POLTERGEIST

US, 1982, 109 minutes, Colour
Jo Beth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight.
Directed by Tobe Hooper.

Poltergeist is one of the many brain children of Stephen Spielberg. Spielberg became one of the most celebrated popular directors of the American industry with his success in Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark. He made a number of smaller budget movies which were also successful: Duel, The Sugarland Express. At the time of making his most successful film, he produced Poltergeist, asking director Tobe Hooper to direct. Hooper made The Great Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Salem's Lot, The Fun House. The cast is relatively unknown although Oscar winner Beatrice Straight plays a scientific researcher. The special effects are, of course, the star of the film.

Poltergeists are unsettling presences in homes, usually associated with people under 20. Spielberg says they are 'bratty ghosts'. However, the poltergeists are much more violent in this film and are given a reason for haunting the house. It is an attack on unscrupulous money makers and developers. Poltergeists in the house are different from hauntings which are permanent situations. M.G.M. provided a great deal of information and records about the experience of poltergeists when releasing this film. It is essentially B material but given big budget treatment.

1. The popularity of ghost stories? The popular conventions for this kind of story: scares, chills, entertainment? The traditional ghost stories? The updating of ghost stories to contemporary suburbia? The difference between hauntings and poltergeists?

2. The production values: the contribution of Stephen Spielberg? Tobe Hooper's skill in directing horror films? The special effects? Colour photography, suburban locations? The focus on homes, the ordinary family, children? The focus on television? The use of technology for research? The creation of an atmosphere of fear, unknown fear?

3. The picture of the contemporary American suburbs? An authentic atmosphere yet the ominous suggestion of the strange storms? The picture of the American homes? Techniques of American surveillance? The repercussions of the poltergeist and the special effects: the movement in the house, the growing violence, the hallucinations? The build-up to exorcism? The manifestation of the monsters? The opening up of the graveyard? An atmosphere of suspense and fright moving into shock and fear?

4. The use of Panavision, colour photography? The musical score? The songs and the children singing for the credits? The importance of the creative use of sound?

5. The background of haunted houses? The associations of poltergeists with persons? Their staying in a home for a limited time? Their impact? The way in, the way out? The range of phenomena associated with them? The cruelty of these poltergeists? Their rage and eruption? The reality of the cemetery underneath the house? The rage of the ghosts and the attack on the developers? The build up to the atmosphere of the walking dead? The monsters and the cavern to Hell? The special effects for movement, for the suggestions with the moving toys, lights, the tree, the pool etc.?

6. The film's emphasis on technology and its developments, modern surveillance with closed circuit television, recorders? The irony of the poltergeists imprisoned in the television? Carole Ann taken into the television? Cameras, sound?

7. The initial portrait of the ordinary family: ordinary expectations, characters, roles? Language, marijuana smoking, reading of Jung etc? The detail of the house, ordinary activities? The next door neighbours and hostilities? The watching of football with the neighbours, drinking? School friends? Meals, play, watching television, storms, storm fear? The family shaken by the disappearance of Carole Ann after the storm? Her hints as regards the people in the television set? Ability to cope? Upset? The cover up?

8. Carole Ann as an ordinary little girl, her place in the home, relationship with her parents, brother and sister? The attraction towards the television and the television during the credits? The emphasis on the American anthem? The creatures in the television set and her communication with them? Her being drawn into the set? Robbie and the terror of the tree? Dana and her scepticism? The build-up of atmosphere after Carole Ann's detection of the people? The moving of the chairs and Diane demonstrating them for Steve?

9. Doctor Lesh and the psychology team? The interview with the family, the examination of the room and its turmoil, the atmosphere of fear, talk, the whispered explanations about the living dead? The family trying to carry on, sleep, rest, eat? The technicians and their fears? The technician going to eat, the maggots, the bathroom and his face corroding and the hallucination? The team and their work? Taping of the phenomena? The psychological explanations of poltergeists? The support of Dr. Lesh?

10. The passing of the days and the loss of Carole Ann? The family trying to cope? Steve and his salesman work ? seeing him successfully trying to sell houses? The discussion about the possibility of a new house with a view? The information about the cemetery? The lies told about the transference of the bodies? The salesman and his having to take responsibility for the lies?

11. Tangina brought in for the exorcism? Tangina as dwarf, special powers? Her entry into the home, scepticism about her? Her instructions. explanations. the set-up for the exorcism? The return of the balls, the rope? Diane and her going in to rescue Carole Ann? The experience with the blood? The bath? The rescuing of Carole Ann? The gradual peace with the cleaning of the house?

12. The false sense of security? Bath and play? The eruption of the opening graveyard? The toys trying to strangle Robbie? The wind. the storm, the visual appearances of the monster? The cavernous hole to hell? The monstrous creatures? The pool and humans being trapped in it? The living dead and the skeletons rising? The rising of the cemetery itself and the destruction of the house?

13. The peaceful ending with the family fleeing. the motel ? and the throwing out of the television set?

14. The portrait of ordinary American life? Preternatural experiences? Fear and shock? The eruption of the unknown? Lack of explanation? Fears and monsters? The plausibility of the plot and the family coping with the poltergeist experience?