Sadly remakes rarely live up to the original & veiwers will always compare the remake to the classic it tries to imitate, hence the low rating for this movie which in all honesty I think is a little unfair. Poltergeist 2015 is NOT a bad film. It's just not that great either. The good points are the pacing, an imaginative retelling, & a classic non relience on buckets of absurd fake blood & jump shocks. The bad points are mediocre acting, a very weak script & a terrible overly loud sound track. Some of the story is very disjointed (what is the electricity pylon connection?) but there are some nice chills in places which carries this movie quite well, however the CGI in places was very poor. This just maybe my taste in my favorite horror movies as I am no fan of excessive CGI.
I wont go into the story line, as I feel the original was such a huge hit, most people already know its about a normal suburban family who are terrorised by poltergeists. In fact the original Spielberg hit is my number 1 favorite movie of all time. But this update adds some nice alternative angles to the story, which I enjoyed & the use of modern tech to aid in the resuce was quite interesting, too.
I think the overall take out of this movie is "Don't compare it to the Tobe Hooper, Spielberg masterpiece!" as it is like comparing pearls to marbles. The music in this remake is one of the biggest let downs, with souless, droning tones repeated over & over which was very irritating, does not contain suspence or mystery unlike Jerry Goldsmiths velvety haunting score from the original. This movie I would rate at a PG - 13 as there is no violence, bad language or gratuitous sex scenes & older teens may like this. There is no Hollywierd social agenda in this either, which is very refreshing for movies today, & in places this is very engaging, creepy & decent watchable stuff. Just a good piece of entertainment which certainly doesn't deserve to be panned by Poltergeist 1982 purists. These purists should remember that Tobe Hooper (May God rest your soul sir x) was a MASTER of the macarbe & a brilliant director. Gil Kenan (Monster House 2006) who directed this version, is ok, but he is still quite young & still needs to find his feet in the horror genre. But oh how I miss the genius of Tobe Hooper... *sighs*
I wont go into the story line, as I feel the original was such a huge hit, most people already know its about a normal suburban family who are terrorised by poltergeists. In fact the original Spielberg hit is my number 1 favorite movie of all time. But this update adds some nice alternative angles to the story, which I enjoyed & the use of modern tech to aid in the resuce was quite interesting, too.
I think the overall take out of this movie is "Don't compare it to the Tobe Hooper, Spielberg masterpiece!" as it is like comparing pearls to marbles. The music in this remake is one of the biggest let downs, with souless, droning tones repeated over & over which was very irritating, does not contain suspence or mystery unlike Jerry Goldsmiths velvety haunting score from the original. This movie I would rate at a PG - 13 as there is no violence, bad language or gratuitous sex scenes & older teens may like this. There is no Hollywierd social agenda in this either, which is very refreshing for movies today, & in places this is very engaging, creepy & decent watchable stuff. Just a good piece of entertainment which certainly doesn't deserve to be panned by Poltergeist 1982 purists. These purists should remember that Tobe Hooper (May God rest your soul sir x) was a MASTER of the macarbe & a brilliant director. Gil Kenan (Monster House 2006) who directed this version, is ok, but he is still quite young & still needs to find his feet in the horror genre. But oh how I miss the genius of Tobe Hooper... *sighs*