Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom.
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a new killer, who targets the girl and her friends by using horror films as part of a deadly game.
Director:
Wes Craven
Stars:
Neve Campbell,
Courteney Cox,
David Arquette
Two siblings and three of their friends en route to visit their grandfather's grave in Texas end up falling victim to a family of cannibalistic psychopaths.
A group of camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp which, years before, was the site of a child's drowning.
Director:
Sean S. Cunningham
Stars:
Betsy Palmer,
Adrienne King,
Jeannine Taylor
A psychiatrist familiar with knife-wielding dream demon Freddy Krueger helps teens at a mental hospital battle the killer who is invading their dreams.
Director:
Chuck Russell
Stars:
Heather Langenkamp,
Robert Englund,
Craig Wasson
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
The Poltergeist series has long been the subject of a legend that holds that there is a "curse" associated with it, largely because of four cast member deaths that occurred between 1982 and 1988. Of these four deaths, however, only one could be called "unnatural" in any way - the 1982 death of 22-year-old Dominique Dunne (Dana Freeling in the first movie). Dunne was murdered by her ex-boyfriend when he strangled her after she rebuffed his attempt to reconcile. Of the other three deaths, all were the results of long-term, chronic illnesses: Julian Beck (Kane in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)) died in 1985 after a long battle with stomach cancer; Will Sampson (Taylor in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)) died of complications from a heart-lung transplant; and Heather O'Rourke (Carol Anne in all three movies) died in 1988 at age 12 from cardiac arrest caused by septic shock from a bowel obstruction caused by intestinal stenosis after being misdiagnosed with Crohn's Disease in 1987. Of the other main cast members in the first three movies (for example, JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Tom Skerritt, Nancy Allen, etc.) most are still alive as of 2014. See more »
Goofs
When Robbie is sent away and put in a cab, he and the dog seem
to change places between shots. Furthermore, whilst the dog clearly gets in the back seat of the taxi, in the next shot it is sitting in the front seat. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Carol Anne Freeling:
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 »
Alternate Versions
The 1997, 1999 MGM, and 2000 Warner DVDs of "Poltergeist" feature an entirely different end credits sequence. The credits begin roughly 15 seconds earlier, over the tracking shot of the Holiday Inn, and the sequence in which they appear is different entirely, including some re-arranging on the cast list, and Martin Casella's name being changed to "Marty Casella." The 25th Anniversary DVD and Blu-ray Disc restore the original theatrical credits sequence, henceforth making it a more accurate representation of the film's theatrical exhibition than previous DVD releases. See more »
There are two types of "horror" films:There are the scary ones, which is what the word "horror" means in the first place,and then there is the bloody,gory kind.Perhaps the latter kind should be categorized under another name.At any rate,Poltergeist is a good horror film.It goes beyond the idea of typical ghosts in sheets jumping out of nowhere and saying "boo!".Most of the adventure takes place in their world rather than ours,although we cannot see what is going on there.This is a very thrilling movie.It has great special effects and all of the scare elements that make a horror film what it is supposed to be.The clown in the chair at the foot of the boy's bed was a particularly tense moment for me.This is the only movie I went to see 4 times at the theater,partly to watch others' reactions.I have often heard that the film,and it's two sequels,were the victim of some type of curse,as after each film was released,a member of the cast passed away,including Heather O'Rourke,who played Carol Anne, after the 3rd film.She was only 10.Curse? Coincidence? Who knows? I guess anything is possible.All in all,this is one of the best films ever for the horror genre.
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There are two types of "horror" films:There are the scary ones, which is what the word "horror" means in the first place,and then there is the bloody,gory kind.Perhaps the latter kind should be categorized under another name.At any rate,Poltergeist is a good horror film.It goes beyond the idea of typical ghosts in sheets jumping out of nowhere and saying "boo!".Most of the adventure takes place in their world rather than ours,although we cannot see what is going on there.This is a very thrilling movie.It has great special effects and all of the scare elements that make a horror film what it is supposed to be.The clown in the chair at the foot of the boy's bed was a particularly tense moment for me.This is the only movie I went to see 4 times at the theater,partly to watch others' reactions.I have often heard that the film,and it's two sequels,were the victim of some type of curse,as after each film was released,a member of the cast passed away,including Heather O'Rourke,who played Carol Anne, after the 3rd film.She was only 10.Curse? Coincidence? Who knows? I guess anything is possible.All in all,this is one of the best films ever for the horror genre.