Poltergeist (1982)

What a combo! Tobe Hooper, the director of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, teamed up with family-oriented producer Steven Spielberg to make Poltergeist. The film is about a haunted suburban tract home in a development very much like the Arizona one in which Spielberg was raised. (Because it came out the same summer as Spielberg's E.T., it was tempting to see both movies as representing Spielberg's ambivalent feelings about childhood in suburbia. One was a fantasy, the other a nightmare.) Spielberg also cowrote the screenplay, which taps into primal, childlike fears of monsters under the bed, monsters in the closet, sinister clown faces, and all manner of things that go bump in the night. At first, some of the odd happenings in the house are kind of funny and amusing, but they grow gradually creepier until the film climaxes in a terrifying special-effects extravaganza when 5-year-old Carole Anne (Heather O'Rourke) is kidnapped by the spooks and held hostage in another dimension. Though not nearly as frightening as Hooper's magnum opus, or the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, which came along two years later, Poltergeist is one of the smartest and most entertaining horror pictures of its time. --Jim Emerson Amazon.com

Poltergeist on blu-ray

"Poltergeist" is one of my favorite horror pictures and I just introduced my 18-yr-old niece to the film with this blu-ray edition. She found it very scary and was stunned it was only rated PG (considering the year it was released). The picture and audio quality of this edition are both wonderful but, as noted by other reviewers, there are no real extras. Because of all the behind-the-scenes drama I have a feeling it will be a very long time before we see an edition which includes some really meaty extras. The book was nice, and had a few facts I wasn't aware of (the change from an "R" rating and the use of real skeletons on set...eww!)

Be aware, however, that like all previous versions the really severe edit between the family kitchen and the neighbor's house is still there - I don't think there can be a clean copy anywhere in Hollywood if this is still going on. I know it supposedly has something to do with Pizza Hut being dissed in the scene, but since it was one line I really think they could've muffled it and kept the complete scene instead of cutting a big chunk.

This is a classic, highly entertaining horror movie and well worth watching again. If you have an older version of the dvd (or even the vhs tape), now is a good time to upgrade it to blu-ray. November 24, 2008

Love this classic!

This movie has a fond place in my heart, and the Blu-Ray release did not disappoint. Although more extras would have been nice, the picure and sound quality are excellent. Highly recommend this to anyone who's a fan of the movie.
November 20, 2008

Poltergeist Bluy-Ray

I loved this movie as a child and still do,the blue-ray looks and sounds much better than the dvd,but again not nearly enough extras on this blue-ray,could have been so much better,this classic movie deserved that treatment. October 18, 2008

Stunning transfer for a 1982 movie! If you love this film, the upgrade is worth it!

I've been a fan of this film for over 20 years. My parents had the VHS and before that it was taped from TV. I own the 25th Anniversary edition, which I had not yet watched. I know Blu-Rays often are criticized for the lack of extras, but I must specifically comment here on the PQ and AQ.

I absolutely love this film, for its storyline, characters and visual accomplishments achieved for its time period. I did not expect a quality transfer such as this one, when I popped the disc in. I purchased this at Target yesterday which had it at a price comparable to Amazon's, after tax, and with a temporary price reduction.

I use a 42" Panasonic Plasma, Onkyo 605 receiver, Panasonic BD30K Blu player and Paradigm Speakers, on this particular set up.

The picture is amazing! There are some areas where there is a bit of noise in the sky shots over "Cuesta Verde", the housing development. However, other than that, for a film that is 26 years old, the picture and sound are stunning. The colors really pop in this edition, and the sound during the paranormal phenomena is spectacular. Blacks and detail are very rich and the sound is thunderous when it should be, but even throughout the film, as it needs to be.

The Digi-Book packaging is a neat little perk, as it adds some history, production notes and intewresting little tidbits. Although these can be found on the net, as well, for the same price and even cheaper than some other Blu-Rays, the packaging adds an extra incremental value.

If you love this movie, the transfer is absolutely worth picking this up! If you just like it, give it a rent. I have 100's of HD DVD's and Blu-Rays, and this is one of the best transfers I've seen, of those films I have viewed. PQ: 4/5 AQ: 4/5. I am taking 1 point off, for the few instances of grain (sky, and one scene where there was a black line going up and down the picture in the film, not my tv), and the fact that the sound was not quite as powerful, as it could have been. Highly recommend! October 18, 2008

Poltergeist - Blu-ray Info

Version: U.S.A / Region A, B, C
Aspect ratio: 2.20:1
VC-1 BD-25 / Advanced Profile 3
Running time: 1:54:28
Disc size: 19,94 GB
Movie size: 22,11 GB
Average video bit rate: 16.67 Mbps

Dolby TrueHD Audio English 1138 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 16-bit / 1138kbps (AC3 Core: 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps)
Dolby Digital Audio English 640 kbps 5.1 / 48kHz / 640kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps
Dolby Digital Audio French 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps
Dolby Digital Audio German 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 2.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Italian 192 kbps 1.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Japanese 192 kbps 1.0 / 48kHz / 192kbps

Subtitles: English SDH / Chinese / Danish / Dutch / Finnish / French / German / Italian / Japanese / Korean / Norwegian / Portuguese / Spanish / Swedish

Number of chapters: 30

#Documentary: They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists Revealed - (SD - 31 minutes) October 8, 2008

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