Brilliantly scored by Jerry Goldsmith and backed by a script – credited to Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais and Mark Victor – that features an identifiable, likable family at its core, POLTERGEIST (114 mins., 1982, PG; Warner) has lost little of its appeal since its original 1982 release. This first of producer Spielberg’s consecutive Summer of ’82 box-office smashes (“E.T.” naturally being the other) has also, finally, been thoroughly remastered for both 4K UHD and Blu-Ray, debuting a fresh new transfer that comes highly recommended for owners of either format.

This Spielberg-produced, Tobe Hooper “directed” tale of a suburban family (father Craig T. Nelson, mom JoBeth Williams, and kids Heather O’Rourke, Oliver Robbins and Dominique Dunne) haunted by spirits in their California home has its share of “shock” moments, but also an effective depiction of an otherworldly “other side” that few supernatural films have so successfully evoked – even with all the technical advancements that have occurred in genre films since its original release. The story, a variant on the old “Twilight Zone” episode “Little Girl Lost,” has moments of humor and warmth interspersed at various points, as well as suspense and “roller coaster” like thrills provided by superb ILM special effects and a pace that never flags throughout its 114-minute running time. At its core, though, are the natural performances of Nelson, Williams, and the young cast members, who come off as real people that make you care about their plight throughout – and Goldsmith’s scoring, which is menacing, lyrical, evocative and thrilling in equal measure.


While understandably not the all-time smash success of “E.T.,” “Poltergeist” became a big hit in a crowded, competitive summer marketplace and ultimately one of the Top 10 films of 1982. For a movie that popular, it’s striking “Poltergeist” has only received a scant amount of home video releases – most without supplemental content of any kind. This included a weak DVD release (its only format appearance) in 1998, then a merely serviceable 2008 Blu-Ray which viewers have had to put up with for too long.

All of this is perhaps unsurprising — the issue over the creative involvement of writer-producer Spielberg and the debated contributions of Hooper were hotly contested even prior to the film’s theatrical release in June of 1982 (remember this 2007 interview with Zelda “Tangina” Rubinstein, who implies that Tobe Hooper was basically under the influence and states that Spielberg handled directing chores on all six days of her shooting?).

Considering Warner’s outstanding track record with special editions, you’d have to assume that long-standing “controversy” between Spielberg and Hooper was undoubtedly the reason for the film’s mere handful of home video releases sporting uniformly meager supplemental content. And it’s a shame, because “Poltergeist” – still a perfect mix of thrills, chills, humor, and appealing characters some 40 years after its debut – has long deserved more.

This week, thankfully, Warner Home Video has done exactly that. A spectacular – and I mean outstanding – 4K remaster (2.39) debuts on both UHD (with HDR10) and Blu-Ray (a new 1080p presentation of this 4K master, housed within the combo pack) September 22nd, and it delivers big time. Especially when compared to the 2008 Blu-Ray, which aged less gracefully with each passing year, the UHD presentation offers everything you could hope for: clear, crisp detail, a better balanced mix of colors, and none of the noise that popped up on that early format Blu-Ray (VC-1) encode. On the audio side, the 5.1 DTS MA track is the best option, offering a terrific sound stage in line with the previous Dolby TrueHD Blu-Ray mix (both, I assume, derived from the original 70mm 6-track Dolby Stereo screenings). Warner did include a 2.0 DTS MA track here but it’s hampered by elements that occasionally sound muffled or distorted in terms of dialogue levels and occasionally even Goldsmith’s score.

Expectedly, Warner didn’t produce new extras, but did include the extras from the Blu-Ray (a half hour of disposable “paranormal expert” interviews) and one trailer (not the one where “leading researchers” detail what a Poltergeist is). The best news, at least, is that the original 1982 MGM “Making of Poltergeist” is included here for the first time in a home video release since the late-format CAV edition MGM/UA put out on laserdisc in the mid ’90s. This segment notably shows Spielberg instructing actors and establishing camera angles while credited director Hooper stands by, silently, on the sidelines – adding fuel to the endless fan debate about who really directed the picture.

Regardless of who did what, “Poltergeist” remains a classic of its kind, and now can be seen in a presentation worthy of its abundant entertainment.

Monterey Jack wrote: ↑Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:22 pm WARNER EXEC: Yeah, I know it has a classic, Oscar-nominated Jerry Goldsmith score and all, but do we need that while advertising the 4K release...?

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