It Knows What Scares You

Sorry, D

I know that I've written about Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist several times. And there's a very good reason for that: it's a true modern genre classic. And I'll get to the why's and wherefores in just a minute.

First, I would like to note that Poltergeist serves as one of four movies with which I can always win a bar bet. I've seen this film so many times, you can play any scene without dialogue and I can tell you exactly what's happening on screen just by listening to the score. The other movies I can do this with are Raiders of the Lost Ark; Psycho and the original version of King Kong. I know my sister can also do this with Poltergeist; probably with Raiders... and maybe with Kong. But that's beside the point...

The Freelings are a typical suburban family of the early 1980's. Father Steven (Craig T. Nelson) is a successful realtor in Cuesta Verde, the planned California community in which they reside. Mom Diane (Jobeth Williams) is young and hip, while rebellious teenaged daughter Dana (Dominique Dunne) and her younger siblings Robbie (Oliver Robins) and Carol Anne (Heather O'Roarke) are typical kids. They all live typically messy suburban lives. A construction team installing their in-ground pool has the backyard in a tizzy, while the death of the family canary Tweety has Carol Anne wanting a canary funeral and Robby wanting to dig Tweety up after it rots.* One night, while Steven and Diane fall asleep in front of the TV, Carol Anne comes in to watch the post Anthem buzz (this was before the days of 24 hour cable) and begins talking to the "TV people." Soon, furniture in the kitchen begins to rearrange itself and Carol Anne can slide across the kitchen floor without being pushed. These seemingly harmless events soon escalate and Carol Anne is eventually captured by the "TV People" during a thunderstorm, her voice crying out from the TV for help. 

At their wits' end, the Freelings call in a team of parapsychologists, led by Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight) who brings her assistants Ryan (Richard Lawson) and Marty (Martin Casella). After a particularly awful night in the house in which Marty sees himself tearing off his own face, Dr. Lesh calls in diminutive psychic Tangina (Zelda Rubenstein), who sends Steven on a journey through the Other Side to rescue Carol Anne from the 'Beast' which holds her captive. Tangina declares the house 'clean,' though the horror isn't over. It is eventually discovered (after Diane spends some horrifying moments among the corpses in her unfinished pool) that Steven's boss, developer Teague (James Karen) has built Cuesta Verde on an old cemetery where he moved the headstones, but left the bodies. The Freeling's house is eventually consumed by a psychic black hole.

Tobe Hooper, best known as the writer and director of the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, had his undisputed best success with Poltergeist, though there are those who would argue that producer Steven Spielberg actually directed the movie. There are 'Speilbergian' touches all over the place, including his trademark close-ups and reaction shots. Of course, the performances of the (mostly) then unknown cast that make Poltergeist so good. Nelson and Williams are just terrific as the suburbanites who find themselves up against forces beyond their comprehension, while the accomplished Straight (Network) lends gravitas to the role of the bewildered parapsychologist (and I must admit to using part of her performance to inform my own performance in a college production of Equus). Add loads of foreshadowing in the brilliant script from Spielberg, Michael Grais and Mark Victor; a creepy clown doll; a terrifying tree; a ceiling crawl and amazing effects from Jeff Jarvis, Jose Abel and company, and you have the iconic ghost movie of all time. Oh, and then there's Jerry Goldsmith's aforementioned score. Genius doesn't even begin to cover how brilliantly Goldsmith was able to musically convey what's happening on screen. Can you say "Perfect Movie?"

Sadly, increasingly inferior sequels and the unfortunate deaths of several actors involved in the film and it's sequels (including young Heather O'Roarke's untimely death from an intestinal blockage and the murder of Dominique Dunne at the hands of an unstable ex) have led to a bizarre, cultish following to what should be considered one of the 80's best horror films.

Unfortunately, a completely unnecessary remake has been announced, though I (for one) am hoping the project never comes to fruition. Poltergeist remains one of the few ghost movies that scares, entertains and fascinates all at the same time. Any remake would have to prove exceptionally extraordinary to be worth seeing. Personally, I don't see that happening.

More, anon.

Prospero

Shocktober Director of the Day: Tobe Hooper

In 1974, former college professor and budding filmmaker Tobe Hooper directed and co-wrote a low budget horror movie that took audiences by storm, terrifying millions without showing any actual on-screen violence. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre introduced audiences to Leatherface, the first seminal horror villain since Norman Bates. Of course, the two characters share more than instant recognition - they were both based on real-life maniac Ed Gein. Relying on sound effects and the audience's imagination, TCM was an underground hit and audiences swore they saw way more than Hooper ever actually filmed. TCM tells the story of a group of teenagers on their way to visit their grandfather's grave who pick up a rather hysterical hitchhiker and end up in the clutches of a family of cannibals. Hooper's $83,000 film has so-far grossed over $30M and has been since remade with more gore and less critical acclaim.

Hooper's next movie, 1977's Eaten Alive, about a psychotic Louisiana hotelier who has a penchant for feeding his guests to his pet alligator was not quite as successful, but still has an off-kilter sense of the bizarre which makes for an interesting, if not quite as scary, ride:

In 1979, Hooper got a big break with the TV adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot, about vampires invading small town America. Horribly miscast and employing 50 year-old visuals, Salem's Lot ultimately fails (as do most King adaptations) due to it's silliness factor. While King may terrify on the page, his works don't always lend themselves to the screen, and that's very obvious in Hooper's ambitious but un-scary version:

Hooper made another silly monster movie in 1981, The Funhouse in which a deformed circus freak terrorizes a group of teens who are dared into spending the night in a carnival dark ride. Depressing and poorly acted, The Funhouse is probably one of Hooper's worst films. It would be followed the next year by one of his best -- and certainly his most successful film, 1982's Poltergeist, a movie Uncle P and his sister can quote almost line for line and which Uncle P can tell you exactly what's happening just by listening to it's soundtrack. Stephen Spielberg served as producer and his influence can be seen in shot after shot, but the tension and terror are pure Hooper:

Hooper then made the under-appreciated "Vampires from Space" zombie movie Lifeforce and an ironic remake of the 1950's Sci-Fi thriller Invaders from Mars, before making hat I think is his best and most terrifying film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. A sequel that's better than the original, TCM2 is one of maybe three films that made Uncle P feel like he was a part of someone else's nightmare. Set mostly in the underground tunnels of an abandoned amusement park, TCM2 features more disturbing performances and images than anything in recent horror history. It it also one of the few films I cannot bring myself to see a second time:

Since then, Hooper has made a string of rather unremarkable films, including Spontaneous Combustion; The Mangler (another lame King adaptation); the poor "X-Files" clone "Dark Skies" and The Toolbox Murders, a film which many horror fans love, but I find to be rather derivative and beneath his best works. I do, however, have high hopes for Tobe's upcoming adaptation of King's From a Buick 8, a novel that figures among King's alternate universe stories found in "The Talisman" and "The Gunslinger."

Hooper's prolific career as a director has certainly had its ups and downs, but he will always be remembered for at least two of the genre's best films. And that's why he's included in this Shocktober's list of Best Horror Directors.

More, anon.

Prospero