Poltergeist poster
Poltergeist

What’s Aged the Worst?

Catcalling; TV snow; effects; haunting terminology; family naïveté; sequels; remote; edit; remake; pan-and-scan

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:04Read transcript
  • Television snow and stations going off air are less familiar in the cable era.
  • Construction workers catcalling the teenage daughter, and her mother laughing, have aged badly.
  • The face-melting effects look dated, although that is expected from an older film.
  • The distinction between a poltergeist and a haunting is challenged because multiple dead people appear to be haunting the development.
  • The family lacks later haunted-house movies as a reference for recognizing the danger.
  • The second and third films are disliked or barely remembered.
  • Using a remote to change a neighbor’s television no longer feels possible.
  • An abrupt edit after the chair-sliding scene is attributed to removing a Pizza Hut joke after the company objected.
  • The 2015 remake is rejected as unnecessary.
  • Pan-and-scan cable presentations harmed the film’s composition and rewatchability compared with widescreen.