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| Poltergeist [1982] (REGION 1) (NTSC) | ![Poltergeist [1982] (REGION 1) (NTSC)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/117T6E84B3L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Tobe Hooper
Actors: Jobeth Williams, Heather O'rourke, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne
Studio: MGM
Category: DVD
Buy Used: £2.30
New (4) from £4.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 42323
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, Dolby, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Running Time: 114 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 2
Picture Format: Array
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.6 x 0.6
ISBN: 0790744198
UPC: 012569506428
EAN: 9780792833208
ASIN: 0792833201
Theatrical Release Date: June 4, 1982
Release Date: April 8, 1997
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
What a combo! Tobe Hooper, the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, teamed up with family-orientated producer Steven Spielberg to make Poltergeist. The film is about a haunted suburban tract home in a development very much like the one in Arizona 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 earlier magnum opus, or 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
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Tobe Hooper + Steven Spielberg = Poltergeist July 19, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I just want to make one important comment before I comment any further so I don't mislead anybody who has never seen this before, it is not a blood and guts type of horror movie but still has every right to be classed as a horror movie. It is mostly about a little girl called Carole Anne (Heather O'Rourke who tragically died at a very young age) that disappears through a television and the suffering and helplessness of the rest of the family.
This is a superb horror film and I genuinely can't remember the last time this was shown on terrestrial TV or even freeview, so if it has been shown in the last few years then I must have missed it, even more amazing is the fact this has not yet been released on region 2 DVD but it has been out for years on region 1, I just cannot understand why.
I was very young when I first saw this Tobe Hooper directed (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) and Steven Spielberg produced gem in the early 1980's but if you have never seen this then don't expect it to be like the film I have just mentioned otherwise you will be extremely disappointed. Overall this has the feeling of a cosy bedtime ghost story type horror movie. It is about a family that moves into a nice but normal looking house on a normal street full of houses (not an isolated type house) and everything seems fine until suddenly little things start to happen for example, imagine you are at home on your own in your kitchen, you then go out for about ten seconds, you go back into the kitchen and there in front of your very eyes, all the kitchen chairs are stacked on the table. This is not exactly what happens but it is a similar sort of thing that happens in this, certainly in the first half of the film and at times it is incredibly creepy. But my only personal criticism of this film and it is probably just me but I have always loved the first two thirds a lot more than the final third. Like I have said the first two thirds is all about ghostly things slowly starting to happen and the family then bringing in a team of paranormal investigators, there is one scene in particular involving one of the team (I think it is the camera man) that always sticks in my mind when I think of this film, which is truly horrible.
About roughly the final third of this film is just too over the top in my opinion (enjoyable, just not as creepy), with more of the feeling of a mainstream hollywood blockbuster (love the final scene though), which is a shame as this could have been even better than it already is, but anyway, this is still an essential movie of it's type and I still give it five stars overall. A HAUNTED HOUSE CLASSIC.
 better sequel July 10, 2007
I wonder sometimes why Tobe Hooper bothered to get into the directors' chair, because it's Speilberg who got all the credit and plaudits for this and frankly, I think it's over-rated.
Sure it has memorable moments, and a climax which sees the most violent supernatural act ever put on film at the time, the house being sucked away--but what do you expect for industrial light and magic, who produced that incredible piece of work. As for the film as a whole, I have never been able to understand what all the fuss is about. For me, the sequel was far superior.
How long do we have to wait b4 "Its Here" June 17, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was one of the best and most enjoyable concoctions I have ever seen. It was my first "X" rated horror I saw at the flicks and was absolutely mesmerised by it all!! It is about time this timeless classic came to Region 2 and not just the movie but a complete overhaul with redone 7.1 surround track and all extra special features including how they made it!!!I for one will purchase it the day it releases and view it twice in one go!!This movie was seriously good and maybe Spielberg should try and "DIRECT" a horror film himself - if he applies himself the way he has done to Sci-Fi, who knows what he may come up with!!
Kids are creepy! June 21, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A brand new house with a beautiful view. A family man who is very good at his job as a real estate salesmman and the companys best seller. Cresta Verde - development plots, based in scenic lands with breath-taking views.
He has one of the best houses on the plot of course, a thank you from the company, he is able to sell the houses before they're even built.
He has three kids, one young son, one young daugther and one adolescent daugther, together with his wife and the family dog Ebuzz they are living the amercian dream.
His youngest daugther, the fragile and pretty Carole-Ann starts to talk to the television. It appears that when programmes finish and static takes over, (back when programmes did end in the night), she can hear voices and they are asking her questions.
Her parents disregard it at first as a child hood fantasy, until other things start to happen around the house. Things get moved when not being watched like chairs and other furniture. Then it becomes apparent to his wife that there is a section of the kitchen that when you put something in a certain spot it moves - and it does it while your watching!
They all have a try and they all get pulled across the room, they are treating the matter as magical and non-threatening.
They even ask their neighbours if they've had similar things happen to them.
A storm comes and the tree outside the house seems to come to life, Carole-Ann goes missing whilst the family is distracted. The family are in turmoil, not knowing where she could be they search the house top to bottom, a voice comes from the televions screen...'hello mommy...I can see you'
Who is going to believe the family, their incredible story about their youngest daugther somehow being trapped in the house...but she isn't there.
A team of paraphyschologists investigate the matter and one of them flees in terror, he has had a horrible vision and can't handle what's really going on.
The head of the team knows a medium who may be able to help.
Tangina Baron - pint size but full of grit advises she knows how to help get the girl back but warns the family there is something very evil at the heart of the matter, she proposes they send someone over to the other side through a portal in the house to get Carole-Ann back as she is being restrained by a monster.
They get her back and all seems quiet...the kicker comes at the end when he finds out why the house has been infested with unhappy spirits and they have to escape!
Not many films build you up in such a way as this one does, only to give you thrills and chills in the most spectacular manner.
Spielberg is terrific. A must see movie.
 Atmospheric horror March 24, 2005
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This film terrified me as a youth, and still keeps alot of the same scary moments for an older watcher. Very imaginative use of children in horror by Spielberg which makes it an intensely creepy and atmospheric shocker. Special effects were great for the time and well used to create a sense of doom. Clowns still scare me and i blame this film entirely....!
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