POLTERGEIST 1-3 1982-1987

POLTERGEIST
POLTERGEIST II
POLTERGEIST III

1982-1987

It took me over 20 years until I had my first viewing of "Poltergeist", mainly because when it first came out in 1982 I heard it was one of the scariest movie since "The Exorcist". being a coward I avoided that movie until now. I was surprised that it turned out to be one of the funniest movies I've ever seen!



I should've known better to expect a scary movie from Steven Speilberg, the king of special effects. "Poltergeist" was filled with cheesy 80's effects, it looked stupid then and it looks even more stupid now almost 30 years later. The movie starts with a charming soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith leading us through a very suburban subdivision in California, a group of suburban men watching football on a giant 80's counsel TV. What else really dates this movie was the snow in the TV set once the programming is off the air, would you believe there was a time TV programming actually ends at the end of the day?



The entire "Poltergeist" series circled around little Carol Anne Freeling who was sucked into the family television set from then on she formed a link between the Freeling family and the dead from beyond. In all 3 movies only the powers of Tagina (Zelda Rubinstein) Barron, a munchkin with psychic powers to rescue Carol Anne and her family.

The first movie takes place in a new suburban development in California; the second movie the spirits followed the Freeling family to grandma's home, then all the way to Chicago when Carol Anne went to live with her aunt and step uncle in the John Hancock tower.

By "Poltergeist III" the audience are no longer spooked by the evil spirits, I'm sure they are there for the entertaining effects and more for the laughs. In all three movies there were moments of scary images and roller coaster thrills, I have to admit Reverend Kane (Julian Beck) the villain looked pretty scary when he first shows up on screen in "Poltergeist II" but the scariest part of the series was the Freeling's missing daughter, no not Carol Anne, but Dana Freeling. You see although Carol Anne was sucked into hell by the spirits, her sister Dana, who was very much alive in the original "Poltergeist"; she did was the only family member missing from the cast in the second film, there was no mention or reference of her, as if she never existed! Not even the mighty midget Tangina noticed her absence; now that's SCARY!

BLACK CHRISTMAS 1974

BLACK CHRISTMAS 1974

Twas the middle of the Holiday Season when I stumbled across this little slasher gem on TCM. When I first saw the title "Black Christmas" dated 1974; I was like "Oooh Blaxpoitation!" I was expecting some Black Santa Claus fighting them honkies. But I was treated to a low budget Canadian slasher film, starring Lois (Margo Kidder) Lane and Andrea (SCTV) Martin and John (TV Movie of the week) Saxon.



This was simple very dated story of a sorority house filled with horny, drunk, young college girls and an alcoholic house mother. The girls are on Christmas break, partying and getting high, but when a series of obscene phone calls kept coming in on their rotary phone, the party's over. After all it was 1974, 30 years before caller ID, the idea of getting obscene calls was actually terrifying. The girls and the audience are tormented each time the phone rings, who could it be? the obscene caller or one of their boyfriends? Mom or Dad calling?





Oh wouldn't it be great if there is an invention when you can see the phone number of the incoming call....!!! Because if there had been such a device then it would have taken the police so long to find out the phone calls were actually coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE!!



I felt the same kind of dark spooky feeling from another horror/slasher flicks; "Sweet Alice", "Wicked Wicked" and a little bit of "The Exorcist" . Maybe because all of these films had that winter in the early 70's look, dark, brown and depressing.

There's a lot of foul language, soft pornographic images and silly behavior. The violence is mild compared to today's standards, it's almost campy. The best character of the film was Mrs. 'Mac'Henry the alcoholic house mother played Mariam Haldman. At first I thought she was Shelly Winters, we follow Mrs. MacHenry throughout the sorority house to her secret places where she hides her liquor; the bookcase, septic tank etc...