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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - June 4th

"POLTERGEIST" released in the US in 1982

If you grew up in the 80's, chances are you'd never forget the sweet little girl Carrie Anne (played by Heather O'Rourke) taking to the ghosts in the TV before turning to her parents, eerily singing, "They're heeee-re".

Helmed by Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper and produced by Steven Spielberg, Poltergeist is a classic haunted house movie about the Freeling family who plagued by ghosts after they discover the house they've just moved into was built on top of an old cemetery (the Realtor's also obviously forgetting to include the possessed gnarled tree in the backyard and the portal to hell in the closet in the brochure).

To view the original trailer on our Facebook page, click on IHdb

Cue the exorcist, - or spiritual medium if you prefer - in the form of Tangina Barrons (played to absolute perfection by Zelda Rubinstein) to "cleanse" the house and help rescue little Carol Anne from the other side.

To view the original trailer on our Facebook page, click on IHdb 

On it's release Poltergeist was loved by the critics and audience's alike, earning over $120 million, and nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Visual Effects. Called one of the best films of 1982, it is also included on the lists for the New York Times The Best 1000 Movies Ever Made and AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills and 100 Years... 100 Quotes (take a guess for which line).

To view the original trailer on our Facebook page, click on IHdb 

But there has been a fair share of controversy surrounding the movie, such as, "who really directed Poltergeist?". Spielberg was relegated to producing duties as his contract stated he couldn't direct any other movie while preparing for E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial, but was so often seen on set the crew dubbed him the "de-facto director". Eventually Spielberg had to print an open letter in the Hollywood Reporter apologizing to Hooper and thanking for him for allowing Spielberg, "a wide berth for the creative involvement" - whatever that may mean.

And then of course the talk of the Poltergeist curse. Not the movie version, the real life version.

Dominique Dunne, who played the Freeling's eldest daughter Dana, was strangled to death by her abusive ex-boyfriend, five months after the film was released, and Heather O'Rourke would later die of complications from an acute bowel obstruction at age 12 (she already completed work on Poltergeist II: The Other Side and Poltergeist III). Maybe such tragedies were associated with the film due to fueled rumors that the crew used real skeletons as props for various scenes.

Despite what many thought, the film still managed to inspire two sequels and a 2015 remake, and has remained a cult classic horror film for the last 35 years.

Rotten Tomatoes Score:   88%

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