Saturday, 23 May 2015

Film Review - Poltergeist





Boys and Dolls

Film: Poltergeist
Cast: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt
Directed by: Gil Kenan
Duration: 1 hr 33 mins
Rating:  * *
 
Poltergeist is a remake of Tobe Hooper’s 1982 film (which was co-written by Steven Spielberg) and sadly, it has nothing new to contribute to the original film. It has partly been updated for modern times but that doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

Haunted houses, creaking doors, strange noises in the middle of the night, and scary looking toys in the attics - all this has been done to death in horror films over the years. Poltergeist gives us more of the same. 

The Bowen family, Eric (Sam Rockwell) and Amy (Rosemarie DeWitt) move to a new house after he has been laid off from his job. They have a teenage daughter and a little boy and a girl, needless to say, strange things start happening in the house after a box of clown dolls is found.  

Even if you haven’t seen the original, it is very easy to predict what will happen next because it is all so passé. A group of paranormal investigators are brought in and being a horror film, you know that the ‘spirits’ will have the better of them. 

Surely, films have a major role to play in spreading mumbo-jumbo among gullible people about evil spirits, haunted houses and possessed dolls. 

The climax is the only redeeming factor in this otherwise run of the mill product. 

Published in The Navhind Times on 24th May 2015
 

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