Poltergeist the CGImake
I'm going to try my best to review this film as a lone movie with no notions of the original and then I shall make contrasts and comparisons. Here we have a film produced by Ghosthouse Pictures, the production company of Sam Raimi of Evil Dead fame. With most Ghosthouse productions we ironically get the less is more technique building up the horror through descriptions from other characters for a final scare where we see the monster or ghost at the end of the movie. The irony coming from the fact that Raimi himself likes to throw everything at the audience including the kitchen sink. In the directors chair we have the man who gave us the family friendly Monster House, Gil Kenan. On writing duty we have, from a previous Raimi film Oz Great and Powerful, David Lindsay-Abaire. Relatively new players in the game with some decent credits in genre film backed by the man who last produced the Evil Dead remake to great success, but how did the final product come out?
We are quickly introduced to the Bowen family who decide to move into a nice new home on the cheap. The reason for the move being that both parents, Eric (Sam Rockwall) and Amy (Rosemarie Dewitt) have both recently lost their jobs and will take whatever they can get on the cheap to support their family of three kids. Their youngest daughter Maddie, played wonderfully by Kennedi Clements, begins to experience strange happenings of the paranormal kind. As the film progresses the events become more and more violent for everyone of the kids until Maddie is abducted into the spirit world.
We pretty much get this from the trailers and your thinking okay a basic set up, now how do they get help? In the most convenient way possible Amy's old college had a paranormal studies department that they decide to go to for help. Dr. Brooks, stage actor Jane Adams, comes to the house with two students to document the problem and see if she can save Maddie.
At this point the film is very cut and dry giving us some fun dialogue from some of the characters followed by very odd choices in action that don't really lead to anything. The arc of how poor the family is never really goes anywhere other than in Eric's shame he goes out and buys expensive things used later in the movie. He also seems to have an alcohol problem that never really goes anywhere other than for a quick scare. One of the scenes felt like a jab at the true story of the Amityville horror as one of the college students asks the son if the whole thing is an elaborate hoax to get publicity. The scene makes sense to be in the movie but is not played out very well for those involved in it.
The film moves rather quickly without much character development or time to fully appreciate the scares presented to the audience with the exception of maybe two scenes where the suspense is built. We are shown the spirit world which is an amazing concept but is underwhelming as it is seen through the eyes of a drone camera with utterly terrible CGI that looks like a bad video game cinematic. Then it's pretty much over with a bunch of flashing lights and a bad joke.
As it's own movie it can barely stand. Compared to the classic, it should be shot behind a shed. In the original we are introduced to a loving family that we come to care for as they discover something amazing in the house and are then horrified to see that amazing thing turn on them. The family in the remake is pretty bland other than Sam Rockwall cracking jokes and Kennedi channeling Carol Anne in look and acting. These people are thrown right into the mess and half the awesome stuff like the clown and the tree and bodies coming from the underground pop up really quick in the beginning for like a second and are never seen again. The clown! Trademark of the original and on every advertisement and poster out there right now, will be missed if you blink. I'll give them this, the clown has been done pretty well in it's movements and look here but the whole point of the original was that he was a nice looking toy gone evil and in this version he looks like Annabelle. Granted the thing is stuffed in an attic for god only knows how long but it's just random as hell.
With replacements we have lost Zelda but have gained Jarred Harris. His character is introduced as a reality show ghost Hunter by the name of Carrigan Burke with the hashtag #thishouseiscleansed. Modernize? Throw in hashtags. He is called in by Dr. Brooks, apparently his ex wife, to save Maddie. The whole ex wife thing seems to be there to make us care about his "sacrifice" near the end more but really does nothing. He is not as mystical and wise as Tangina and gives no comfort to any of the family like she did. His saving grace is his charm and his stories about how "cleansing" other houses has mutilated his body so much. He is a semi cool character but just wasn't given enough time for us to truly care. Tangina probably had less screen time but was still more interesting.
Honestly this is a hard film for me to talk about because I was so disappointed with it. There are no real memorable parts and most of the actors seem to be phoning it in. Most of the key scenes from the original are here but to a far lesser effect due pacing problems and overtly terrible CGI FX. The most original thing is the entry into the spirit world but is filmed so terribly you lose interest. It's barely worth the watch as I'll take my giant ghost puppets from the original over this any day. If you truly want a good Poltergeist remake go watch the insidious movies as they are more in tune with what this remake should be. I can't help but think that this is not a finished product of what the creative team set out to do as there is so much to this movie left unsaid. Not to mention every character had changed from the original in name. The clown is found hidden in the attic. With the way Evil Dead was remade it makes me wonder if this was indeed supposed to be a sequel/remake set in the same universe just like Raimi did with Evil Dead. However it's not what ifs but what is and what it is just isn't as fun. Two decent jump scares out of five.
