Loved the original and it's sequel (well just the 2ND), why remake it? And why remake it badly??
shareI was 14 back in 1983 when the original hit cable tv... I watched the hell out of it (pretty much every time it aired - still do!) ... I remember how excited I was when the first "talk" came up of them re-making one of my beloved favorite movies... And the utter disappointment seeing the "finished product"......
shareutter disappointment
The original Poltergeist is one of my favorite films of all time, which is why I have a huge beef with this completely craptastic remake. I haven't seen it mentioned on these boards here, which really surprises me, but they left out the most crucial element of the story, which is "The Beast."
In the original, the girl is taken by The Beast so that it can use her life force to lure the lost souls away from the Light. Not only does that make sense, it's a brilliantly original story and very scary. In this version, there is no Beast. The young girl is taken by a bunch of angry ghosts so that she can lead them to the Light, but that makes absolutely no sense at all. How can a young child that knows nothing about the Light lead them there? If they know about the light and can see it from where they are, why don't they just go there themselves?
I see a lot of people trashing this movie for the acting, the CGI, the lackluster music, the dialog, the pacing, etc and those are all valid complaints but to me the biggest flaw is changing the core story like this. The story makes NO sense without The Beast! It's like remaking Jaws without the shark!
How can they miss the entire point of the original like that?
@kevy_nova: Yes yes yes!
"to her it simply is another child, to us it is...THE BEAST"
That line is one of the most chilling in movie history (IMO)
I nearly soiled myself when Tangina said this!
The inclusion of 'the devil' made the film all the more terrifying. To leave that hugely vital element out of the remake is incomprehensible!
Do the P-I-G-E-O-N
Totally agree. “It says things only a child can understand....” Creepy.
shareIt's like remaking Jaws without the shark!
youre wrong-Jaws was a huge hit because of the shark. There was a giant croc movie and it made about 5% of what Jaws made
shareIsn't that like saying that a book like Moby Dick is a classic because of the whale?
shareThere are many "crocodile/alligator" films... but the best I've seen is "Alligator" from the 1980 and "Rogue" from 2007.
shareWatched it earlier this week finally . . . Total garbage!!!
shareIt is quite remarkably bad, I nearly didn't bother even finishing it.
To take something as sublime as the original and churning something like this out 34 years later with the same name is somewhat criminal.
Just make a new film and call it something else.
Box office mojo says $35m budget $47m box office.
Have to hope they made a loss overall to deter them doing anything similar again.
But it probably won't.
I haven't seen the original in ages, but I loved this remake.
shareYou really need to go back and refresh your memory by watching the original again. Albeit it was a movie of the eighties and somewhat a little cheesy by today's standards, at least it had heart and character development. We actually cared about the family and they cared about each other.
There was zero emotion in this movie and I suspect that the remake was about someone's desire to be able to use updated technology in the making of the 'evil' aspects. But it was neither scary nor engaging, so they failed on every front.
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i disagree. i like this movie a lot. because the special effects were a lot better and showed more things that really looked spookier. i gave this movie a 9 when i voted on main page under the title. i thought the little girl would have blond hair. and the end of the movie that was funny when the realtor lady was talking about the tree in the backyard. she didn't know she was by herself and walked to the front window when she saw the family driving off quickly.
shareraise the bar or we'll keep getting *beep* movies like this
you thought the little girl would have blonde hair?
my god youre really dumb
This was one of the worst horror remakes I've ever seen. Absolutely dreadful, a disgrace to the original. Not even Sam Rockwell could save this horribly made, dull, uninspired turd.
🐺 Boycott movies that involve real animal violence (& their directors) 🐾
Worst remakes u guys are on crack
shareFinally got the chance to see this. I knew there'd be a lot of complaints since people always get angry about remakes. I've always found them interesting though. Seeing a different take or an update.
Anyway I thought it was ok. I agree the parents were too relaxed and some of the acting wasn't very good. Also it was kinda short. Would have benefited from a little more build up.
Some things I liked were getting to see the ghost dimension (whatever you wanna call it). Using the RC drone was a pretty cool idea. Also that they immediately tried leaving after rescuing the girl.
In the original it always bothered me (and I've seen others say it) that they stayed another day/night just because the old lady pronounced it "clean". Any realistic person would have left right away. So it was nice to see they re-worker that element by having the car get sucked back in.
Quickly getting back to the parents being too relaxed. In the original they knew something was wrong before Carol Anne was taken when the chair stacking thing happened and could move across the floor. Yet they too were pretty relaxed. They thought it was cool.
I haven't seen the original in a long time so there's probably other things to compare.
Your right to an opinion does not equal an opinion that is right
Indeed, showing the ghost dimension was the only good thing about this movie, but I have to disagree, to an extent, about the parents being too relaxed. I liked the direction the original went when it showed the parents being curious and excited about the paranormal happenings, it served to state that it was just a standard american family without any prior knowing of these phenomenons, outside the cliched movies appearing regularly on 80's media. What bothers me is that today, every character in a horror movie is protraited as some kind of ocult theorist with deep understanding of its whereabouts.
Back to the remake, it was just a standard below average remake attempt, with minor good ideas threw in, and what really bothers me is how unscary the whole experience is. After all these years, I still think the original is far from a terrifying movie (more in tone as a "cool horror movie" than anything else) but it had some great memorable scares, like the melting face in the mirror and the corpses raising from the ground in the end. This remake just had two good things: The ghost dimension and the picking of a child actress that resembles so much Heather O'Rourke.
I knew there'd be a lot of complaints since people always get angry about remakes.I don't get angry at remakes, I get angry at bad remakes. Nothing against the good ones.