Poltergeist (4k Ultra HD + Blu-ray)

“THEY’RE HERE. Playful at first…but not for long. Little Carol Anne Freeling is whisked into a spectral void. As her family confronts horrors galore, something else is here too: a new benchmark in Hollywood ghost stories. Producers Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall and director Tobe Hooper head the elite scream team behind this classic chiller.”

Steven Spielberg’s style of bringing a child-like wonder to life about the unknown has defined his career, with UFOs and aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. among others, with the exploration of paranormal activity in Poltergeist bringing another unexplained phenomenon to the silver screen.

When you talk about Poltergeist and the identity of the film, it’s hard to separate Spielberg from its core. Not only did he write and produce it, but all reports, some controversial, indicate that he was extremely hands on during the directing process, to the point where he’d take over. According to people on set, the majority of the film was directed by him and not Tobe Hooper, which is pretty apparent if you’re at all a fan of Spielberg and know his style. He may have been in the early stages of his career then to be able to deny those rumors, but time has given us more of his work, and the similarities are impossible to deny. So, as much as I like Tobe Hooper’s horror work, I’ve always considered Poltergeist to be a Spielberg film.

Building upon the same theme of identity, from that point on, films about ghosts and the supernatural generally followed the same structure: cheap scares, focusing on the horror aspect, with carnage ensuing. Poltergeist is the complete opposite, focusing on a family and every parent’s nightmare, losing a child. As traumatic as that is, the fact that the entire thing is intangible, unexplained, and so out of scope with the nature of reality as the Freeling family understands it, only heightens the tension and turmoil they go through. Although I’m sure there were other more intelligent supernatural films out there before this, Poltergeist may be considered one of the first mainstream of its kind, thrusting the genre into a new direction and giving it credibility to horror films.

The film itself still holds up extremely well to this day. The atmosphere of the film, although it’s a massive, and still growing community, still feels isolated in its location, especially given the fact the majority of the film takes place inside the house. The film is especially good at making the community feel artificial. When we see the rows and rows of houses, all looking the same; this may not be as foreign to us as it may have been in the early 80s, but the film definitely makes it seem like something is wrong, and it is. The ILM effects can be a bit dated at times, but for them to be utilized in lighter sequences and not simply on a black background, which was pushing the technology to its limits at the time, they get a pass from me. One example is when they open Carol Anne’s room to see all her contents spinning and rotating in the room. They still probably look better than they would if all these things were flying around on strings.

The choice of casting relatively unknown actors also helped with the sense of ‘this can happen to me’ type of thing. While Craig T. Nelson has become a much greater household name, his performance here as the father trying to hold everything together while coping with the fact his daughter has been sucked into a ghostly portal and talks to them through the television is exceptional, as is JoBeth Williams’. The tragedy to come after regarding Dominique Dunne and her untimely death so short after the film’s release, and a few short years later with Heather O’Rourke’s passing at the extremely young age of 12 overshadows the entire film series with talks of curses from the original film. Despite all that, they are immortalized here in this film, forty years later, for a new generation to enjoy.

Video

Poltergeist is presented in 2160p 4k Ultra HD Widescreen 2.39:1 with HDR10. No Dolby Vision on this release, but the 4k HDR presentation looks superb. The colors are more life-like, with bright and vivid displays that stand out very well against the dark backgrounds of the night sequences. Film grain is consistent and well-maintained throughout, without any noise reduction applied thankfully, maintaining its original and intended look. The deep darks is where the upgraded 4k disc really looks good, as the black levels in the darker sequences are particularly strong.

One thing to note, the Blu-ray disc included in this set is also remastered from the original source elements the 4k disc was, and not simply an included copy of the previous Blu-ray release, another great reason to pick up this set in 4k if you don’t yet have a 4k player but plan to in the future.

Audio

The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and the original 2.0 Dolby Digital. The 5.1 remix sounds good, with a good balance between the surrounds and the center channel. Dialogue is clear and concise through the center, but in some of those more chilling sequences you get some real power behind the surrounds that will immerse you in the scene. Jerry Goldsmith’s score especially plays really well throughout the surrounds at the height of the tense sequences.

Special Features

This set comes with the 4k disc, Blu-ray and a digital code. The extras are located on the Blu-ray disc, with a fairly long documentary about the real world of poltergeists. Also included is a making-of featurette from 1982 that was not included on the original Blu-ray release.

• They Are Here: The Real World of the Poltergeists Documentary in 2 Parts: Science of the Spirits and Communicating with the Dead.
• The Making of Poltergeist
• Theatrical Trailer

This 4k set from Warner Bros. is better than I expected, with a newly sourced Blu-ray disc and a new extra included, it’s clear they treated this release with the respect it deserves. This is how you want to see this film, and just in time for the Halloween season. This is well-worth the upgrade if you already own the Blu-ray, and a must-have if you don’t. This one is out now!