Movie Review: Poltergeist (2015)

It's often said that horror movie remakes, are sometimes worse than horror movie sequels. I've never heard it spoken, but I can agree with it. Although Poltergeist is a remake from a movie that came out 32 years ago, this movie actually is relatively entertaining. Now the promotions for this movie don't market the movie at kids. However, some of the music in the trailers is light and happy to convey emotion. That being said, the trailer does sort of make the movie look more kid-friendly then the original film. I'm telling readers now, this is not the case. Poltergeist runs in the same storyline. A family moves into a new house, ghosts go after them, they seek out a paranormal expert (Another Good One) after their daughter is taken. Now this movie is actually really good at a lot of different things. 1) The acting from the kid actors and actresses in the movie is excellent. I'm not sure of any of the kids names, but they are really good at being scared. The one other thing about the son that is cool is how perceptive he is of their home life. His understanding of his parents financial situation is amazingly accurate given his age. The father is really good because he is played by an actor named Sam Rockwell. I heard of him a bit before this movie, but I wasn't sure from where. He is very alike the Craig T. Nelson father from the original Poltergeist flick. The scariest thing in this movie has got to be the clown scene. I do not want to spoil anything from the actual movie, but the clown scene has got to be the best attempt to scare the audience. There are LOTS of jump scares in this movie. So many that I myself was almost tired of them by the end of the movie. Now this movie is actually pretty entertaining. I know people won't like how they remade a cult movie. I like it though, I think it needs time to age, and people will like it better as time passes. Sam Raimi did this one, and the whole Evil Dead thing with the scary parts being both funny and terrifying at the same time. That is really apparent in this film. Overall, Poltergeist is an entertaining new look at the Poltergeist 1982 movie that captivated audiences. Three stars.