s nothing about the 2015 Poltergeist that stands out from the original, nothing that will be as memorable 30-plus years from now. If you grew up with the 1982 Poltergeist, the 2015 version won’t make you forget the movie you remember. And if you’re entirely new to the Poltergeist experience with this modern remake, it’s likely that you’re going to quickly forget about it. It’s just another ghost movie, and probably not as scary or disturbing as the Paranormal Activity series, Insidious, The Conjuring, or any of the other supernatural horror films that have become a recent genre industry.
Part of the reason for a remake is to modernize the story and add recent touches to make the film either seem fresh to new audiences or more appropriate to the times. Yet I also feel like such touches end up dating the film more than likely intended. Kenan and writer David Lindsay-Abaire make sure to set this story in a contemporary world of flatscreen TVs, smartphones and tablets.
But other than adding those modern touches, nothing more is done with such updates. This was a missed opportunity to take advantage of technology’s greater roles in our lives. Granted, the blank TV screen with white noise is an iconic image associated with the Poltergeist brand? Why couldn’t the ghosts use more than the living room TV to reach out to the little girl and terrorize her family? Why not try to make a statement about how much we depend on these devices now and have them be used against us?
Another modern touch with potential is Harris’ character, Carrigan Burke, taking his ghost-hunting to TV with a popular reality show and social media phenomenon, complete with the hashtag #ThisHouseIsClean. That’s a nice nod to Rubenstein’s signature line from the original film. There are some throwaway lines toward the end of the movie regarding the legitimacy of his TV enterprise and his integrity. But again, the filmmakers don’t explore the possibilities of someone who’s seeking credibility in his profession and as a person, who could be haunted by a past encounter or failing. He’s just a convenience who knows how to open the door to where the ghosts are keeping the kid.
Never mind that Burke isn’t nearly as intriguing as a pudgy old woman with a pixie voice taking on the terrors of the underworld. That dichotomy was one of the fundamental traits that made the original Poltergeist so compelling, so culturally resonant, so memorable. That is completely missing from this remake.
There are just so many places where Kenan and Lindsay-Abaire could have gone to set their remake apart from the original source, to give this movie a reason for existence, other than using a familiar title to tell a new story. Rockwell’s father has lost his job and feels impotent over his ability to provide for his family. Why not dig deeper and show that retrieving his daughter and protecting his children is a way of bringing purpose to his life? Perhaps that was supposed to be implied, but instead, Rockwell just comes across as insecure and unlikable.
The only thing this remake does differently from the original is it takes us inside the portal and shows us what’s on the other side. But what’s there isn’t all that revelatory, nor is it particularly scary. It pretty much looks like exactly what you would expect.
One aspect of the 1982 film that has stayed with me to this very day is how the story takes place in this pristine, manicured, sterile subdivision. Perhaps this wasn’t the case for everyone, but as a kid growing up in a middle-class Midwestern neighborhood, those suburbs looked too good to be true, as if they were created only for the movies.
The idea that something sinister existed underneath the facade of a supposedly perfect life brought the story home for me. See, that place can’t possibly have existed! That’s why no one could live there! When similar subdivisions were built on woods and fields that I used to play in, it was chilling to me. As I became a teenager and adult, driving through those nearby neighborhoods still felt disturbing. They reminded me of Poltergeist. Obviously, things are different now. Those cookie-cutter suburbs exist everywhere now. And I still think there are dead people, skeletons and ghosts below them.
That’s kind of the irony of this Poltergeist remake and the whole concept of updating a beloved film. The 2015 version is basically the seemingly perfect, clean subdivision built upon where the dead were buried.
But just like those ghosts that had their final resting place disturbed, those spirits aren’t truly gone. And the spirit of the original 1982 Poltergeist isn’t gone either. Just like the apparitions that terrorized an innocent family trying to build a home, the movie I grew up with haunted me while watching this new version. And as that house got swallowed up into an otherworldly abyss, this remake is going to disappear from the cultural radar.