Poltergeist Remake
B/B+
Remakes. They're not always a good idea.
But sometimes they're not as bad as you think either.
Poltergeist was okay as far as remakes go.
The 3D made me feel dizzy. It didn't work out that well. The parts that would have rocked in 3D were poorly handled. There was one scene where something breaks apart and is suppose to look like it's coming at you... but it instead became blurry specks.
The movie itself was pretty good... didn't have the charm of the original... but it was a decent movie.
(A few small spoilers without giving much away... If you know Poltergeist, there aren't too many surprises.)
There were a few things that were slight issues for me... for example: You'd think the family would have a much wider range of emotion, but even when the "father" had tears in his eyes it just didn't seem right. It was like his face was saying "emotionless" but his eyes were saying "emotion". A lot of scenes were like that with various actors. Dunno.
Then there's a scene when the little girl is "taken", the next morning
the mom is in her robe casually walking out to meet the guy whose going
to help get Maddy back, while the little boy (who was terrified of a
squirrel and a clown doll mind you) calmly played with a drone. It's
like... where's the panic? the kid panicked about a nightlight, but he's
playing with his drone and mom is having a cup of coffee, while Maddy
has been kidnapped by the Poltergeist!!?? K.
but all in all I say it was a pretty okay movie. I'd give it a strong B. Visually it was well done... storyline it was fairly close to the original... there was no gratuitous gore or violence or sex. That's something I like about horror movies like Poltergeist or Annabelle or The Conjuring... it's a psychological thriller that scares you with real scare tactics instead of slathering it with shock value tactics, cheapening the story.
The kids were pretty good actors for their age... and I liked Jared Harris' character of Carrigan. Carrigan replaces the character of Tangina played by the late Zelda Rubinstein. His character is a charismatic paranormal reality show celebrity who cleanses houses of evil spirits. I kind of wish his character was more present in the movie. He came in half way to the end. His character and the parapsycologists were very interesting characters. The one thing I did find odd however, was that the elder sister, who is a fan of Carrigan, and the brother were more interested in Carrigan's war wounds than panicked over the loss of their sister. Yet again - it seemed like they were too calm. The girl even seemed excited when she saw Carrigan show up uttering, "No... Way..." with a smile. Um... baby sister in danger, anyone? anyone?
All in all however, a decent movie if you don't spend too much time comparing it to the original. All things considered, as far as remakes go, this was fairly acceptable.
but all in all I say it was a pretty okay movie. I'd give it a strong B. Visually it was well done... storyline it was fairly close to the original... there was no gratuitous gore or violence or sex. That's something I like about horror movies like Poltergeist or Annabelle or The Conjuring... it's a psychological thriller that scares you with real scare tactics instead of slathering it with shock value tactics, cheapening the story.
The kids were pretty good actors for their age... and I liked Jared Harris' character of Carrigan. Carrigan replaces the character of Tangina played by the late Zelda Rubinstein. His character is a charismatic paranormal reality show celebrity who cleanses houses of evil spirits. I kind of wish his character was more present in the movie. He came in half way to the end. His character and the parapsycologists were very interesting characters. The one thing I did find odd however, was that the elder sister, who is a fan of Carrigan, and the brother were more interested in Carrigan's war wounds than panicked over the loss of their sister. Yet again - it seemed like they were too calm. The girl even seemed excited when she saw Carrigan show up uttering, "No... Way..." with a smile. Um... baby sister in danger, anyone? anyone?
All in all however, a decent movie if you don't spend too much time comparing it to the original. All things considered, as far as remakes go, this was fairly acceptable.
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