Poltergeist

POLTERGEIST

Director : Gil Kenan

Year : 2015

Genre : Horror

Rating : **

Gil Kenans re-imagining of Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielbergs 1982 classic 'Poltergeist' joins the company of such movies as Glen Morgans 'Black Xmas', Samuel Bayers 'A Nightmare On Elm Street', Matt Reeves 'Let Me In' and Gus Van Sants 'Psycho' as one of the most utterly redundant horror remakes ever made. Once again telling the story of a family who are terrorized by a malevolent entity, this Sam Raimi - produced interpretation of the well respected and quite adored horror gem dispenses with any of the child-like terror, whimsical wonder or even the subtle Reagan-era social commentary of the 1982 picture and instead resorts to the lowest common denominator scare techniques and done to death narrative cliches.

The plot of this 'Poltergeist' sticks fairly closely to that of the original. A couple (Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt) and their three children (Saxon Sharbino, Kyle Catlett and Kennedi Clements) move into house of their dreams when things quickly go awry as strange occurences and unexplainable phenomena begin to happen. However, when the youngest daughter (Clements) is kidnapped by an especially wicked spirit, the family resort to the help of a group of paranormal investigators and eventually a spiritual medium (Jared Harris) to not only cleanse the house once and for all but also save the life of the little girl.

To his credit, director Kenan (whose previous work includes the terrific CG kids shocker 'Monster House') works very hard to generate a sense of threat and suspense. Indeed, there are number of scenes throughout 'Poltergeist' which are shot very well indeed and Marc Streitenfields ominous underscoring wracks up the chill factor quite nicely. But while there are a few choice elements that do work in this 'Poltergeist', the same moments were done so much better in the 1982 original - without a need for below average computer generated beasties or post 'Paranormal Activity' jump scares. Many key set pieces are direct rip-offs from it's superior predecessor and they just simply lack the wonderful tactility and honest intentions of Hoopers and Spielbergs well crafted masterwork.

All in all, 'Poltergeist' is a movie that stands up perfectly well even after it's over 30 year release so the question that must be asked is why has this film been made? A remake wasn't needed and judging by the reviews from both critics and audiences alike, it most certainly wasn't wanted either.