2022 see’s the fan favourite celebrate it’s 40th anniversary

When I think back to my childhood this film pops up every time.

Like many, and I mean MANY others out there, this film served as a gateway film for what would become a full blown Horror addiction. It was one of the first films I can remember that scared but entertained me, it was a rollercoaster of emotions really but I knew I wanted to watch it again.

That’s not something you hear a lot now but back when you’d rent a film for, let’s say 2 days, you’d re-watch that film over and over again. You made sure you got your moneys worth, I knew people who did this with films they didn’t even enjoy, it was a completely different time back then.

I’ve never met anyone who said they didn’t like this film, just mentioning it seems to bring a smile to peoples faces. You don’t get that with a lot of films but when you do you know it’s something very special, even non Horror fans will say they liked this one and that again is a rare thing to hear.

What you have to remember is it was a different era. This was a time where studios took risks, the stories were fresher and more original plus there was a lot of creative freedom than what you see nowadays, in my opinion I think that’s why so many 80’s films are beloved by film fans.

I mean I’m sure it was helped by the fact that this was a Spielberg project, by this point all you needed was his name attached to a project and it guaranteed a profitable return for a studio. The name I think no one expected to be attached to the film was that of Director Tobe Hooper.

Now there is some controversy surrounding who actually directed “Poltergeist”, Spielberg or Hooper. here is my take. Remember Spielberg released two films in ’82 – there was “E.T.”, which he directed but did not write; and “Poltergeist”, which he co-wrote and co-produced but Hooper was hired to direct.

It seems to be one of those projects where everything just fit together perfectly, including the casting, which in my opinion was spot on. Heather O’Rourke was great as ‘Carol Anne’ and her angelic voice saying the now infamous line. “They’re he-re“, is still a spine tingling moment.

As a child the creepiest thing in the film to me was that of Zelda Rubenstein who played the role of the eccentric medium ‘Tangina Barrons’. I can’t exactly remember why she scared me but ever since I first saw this I’ve uttered her line “This house is clean” countless times.

We can’t talk about about the film without mentioning what became known as the ‘Poltergeist Curse’. This rumoured curse followed the trilogy of films and sadly involved the death of two cast members from the first film, that of Dominique Dunne and Heather O’Rourke who both looked to have promising careers ahead of them.

I wrote an in depth piece about the phenomenon of the ‘Poltergeist Curse’ a few years ago, if you want to read it then just click HERE. I please just ask you to be nice about it as I wrote it over ten years ago when I was still just getting started with this blog , I hope you enjoy it anyway.

This was a film that manage to weave itself into pop culture, from the creepy clown that terrified millions of viewers to the aforementioned ‘Carol Anne’ line and also a certain ending about a certain cemetery. This became one of the essential haunted house films and has remained so ever since.