MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 547 this week

Poltergeist (1982)

 -  Horror  -  4 June 1982 (USA)
7.4
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.4/10 from 62,506 users  
Reviews: 270 user | 151 critic

A family's home is haunted by a host of ghosts.

Director:

Writers:

(screenplay), (screenplay), 2 more credits »
Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 10000 titles created 2 months ago
 
a list of 374 titles created 17 Apr 2011
 
a list of 1269 titles created 6 months ago
 
a list of 572 titles created 18 Jul 2011
 
a list of 221 titles created 8 months ago
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Poltergeist (1982)

Poltergeist (1982) on IMDb 7.4/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Poltergeist.
Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Dracula (1931)
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

The ancient vampire Count Dracula arrives in England and begins to prey upon the virtuous young Mina.

Director: Tod Browning
Stars: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners
Nosferatu (1922)
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife. Silent classic based on the story "Dracula."

Director: F.W. Murnau
Stars: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

Jonathan and Lucy live in Wismar and the Count wants a house there. Varna is a port on the Black Sea, close to Dracula's castle.

Director: Werner Herzog
Stars: Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz
Horror | Fantasy
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.6/10 X  

A bag full of symbolic folklore about werewolves, or, rather, their sexual connotation. Granny tells her granddaughter Rosaleen strange, disturbing tales about innocent maidens falling in ... See full summary »

Director: Neil Jordan
Stars: Angela Lansbury, David Warner, Graham Crowden
Wishmaster (1997)
Fantasy | Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.4/10 X  

A demonic djinn attempts to grant its owner three wishes, which will allow him to summon his brethren to earth.

Director: Robert Kurtzman
Stars: Tammy Lauren, Andrew Divoff, Robert Englund
The Church (1989)
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.1/10 X  

An old Gothic cathedral, built over a mass grave, develops strange powers which trap a number of people inside with ghosts from a 12th Century massacre seeking to resurrect an ancient demon from the bowels of the Earth.

Director: Michele Soavi
Stars: Hugh Quarshie, Tomas Arana, Feodor Chaliapin Jr.
Kwaidan (1964)
Fantasy | Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

This film contains four distinct, separate stories. "Black Hair": A poor samurai who divorces his true love to marry for money, but finds the marriage disastrous and returns to his old wife... See full summary »

Director: Masaki Kobayashi
Stars: Michiyo Aratama, Misako Watanabe, Rentarô Mikuni
Drama | Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5.8/10 X  

Set in 19th Century Canada, Brigette and her sister Ginger take refuge in a Traders' Fort which later becomes under siege by some savage werewolves.

Director: Grant Harvey
Stars: Katharine Isabelle, Emily Perkins, Nathaniel Arcand
Vampyr (1932)
Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

A traveler obsessed with the supernatural visits an old inn and finds evidence of vampires.

Director: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Stars: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel
Gremlins (1984)
Comedy | Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A boy inadvertantly breaks 3 important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.

Director: Joe Dante
Stars: Hoyt Axton, John Louie, Zach Galligan
Comedy | Fantasy | Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.1/10 X  

After a tragic car accident that killed his wife, a man discovers he can communicate with the dead to con people but when a demonic spirit appears, he may be the only one who can stop it from killing the living and the dead.

Director: Peter Jackson
Stars: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson
Leprechaun (1993)
Comedy | Fantasy | Horror
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 4.4/10 X  

An evil, sadistic Leprechaun goes on a killing rampage in search of his beloved pot of gold.

Director: Mark Jones
Stars: Warwick Davis, Jennifer Aniston, Ken Olandt
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
Diane Freeling (as Jobeth Williams)
...
...
...
...
Michael McManus ...
Virginia Kiser ...
Martin Casella ...
...
...
...
Lou Perryman ...
Pugsley (as Lou Perry)
Clair E. Leucart ...
Bulldozer Driver (as Clair Leucart)
...
Jeff Shaw
Edit

Storyline

A young family are visited by ghosts in their home. At first the ghosts appear friendly, moving objects around the house to the amusement of everyone, then they turn nasty and start to terrorise the family before they "kidnap" the youngest daughter. Written by Rob Hartill

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

From a dimension beyond the living, a terror to scare you to death. See more »

Genres:

Horror

Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

4 June 1982 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Juegos diabólicos  »

Box Office

Budget:

$10,700,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$6,896,612 (USA) (4 June 1982)

Gross:

$6,896,612 (USA) (4 June 1982)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(35 mm prints) (as Dolby Stereo)| (70 mm prints)

Color:

(Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many people believe there's a curse on the Poltergeist franchise, that may have been caused by the use of real skeletons on-set, e.g. several actors in the franchise have died, and this became the focus of The E True Hollywood Story. See more »

Goofs

Ryan's camera automatically pans up to the top of the stairs and zooms in but the view on the monitor has not zoomed in. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Carol Anne: Hello? What do you look like? Talk louder, I can't hear you! Hey, hello! Hello, I can't hear you! Five. Yes. Yes. I don't know. I don't know.
See more »

Crazy Credits

The initial end credits has the closing shot of the Holiday Inn as a backdrop. See more »

Connections

Spin-off Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996) See more »

Soundtracks

"The Star-Spangled Banner"
(1814) (uncredited)
Music based on "The Anacreontic Song" by John Stafford Smith
Played as TV sign-off music several times
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

An amazing piece of work!!! Horror at it's best.
17 July 2000 | by (USA) – See all my reviews

This movie has been one of my all time favorites for more than ten years. Like many other people in the '80s, the first time I saw this movie it scared the hell out of me.

I compliment on the fact that there is no bloodspilling or graphic violence or even a single killing in the movie to make this movie sensationally scary. It relies on those trendy '80s special effects to make the movie truly frightening.

I still think this movie is scary, because I have always found supernatural forces and things that are out of the ordinary in this world to be more frightening than some idiotic blond woman being chased by an ax-wielding maniac. The script is so well written, the acting heartfelt and wonderful, and the direction and production techniques are top-notch. I have never seen horror movies embody all those elements since "The Exorcist."

For those of you who have not seen this movie, SEE IT! It may not scare you like today's modern horror flicks, but it will sure entertain and enlighten you. Has a horror movie ever done that????????????


10 of 13 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
publicity photo of Carol Anne in her nightgown - what were they thinking natalie-gregory
Seriously Folks.... Argyle302
100 things we learned from poltergeist polterdave
Pink jelly stuff all over Diane and Carol Anne JackForrester
1988 Superbowl Poster in Movie cherog-259-897206
six disc set johnnydarko13
Discuss Poltergeist (1982) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?