Poltergeist 1
A family's home is haunted by a host of ghosts. Initially friendly and playful, the spirits turn unexpectedly menacing, and, when the youngest kid goes missing, the parents turn to a parapsychologist and eventually an exorcist for help.
26 January 1946, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
16 December 1949, USA
20 January 1933, Sparta, Tennessee, USA
2 August 1914, Old Westbury, New York, USA
28 May 1933, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
22 July 1971
11 July 1937, New York City, New York, USA
6 December 1948, Houston, Texas, USA
27 December 1975, San Diego, California, USA
15 August 1941, Cooke County, Texas, USA
October 25, 2014
One of the 1980s' most distinctive and important horror movies.
September 11, 2013
Hooper's direction may lack its usual edgy personality -- apparently over-ruled by Spielberg's script suggestions -- but he puts on a dazzling show, and the intuitive performances are uniformly on the panic button.
September 25, 2007
Though the shocks are well conveyed, it's the sweetness that lingers, making this the first cute and cuddly entry in the genre.
June 29, 2013
"Poltergeist" is a lot more dedicated to its cause than most viewers today are probably used to. It builds to something of value. That may not make it the most profound film of its genre by any stretch, but it does make it one of the most memorable.
October 23, 2004
Hooper and Spielberg hold our interest by observing the everyday rituals of this family so closely that, since the family seems real, the weird events take on a certain credibility by association.
September 25, 2007
Given the talents, Poltergeist is an annoying film because it could have been so much better.
May 20, 2003
Poltergeist is like a thoroughly enjoyable nightmare, one that you know that you can always wake up from, and one in which, at the end, no one has permanently been damaged. It's also witty in a fashion that Alfred Hitchcock might have appreciated.
February 09, 2006
It is consistently redeemed by its creator's dazzling sense of craft.
October 07, 2014
The buildup is slow and deliberate, creating a vivid sense of love and warmth within the family who share the harrowing adventure.
February 19, 2013
Spielberg, here credited as producer as co-writer, shows the other (darker) side of suburbia in this horror film, made in the same year as the superior E.T.
June 01, 2011
The film delivers honest special-effects shocks without forfeiting its good nature.
September 11, 2013
Hooper and Spielberg have worked long and hard to bring the ghost story to its fullest potential. They have succeeded.
