Poltergeist is a marvel among horrors. It takes “the haunted house picture” and adds fantasy to it, giving it a freshness that most other ghost movies just don’t have.
My experience with Poltergeist began in my childhood. I didn’t exist in 1982, so my first encounter with it was on TBS, where it played all three Poltergeist films in a row. I was maybe 6 or 7 at the time and had already been familiar with Star Wars and was about to discover the Jaws series, along with Indiana Jones and much of the Star Trek films. So I was totally at the birth of what would soon become my geeky livelihood.
I wish I could say that Poltergeist remained with me since, but at the time, my early experiences with it were in passings on television broadcasts. Eventually, I couldn’t find it on tv much anymore, but Poltergeist III seemed to always be popping up a lot, and that entry came across to me as harsh and dull.
In the next few years, I would go on to discover the works of director Steven Spielberg. I was already familiar with his films like Hook and E.T.,and Jurassic Park had busted into the scene, and at the time, I was a huge fan of that movie. I saw Jaws and television, and started renting the sequels. I had gotten Close Encounters for my birthday one year, and it would later become one of my favorite films. Constantly watched volumes of Amazing Stories when they came on tv, played the computer game “Director’s Chair” and even reasearched the life and works of Spielberg for a report at school. Yes, Spielberg became my
favorite director, and has been ever since.
I wouldn’t truly familiarize myself with Poltergeist until a couple of years ago, when I went searching for an online community where I could meet other Spielberg fans and chit chat about his works. I soon discovered SpielbergFilms, which is now defunct, and it wasn’t too long before I found myself curious about the legacy surrounding Poltergeist. Now mind you, by this time I had already known about the “curse” from an episode E! True Hollywood Story, watched a great deal of Poltergeist II on basic television, and had a fuzzy memory of what actually happened in the movie. Really, I remembered was Carol Anne looking at the tv, and then saying “They’re Here!” And I had just found out about the Spielberg/Hooper controversy surrounding the film.
So I drove to Target and bought a copy of the 25th Anniversary Edition and did something that I wish I could do with all my favorite films, watch it all over again with fresh eyes. Not only did I love it, but I was actually surprised that I jumped at a few points in the movie. I had to watch it again, and so I did.
Like many of my favorite films, it was a movie that stuck in my head and just never left. I went to work the next morning, and all I could think about was this extraordinary movie I just watched, and when I got home, I watched it again. Like Close Encounters, Alien, the first two Star Wars films and first three Star Trek films as well as many others, it became this movie in which everywhere I go, I just want to express how much I love this movie. It’s the movie I have the most to say about.
So here we are with Poltergeist Online. It’s sort of like my essay on Poltergeist. An online text commentary, if you will. Creating this site was quite an educational experience. I have gathered up information from old newspaper and magazine articles, as well as recent interviews and production notes. Not only did I get to learn quite a bit about the film, but I got to openly and publicly express my starry-eyed geek love for this film.
Enjoy the site!
-Josh Kelhoffer, webmaster
