Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1869 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-10-15
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It’s been a long time coming, but at last the digitally remastered version of the original 1982 horror movie has arrived. Tobe Hooper, the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, teamed up with family-oriented producer Steven Spielberg to make Poltergeist, about a haunted suburban home in a development very much like the Arizona one in which Spielberg was raised. (Because it came out the same summer as Spielberg's E.T., it was tempting to see both movies as representing Spielberg's ambivalent feelings about childhood in suburbia. One was a fantasy, the other a nightmare.) Spielberg also co-wrote the screenplay, which taps into primal, childlike fears of monsters under the bed, monsters in the closet, sinister clown faces, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. At first, some of the odd happenings in the house are kind of funny and amusing, but they grow gradually creepier until the film climaxes in a terrifying special-effects extravaganza when five-year-old Carole Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is kidnapped by the spooks and held hostage in another dimension. Though not nearly as frightening as Hooper's magnum opus, or the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, which came along two years later, Poltergeist is one of the smartest and most entertaining horror pictures of its time. --Jim Emerson

DVD Description
Suburbanites Steve (Nelson) and Diane (Williams) suddenly experience paranormal activity in their home. What begins as minor excitement quickly turns into nasty ghostly encounters. The disappearance of their daughter Carol Anne (O’Rourke) forces the Freelings to bring in parapsychologists and a professional exorcist to exorcise their home.

Special features
Two-part documentary "They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists Revealed"
Part I: Science of the Spirits
Part II: Communing with the Dead

Synopsis
A peaceful suburban home suddenly becomes a gateway for enraged ghosts who kidnap a little girl and take her to their twilight world. Hiring paranormal experts, the girl's family attempts to discover why she was taken and how to get her back. Great performances by all in this superlative ghost story.

Customer Reviews

I'm glad this was cheap!
As this appears to be the only region 2 version of this film, I was forced to buy it. Like other reviewers, I love the film, but am completely unimpressed with the "25th anniversary edition" DVD, hence the one star (it would have had 4 or 5). I probably won't even watch the special feature (note singular) as (a) it isn't about the film and (b) I don't believe in ghosts anyway so it would probably irritate me.

There also seems to be a very odd cut at 32:48, though I suppose it's possible that was on the original print - but it really looks to me as if some footage was missing. Rather disturbing.

Grade D-. Could do a lot better :(

Tobe Hooper's Best Work
Poltergeist is a fantastic film, I didn't know anyone who disliked this film so I thought I would buy it and I must say that everyone was right, this film is amazing.

The film focuses on the Freeling family, who's youngest daughter Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is transported through a spectral void by a angry poltergeist. The family calls 3 supernatural investigators to see if they can pinpoint where Carol Anne is. When the investigators come up with nothing, things take a really eeire turn.


Poltergeist has great special effects for an early 80's film and they look surprisingly realistic and several moments made me jump out of my skin, that clown scared the hell out of me!


This is a 25th anniversary edition so I was expecting some extras about the film but there is only a 2 part documentary but this didn't bother me as I get DVD's for the film only but if you like lots of extras, then you may want to get a different version but the film is fantastic and when a film is this good, extras don't matter.

If you're looking for a film that has an eerie feel to it and keeps you guessing whats going to happen, get Poltergeist.

well made but not good enough
I really wanted to enjoy this because this is supposedly such a great film, i even bought this special edition to enjoy it even more! However the 'horror' which was projected onto my screen proved somewhat farcical and in many parts i was doubled up with laughter!I appreciate Speilberg's work but this wasn't something i'd watch again and i've watched many horror films in my time.