Shameless rip off of 'Poltergeist'
Erecting a structure over a mass grave? Hmmmm.... Said structure becoming haunted by the ghosts of the buried? Ahhhhhhh.... Same exact plot of the Poltergeist films? BINGO!!! As a side note, the film blew.
peace.
The plot wasn't exactly the same, Poltergeist and La Chiesa are quite different movies. The church wasn't haunted by ghosts to begin with, the people in the church were possessed/turned into demons. There was no haunting going on in there really, the grounds over which it was built were just cursed. It's been awhile since i've seen it, but i don't think it was a mass grave the house in Poltergeist was built over either, it was a former grave yard if i remember correctly. Similar idea, but not exactly the same.
Also, Poltergeist didn't invent the idea of having a structure being built over a mass grave or indian burial ground or what not and being haunted, that idea was around long before Poltergeist. There were movies before it with that kinda plot and there are actual places built over former grave yards or whatever that are suppose to be haunted. Poltergeist was a great movie, but the idea it was based on wasn't totally an original one.
Anyways, you obviously don't like La Chiesa, so i don't know if you're ever gonna see it again. But if you do, then pay more attention and i think it'll be pretty obvious that it isn't some shameless rip off of Poltergeist.
"You cannot be serious!" -John McEnroe / RIP Eddie Guerrero
Not obvious at all my friend. I saw this film on Italian television, two years after it came out in theatres. After all the villagers are massacred and the village leper/priest says "we must build a church on this grave", it hit my young brain like a bolt of lightning. It was the same exact plot set up as the first poltergeist film, which would later be elaborated more in poltergeist 2. A bunch of dead people who would later exact their revenge upon the inhabitants of the structure built atop their graves. The set up was the same, and the results were identical. The differing locations and eras are meaningless, the idea was exactly the same. And yes, the film did suck. Italian acting, usually brilliant, tends to sour when it becomes exposed to their own horror films. Kind of like a once succulent grape being left out in the sun too long.
peace.
I still don't agree. Poltergeist and La Chiesa are 2 movies that used a similar idea, but otherwise are pretty much different.
If you are gonna call La Chiesa a rip off, then you'd have to call Poltergeist a rip off too. As you put it, "A bunch of dead people who would later exact their revenge upon the inhabitants of the structure built atop their graves."; the same kinda plot was used in movies before Poltergeist was released. And so it'd only be right for you to call that a rip off as well. LOL.
To me, La Chiesa didn't particulary rip off Poltergeist or any other movie with that similar idea, nor did Poltergeist rip any movie off. They both used a similar idea that had been used before and went different ways with it. There were many differences between Poltergeist and La Chiesa. Being similar, using a similar idea, or whatever, doesn't make something a rip off necessarily.
Anyways, i guess you're gonna see it your way and im gonna see it my way...
"You cannot be serious!" -John McEnroe / RIP Eddie Guerrero
Okay, okay. We can agree to disagree. I still think the producers of the film had "Poltergeist" in mind when they hatched the concept for "La Chiesa". They must have known that the premise would be very effective if executed effectively.
peace.
No offense, but it's pretty much like saying that nearly all vampire movies are ripping each other, all zombie movies too, ecc, ecc. Which is true, in a way, but all of it is built on beliefs, superstitions, traditions, popular stories and stuff of a kind to start with, so you should rather focus on HOW it's done instead of WHAT it talks about. And La Chiesa is done damn well.
sharewow if you think la chiesa is a rip off of poltergeist then you need to watch both films again. So what if they both revolve around something haunted above buried graves? The outcome and films are completely different! I mean really, did the OP post this just to post something?
shareSounds that way to me too. Should we list all the horror flicks with common "grounds", it would turn out none of them is original save for the first two or three.
sharePREMUTOS16 = NOBEND
IS THAT AN INSULT ,, ARE YOU INSULTING ME. Darrell--- U TURN