Poltergeist (25th Anniversary Edition) [1982]

Average customer rating:

It's Here...

Will never watch again, but not because poorly made

ONE OF THE GREATEST HAUNTED HOUSE FILMS OF ALL TIME

been waiting for this for ages!

be paitent

Poltergeist (25th Anniversary Edition) [1982]
Starring: Craig T Nelson , Jo Beth Williams , and Beatrice Straight
Director: Tobe Hooper
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000VEBP1I
Release Date: 2007-10-15

Amazon.co.uk Review

It's been a long time coming, but at last the digitally remastered version of the original 1982 horror movie has arrived. Tobe Hooper, the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, teamed up with family-oriented producer Steven Spielberg to make Poltergeist, about a haunted suburban home in a development very much like the Arizona one in which Spielberg was raised. (Because it came out the same summer as Spielberg's E.T., it was tempting to see both movies as representing Spielberg's ambivalent feelings about childhood in suburbia. One was a fantasy, the other a nightmare.) Spielberg also co-wrote the screenplay, which taps into primal, childlike fears of monsters under the bed, monsters in the closet, sinister clown faces, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. At first, some of the odd happenings in the house are kind of funny and amusing, but they grow gradually creepier until the film climaxes in a terrifying special-effects extravaganza when five-year-old Carole Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is kidnapped by the spooks and held hostage in another dimension. Though not nearly as frightening as Hooper's magnum opus, or the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, which came along two years later, Poltergeist is one of the smartest and most entertaining horror pictures of its time. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews:

It's Here..........2007-11-03

The classic Poltergeist is released on Region 2 DVD for the first time. If you own the original release on Region 1, it is worth noting that the picture quality on this release is significantly better, so despite the lack of decent extras, it is worth upgrading for picture quality alone.

However, this release does suffer from an annoying jump cut that occurs between the scene where JoBeth Williams' character is showing her husband the sliding chairs (and child) in the kitchen and when they go to their neighbour's house to ask if he's been experiencing anything strange. The cut happens right in the middle of a sentence. The reason for this is because the line "I hate Pizza Hut" is uttered by Craig T. Nelson's character near the end of the scene. Pizza Hut strongly objected to the bad mouthing of their company and MGM agreed to excise it. The sequence was only ever available on the original 1982 theatrical prints of the film. The edit occurs on all other prints of the film. Whether it be television airings, Home Video, DVD, etc.

Will never watch again, but not because poorly made.......2007-11-03

This movie scared like me no other movie I've watch which a guess is the point, but when you watch it in the theaters as a child sitting in a booster seat the scare sticks with you in a way it may not reach an adult. I only remember bits and pieces of the first time because I think I was cowaring in my seat and trying not to watch it. I wanted to give it one star, but think it is well made so at least deserves three. I don't recommend this movie for any child and have no plans to re-watch it in my lifetime.

ONE OF THE GREATEST HAUNTED HOUSE FILMS OF ALL TIME.......2007-11-03

Real estate agent Steve Freeling (Craig T. Nelson) and his family, Diane, (JoBeth Williams) Dana, (Dominique Dunne) Carol Anne, (Heather O'Rourke) and Robbie, (Oliver Robbins) move into a new home in the suburbs. Packed with nice neighbors, beautiful scenery and a quiet atmosphere, it is the perfect place to raise a family. However, inside the house, strange things begin to happen. Chairs and furniture begin to rearrange themselves after only seconds have lapsed and Carol Anne has a strange fascination with watching the static on the TV instead of regular programming. Steve doesn't believe it until Diane shows him a special trick: a chair in the kitchen slides across the room by itself, with no one touching it. Freaked out, he calls in a paranormal research team, lead by Dr. Lesh, (Beatrice Straight) to find out what is wrong with his house. At first dealing with the spirits and declaring the house free from poltergeists, even stranger things happen to the family to convince them that they may not have gotten rid of them after all.

The Good News: As haunted house films go, this one is one of the best. Don't let the PG rating fool you, this is a scary film. Haunted house films usually only have a small margin of error, because how often can you get scared of them? The timeless ones know how to make the audience feel uncomfortable being around the house in question, and this one does it marvelously. The house looks creepy to begin with, which always helps, but the inside isn't, so it looks like a normal house. It looks like it could happen to you, and that is where the best horror comes from: it comes from the fact that it could happen to you. How could the rest of the population believe that the events happening on screen is truly terrifying? Make it happen to real-looking people. Nobody here looks like they just came from the gym, or even seen a plastic surgeon, and the chemistry between the family is so realistic you begin to feel for them. What happens at first is a nice twist: the poltergeists don't want to harm, instead they want to play. You can tell in one great scene: the chair slide. Instead of picking up the chair and throwing it across the room at the characters, the poltergeists have fun by sliding it across the floor. It's a little creepy when you first see it, and the false sense of security is just right to lure you off track. However, once the film gets going and their true nature becomes apparent, it has one great chill after another. When they bring in the paranormal team is great at that. By bringing in these high-tech equipment and other gizmo's is shocking, because we don't know what is happening to deserve this. Once we do learn of what has happened to the house, it just becomes a roller-coaster ride through to the end, with lots of action, suspense, and danger. The middle section also isn't like any other haunted house films, as we are trying to figure out what is happening to the family and how to deal with their problems instead of becoming haunted by what happened in the beginning. It is full of new ideas and flows together nicely with the ending. That action packed ending is another perfect example for delivering chills. After escaping the spirits, the family gets out of the house, and into the front yard, when dozens of skeletons begin to pour out of the ground. Dodging them to get to their car, one erupts out of the garage in front of them and lands on the car, which is my favorite jump in the film. That is such an action-packed ending that it just makes the beginning of the film seem like nothing really much happened. I love endings that send you out on a high note, and this is definitely one of them.

The Bad News: The beginning of the film is a bit slow, so it takes a while to get going. Also, I'm getting kind of tired of having the house be haunted by having it rest on an ancient burial ground. How about some more creativity next time?

The Final Verdict: Despite being another entry in the burial ground haunting films, this is one of the better ones. It's creepy, atmospheric, and certainly packing enough chills to make it worthwhile. Give it a shot if you like this kind of film, but it is recommended to all horror fans as well.

been waiting for this for ages!.......2007-10-28

'Poltergeist' really is a classic, an understated, quietly confident little gem of a horror movie. It's more visceral than one might imagine with so little blood and guts. Instead it affects you on a different level, dare I say, a spiritual level? I would go as far as to say it might equal 'The Exorcist' in that respect, though some might consider that heresy. It certainly is different, and a undeniably compelling movie.

be paitent.......2007-10-25

At long last yes it is on Region2!
Yes it sounds good, a film for just on £10. But somehow I think I may wait for the double disc edition. We have waited this long so it won't be too long before the double disc edition is out.

Average customer rating:
Peter And The Wolf / L'Enfant Et Les Sortileges [1986]
Starring: The Nederlands Dans Theater , The Royal Ballet School , Lorin Maazel , and Paul Murphy
Manufacturer: Arthaus Musik
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Peter & The Wolf - Sergei Prokofiev [2006]

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ASIN: B000050YLG
Release Date: 2000-11-06

Amazon.co.uk Review

It was a happy idea to couple the Royal Ballet School production of Peter and the Wolf with the Netherlands Dance Theatre's L'enfant et les sortiléges, for in each story the boy is the protagonist, in one instance leading a wolf hunt and in the other wreaking revenge on his toys after his mother has locked him in his room to finish his homework. Neither work in their final form was conceived for dancing: the Prokofiev comes from the concert hall and the Ravel from the opera house. Colette, the authoress of Gigi penned the story of L'enfant et les sortil&ecute;ges, which is related here in an introduction by the choreographer Jiri Kylian with charm and a nod back at his own childhood pranks. Viewers coming to this dance version of the opera for the first time maybe be surprised that Ravel composed the boy's role for a girl and a rather buxom one in this instance. The somewhat gloomy, heavily embroidered production misses no opportunity in bringing to life the toys in the boy's room or the animals in the garden that turn on him in retribution. In conclusion as an act of compassion of binding the paw of an injured squirrel, the boy and the animal kingdom are reconciled in music of a truly sublime nature. Lorin Maazel conducts Ravel's sophisticated and witty score with its translucent vocal lines with the affection for which he has long been renowned.

In marked contrast to that production, Peter and the Wolf is set against a plain backdrop with one prop, a slice of carved tree trunk centre stage. Anthony Dowell narrates and also dances the role of the Grandfather with aplomb. In each instance a musical instrument represents a character. The choreographer Matthew Hart marshals his small group of dancers, duck, cat, bird and wolf, with imagination and dexterity. David Johnson as Peter (represented by the full orchestra) gives a splendid performance, boyish and graceful, making a further excellent advertisement for schoolboys considering dancing as a career in the wake of Billy Elliot. A stylish presented and well contrasted double bill. --Adrian Edwards

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