Poltergeist (Extended Cut) - Blu-ray

Movie: After losing his job, Eric Bowen (Sam Rockwell) must move with his wife Amy (Rosemarie DeWitt) and their three children to a small suburban settlement. Here, the family is looking to start a new life that they hope will quickly put them back on the road to success. The fact that their anxious son Griffin (Kyle Catlett) is convinced that things aren't right in the house and that his little sister Madison (Kennedi Clements) talks to lost people doesn't initially occur to the parents, who are worried about their future. It's not until the creepy tree outside the house pulls Griffin out of his bed and Madison disappears into the closet that it's clear: this house is haunted! With the help of Dr. Brooke Powell (Jane Adams) and her team, the Bowens set out to find out who is haunting their house and where Madison has disappeared to. But what Dr. Powell finds out quickly makes it clear: a professional will have to get to work here to get Madsion back. And only celebrity ghost hunter Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris) can do it.

Poltergeist by Tobe Hooper (or, if rumors are to be believed, actually by Steven Spielberg, who is said to have also served as producer and screenwriter on several occasions) is undoubtedly one of the cult classics of the '80s. The film perfectly manages to draw a typical American family idyll, over which suddenly the total horror breaks. Sympathetically drawn characters and very well done practical effects actually make the film timelessly good. Still, it's not sacrilege in principle to retell the story again for younger audiences who may not be familiar with the original. With a genre maven like Sam Raimi (Dance of the Devils) as producer and director Gil Kenan, who captured much of the spirit of Spielberg's beloved '80s films with the animated Monster House, the omens for a successful remake were not bad.

However, when compared directly to the original, 2015's Poltergeist is a disappointment. That's not so much because of the actors, who actually do their thing very well. Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt in particular have a very believable chemistry, not unlike Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams from the original. But even the family situation significantly weakens the appearance of evil. The Bowens, unlike the Freelings in the '80s, are just not a happy family for whom their house is a very special status symbol. The Bowens don't want to live here because it symbolizes their social decline. The dynamic that ensues then makes the viewer sympathize with them less later than they did in the earlier version.

The special effects may be technically far superior to those from the 80s. But they seem strangely undercooked and ineffective. The same goes for the completely uninspired score, which really only serves to tell the audience when to be scared or creeped out. It doesn't compare to the wonderful score by Jerry Goldsmith, who perfectly captured the deceptive idyll of the suburban settlement right from the opening and closing tunes.

However, if one detaches oneself completely from this comparison, which may be difficult for connoisseurs of the original, the new Poltergeist offers thoroughly solid genre entertainment. Gil Kenan has a good knack for building an effective atmosphere through which something like suspense can actually emerge. Even though the screenplay is rather weak and exhausts the clichés of the subject much more than the original, it is Kenan's tight staging and the solid acting of the cast that lift this ghost story out of mediocrity. Therefore, if you're unfamiliar with the 1982 version and just want to see conventional but perfectly solid scary fare, you can grab this one without worry. Worth seeing!

Image + Sound: The technical realization of the film has turned out very atmospheric. Even if there are some minimal weaknesses in the darker scenes to discover in the detail representation, the color scheme and the harmonious contrast mix capture the gloomy-tense mood of the story yet very good. The purposefully used sound effects further underline this impression. They repeatedly provide pleasant dynamics on the surround channels in an overall very atmospheric sound mix. The bottom line is an absolutely deserved: Good!

Extras: As a bonus, the Blu-ray has to offer in addition to the extended cut only a minimal alternative ending (about 1:46 min.), the trailer and a picture gallery. Surely more could have been done!

Conclusion: The 2015 version of Poltergeist is rather disappointing as a remake of the 80s classic. On its own terms, however, the film works quite well as a conventional ghost horror. The production is atmospheric and has some decent moments of suspense to offer. And especially Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt deliver really good performances. So if you just want to get a little creepy in an unspectacular way, you can safely grab this one. The Blu-ray presents the film in a dramaturgically more mature extended cut, which, like the theatrical version, is also available in appealing picture and sound quality. The bonus material, on the other hand, is extremely disappointing for a current theatrical production. Overall, however, for genre fans who don't know the original, this is still quite enough for a: recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp