Poltergeist

Released:  May 22^nd, 2015

Rated:  PG-13

Distributor:  20^th Century Fox

Starring:  Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jared Harris, Jane Adams, Kennedi Clements, Kyle Catlett, Saxon Sharbino

Directed by:  Gil Kenan

Written by:  David Lindsay-Abaire

Personal Bias Alert:  never seen the original, sucker for father-daughter stuff

5.2 of 10

            How does one get roped into working on a surefire disappointment like the remake of Poltergeist?  If you’re director Gil Kenan, then it’s because you made a film that lost $38 million, and a hit is your only chance to keep your career alive.  The remake is sure to put people’s butts in the seats, giving you a win and the opportunity to make another film that can be your own.  Kenan doesn’t phone in the remake, though, delivering a solid, if forgettable, horror film.

            As Poltergeist is the story of a family being haunted by some very active ghosts, the best thing Kenan and company did for themselves was land two great actors to play the mother and father.  Sam Rockwell is someone you’ll certainly recognize and immediately like, with his everyman rascal quality going a long way to making this film work.  Rosemarie DeWitt is again cast as the loving foil (maybe someday she’ll get to be the crazy one), and although she has less to do than Rockwell, they make for an excellent pair.  Their three kids are played by relative unknowns who turn in some uneven performances, but they all succeed in their main job, which is to make the family seem average and hence relatable then run around screaming until the credits role.

            The youngest girl is the focal point of the haunting, but what makes this film better than your average horror film is its focus on the characters surrounding her, feeding instead off of their distress for her predicament.  This is certainly a carryover from the 1982 original, which was co-written by Stephen Spielberg.  His ability to root genre stories with empathetic characters is one of his greatest strengths, and it again proves to be an effective formula.

            The biggest problem with this horror remake is that it never proves to be very scary.  Thanks to all the original’s replicators, the haunted house story is now too familiar to be frightening on its own, and the bigger moments that should ratchet up the fear are mishandled.  An overreliance on modern horror techniques like jump scares and CGI simply doesn’t cut it, particularly when the CGI is as bad as it is here.  Instead of rendering some creepy visuals, it surrounds the characters with muddled masses of greys and blacks, robbing what should have been horrifying moments of all their punch.  The ending is the ultimate soft blow, as it never achieves anything that feels like a climax and then fades to black.

            And yet there’s enough tension running through the film to keep your attention.  The family’s love and concern for their youngest member is upsetting, and the moments when they run into the action instead of away from it are almost touching.  This isn’t a film where you question why they’re staying around while a bunch of crazy stuff happens.  They stay because they can’t leave someone they love behind, and they try to leave as soon as they’re back together.

            The strengths of this film may very well stem from the original, but it remains a solid horror story.  On its own, it should be considered an above average horror flick, but it has a legacy to live up to, and nothing about it screams a modern classic.

Other Notes:

Ø  Lots of potential themes are picked up and disappointingly dropped.

Ø  There’s some really good humor peppered in here.

Ø  I thought for sure that huge teddy bear was going to come alive at some point.

Ø  Who shrugs off a collection of clown dolls and leaves them in their kid’s room?