i LOOOOVE the movie Gremlins. It has all of the Spielberg style wholesome small town nuclear family coziness i have always loved, and the creature effects and slapstick horror comedy only Dante can provide. That being said its not a movie you can watch year round with its Christmas setting, but this movie is a classic all year round.
The Freelings are a typical suburban family. Husband Steve sells real estate in their ever expanding subdivision and Diane is a stay at home mom caring for their three kids, Dana, Robbie and little Carol Anne. Strange things being to happen in the house however: cupboard doors open on their own, furniture rearranges itself and chairs go sliding across the kitchen floor. It's a bit of whimsy at first but soon becomes deadly serious when Carol Anne vanishes into a nether world where, oddly, she can only be communicated with through the white noise on their television. A team of paranormal investigators move into the house but the forces that kidnapped are evil and powerful requiring the services of Tangina, a woman who has dealt with this situation before.
its hard to make a group of actors feel like a honest to god family without things feeling plastic or hammy, and the best part of this movie is the strong as fuck main cast of family members. My general take on kids is that they are yucky, but this movie has some of the cutest kid actors i have ever seen in a movie. Heather O'Rourke as Carol Anne Freeling is both impossibly adorable and pants shitting levels of terrifying, Oliver Robins as Robbie Freeling is the most scared human being i have ever seen outside of the 2013 EVIL DEAD remake, and the parents are the kind of parents i always wanted to have. the whole American Dream nuclear family shtick always seems like some impossible product of a distant utopia to me, and this movie makes it a reality.
Poltergeist initially received an R rating from the MPAA which Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper disagreed with. they later succeeded in having it changed to PG on appeal, since PG-13 wasn't around at the time. If this movie was made today it would fall under a similar genre as the FEAR STREET films and novels, But even with the standard Tobe Hooper nastiness i would still feel comfortable showing this to someone Robbie's age.
when the THEYR'E HERE later on in the movie, the haunting is at first more fun than freaky. You also don't have to be annoyed by characters spending most of the movie in disbelief, and this movie is so well paced and interesting you never spend a single second bored. first we get an opening spook, then you fall in love with the family, and almost as soon as the supernatural elements are introduced things get cranked up to 11 real fast.
You may expect the Paranormal investigators to be more of an antagonist at first, but they almost instantly feel like they are part of the family. They help the incredibly upset family to heal in thousands of little ways like late night chats with mom, teaching the kids about death in a healthy way, explaining the poltergeist phenomenon with out ever being condescending, and so much more. after the kids are out of the house we get the opportunity for real adult scares, and the wholesome first half really adds to the Practical effects sucker punch later in the movie. i like to think that the face ripping scene inspired Barbra's little closet spook in Beetlejuice, but who knows
the key to making any good movie feel satisfying is setups and payoffs, and this movie haze dozens of subtle setups with massive payouts, and with all that Spielberg money ($10.7 million) the made this the largest scale haunting movie ever made at the time.
no wonder its such a classic
10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000/10
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