Lots of classic movies are getting remakes. Alas, Poltergeist, as far as I can tell, does not appear to be one of them.
The story is timeless and would work in any generation: evil paranormal beings torment a family. Some of the plot points (namely the ghosts coming through the static in the TV - do TVs even get static anymore?) wouldn’t translate in 2011, but those are easy fixes.
The 1982-ish special FX were special and effective at the time; they do not hold up these days. Modern CGI in a gritty re-boot could make for an awesome-tastic movie.
I doubt that Steven Spielberg would allow anyone other than himself to remake one of his movies. Yet even if that hurdle could be overcome, I can’t imagine it being any good; there’s just about no way that the finished product could be anything more than a CGI-filled crapfest, since that’s what Hollywood does with anything “supernatural”. Ever see The Gravedancers? That’s probably what a modern Poltergeist would look like.
Yeah, I thought Poltergeist was pretty much perfect as it was. Just enough gore to be horrific, but not enough to turn it into a splatterfest. And Spielberg had/has a definite knack for portraying normal middle-class families. I couldn’t see this ending well in anyone else’s hands–they’d turn it into a “real horror movie” and ruin what made it cool.
/still freaked out by that damned clown doll after nearly 30 years
Poltergeist is being considered for a remake. There’s a treatment by two people named Juliet Snowden & Stiles White floating around out there somewhere. I’ve seen it, but haven’t read the whole thing yet.
The original was so good, and doesn’t even overly date itself. I think a remake would stand a pretty strong chance of being very inferior. I would see it out of curiosity though.
But Poltergeist was so NOT about the special effects. It wasn’t even about ghosts really; it was about the people the ghosts were haunting. I suspect any new CGI-heavy remake (in 3D, no doubt) would miss that point entirely.
There’s really only one horrobly fake scene in the movie IMO - when the researcher tears at his face.
Other than that, that movie scared the beejesus out of me - I saw it when I was a kid (after begging my parents for weeks). I still can’t watch that stupid clown doll scene!
I can’t help but think of The Haunting, made in 1963, one of the most frightening movies IMO ever made. There was a horrendous remake with big stars and CGI and it was total dreck.
The recent movie Insidious treads much of the same ground as Poltergiest. I wouldn’t say it’s great, but it is somewhat similar… I take it as an homage, at least.
It looks like it has been remade with Sam Rockwell as the dad (trailer #1, trailer #2). It is directed by Gil Kenan who made the decent animated film, Monster House, and the under-appreciated City of Ember.
Sadly, from the trailers its looks like every other recent horror movie. The original movie had a Spielberg-influenced warmth and a sense of wonder that made the horror aspects feel all the more jarring. I get none of that from this new version.
