upstill (06/03/82)
I saw one of the "sneak previews" of Poltergeist two weeks ago. It opens this Friday at a theater near you. Nano-review: massively entertaining. I loved it. As one who has been passionately attached to the SF/fantasy genre since childhood, I have to say that Poltergeist is my movie. Spielberg has definitely reached the peak of his craft in terms of constructing and executing a movie. It's all there -- the slightly warped humor, the little middle class tags we can relate to, the sense of the fantastic, the relentless buildup from little eerie events to shivery spectacle. I alternated between bursting out laughing and muttering exclamations of awe to myself. Of course I was completely unhyped and unprepared for it all (which is one of the prime advantages of sneak previews). The technical credits on this film are just superb -- it is definitely prime material for a first-rate theater with 70mm and Dolby sound; the images on the screen are crystal clear. ILM's special effects are in a universe by themselves; I was stunned to learn that the budget of the movie was moderate by Hollywood standards, only about 70% of the cost of Close Encounters 3 1/2 years ago and half that of Empire. If these descriptions make the movie sound a little cold, that's the way I can't help thinking about it...afterwards. While it was running, it blew me away. Afterward, it became hard to see why I got so involved on a gut level. But I did, and I bet you will.
crose (06/07/82)
I saw the movie. It was a great thriller. Dont miss it! If you are in the mood to be scared, this is the movie to see. The first half of the movie struck me as being very ~phony~. It all seemed a sort of spoof making fun of horror movies, *until* the second half..... Then you get really scared. The movie will have you grinning or even laughing durning most of it. The movie was so well done that i even didnt go home and look in dark cornors of the house with a flashlight. Some of the highlights i though were when the man peeled his face off and the skull showed, or when the clown attacked the kid, or the whole movie after that point! DONT MISS IT!!!!!
lute (06/07/82)
Now, can anyone tell me of a theatre near Piscataway, NJ where "Poltergeist" is playing? Jim Collymore mhuxh!lute
Thomka.ES@sri-unix (06/08/82)
I also had seen "Poltergeist" and I liked it. But I thought that some resolution of the "hallowed" ground is needed. Or that the Land Developer (whatever his name was) should have gotten his just desserts, after all why should our "good guy's" family do all the suffering, especially the little girl. Chuck p.s. I thought it had some good middle-class humor in it. What with the teenage girl (in referring to the Holiday Inn out on Highway XX) "oh yeah, I remember that one." At which time the mother was very perplexed to her daughter's meaning.