‘Poltergeist’ : They’re Baaack

Eric and Amy Bowen in “Poltergeist.”

The new “Poltergeist” might well be the scariest movie 13-or-unders have yet seen, just as the original was for their parents back in 1982. Those parents might find it an enjoyable trip down memory lane, even if they do now recognize it as largely a well-served collection of horror-movie tropes.

Gil Kenan directs the new incarnation, which has lots of 21st-century updates and is available in a 3-D version that has some tasty flourishes. Being sucked into the netherworld looks even more convincing than it did back in the ’80s.

The story, of course, involves a family of five that moves into a house in a generic-looking development that was built where a cemetery once was and possibly still is.

The screenplay, by David Lindsay-Abaire (based on a story by Steven Spielberg), throws in a little modern-day economic gloom — the neighborhood has been hit by foreclosures, and the father in the family (Sam Rockwell) has recently been laid off.

How a couple with no income gets bank approval to buy a house is a mystery that’s not resolved, but strange things happen in this part of town.

Mr. Rockwell provides welcome bits of comic relief and pairs nicely with Rosemarie DeWitt as the mother. The three children are especially well cast: Saxon Sharbino as Kendra, the teenage daughter; Kennedi Clements as the eerie little Madison, a 6-year-old girl who talks to the ghosts through the television and closet door; and Kyle Catlett as Griffin, who does fine work as the world’s biggest ’fraidy cat in a role that the remake gives extra significance.

Yes, the kids have been given trendier names (they were Dana, Carol Anne and Robbie in 1982), because this is a decidedly 2015 “Poltergeist” in many ways. The pivotal television is a big ol’ flat screen, and iPhones, GPS devices and a drone camera come into play. Oh, and who comes to the family’s rescue? Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris), a guy with a ghost-hunter reality TV show.

He and an investigator (Jane Adams) from a university’s paranormal investigations department have a little side plot going on that gives the movie an amusing kicker, and all in all there’s not much to complain about here, except that — as with a lot of revisited classics — the story’s not as revolutionary as you remember it.

For veterans of the 1982 “Poltergeist,” it’s more like scary but pleasant nostalgia. At an advance screening Thursday night, touchstone sights — those closet doors; that demented clown puppet — drew sighs and scattered applause when they first appeared. Everyone remembers their first fright.


“Poltergeist” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned) for a smattering of strong language and because it will cause little kids to fear clowns, trees, electronic devices and closets.

Poltergeist : Opened on Friday

Directed by Gil Kenan; written by David Lindsay-Abaire; director of photography, Javier Aguirresarobe; edited by Jeff Betancourt and Bob Murawski; music by Marc Streitenfeld; production design by Kalina Ivanov; costumes by Delphine White; produced by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Roy Lee; released by Fox 2000 and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Running time: 1 hour 33 minutes.

WITH: Sam Rockwell (Eric Bowen), Rosemarie DeWitt (Amy Bowen), Jared Harris (Carrigan Burke), Jane Adams (Dr. Powell), Saxon Sharbino (Kendra), Kyle Catlett (Griffin) and Kennedi Clements (Madison).

Cr.Newyork Times