The third one down is the US advance poster and I have no idea what it says- this was the best copy I could find.
I have such a warm spot in my heart for Poltergeist. I saw it at the drive-in with my parents when it came out and it blew me away. The scene where the dude rips off his own face and plops the pieces in the sink grossed me out so bad I made my mom take me to the concession stand for fear I was gonna barf. Poltergeist really fucked with my head!
True story, I went to school with the girl who replaced Heather O'Rourke in the last poster.
ReplyDeleteI wish she was a better friend, though...
BIG agree about where the dude rips his face off. Likewise with the maggots-on-the-chicken-leg bit. Oofa.
ReplyDeleteMy theory for how POLTERGEIST III was pitched: "like DIE HARD, but with ghosts!"
From the "not that you asked" file.
ReplyDeleteThe German one says, "Stephen Spielberg's CInematic Nightmare," "It knows what terrifies you," and "it's here."
The Turkish one's a little more interesting. The title of the movie is Evil Spirit and the tag line reads something like "Don't let our children be a victim of the TV," or "Don't sacrifice our children to the TV."
You're on your own for the 日本語. : )
I saw Poltergeist at the drive-in with my parents too. That whole scene with the chicken, the steak, & the guys face was so fucked up! That shit freaked me out when I was a kid!
ReplyDeleteI saw Poltergeist in the theater when I was a kid. That damned tree freaked me out more than anything else. I had a similar tree just outside my bedroom window. I kept waiting for it to invite itself in for a snack.
ReplyDeleteI saw the film again recently at the Aero in Santa Monica. It still holds up after 26 years and it was awesome to see Zelda Rubenstein as a guest speaker. She was very vocal about who really directed the film, and it wasn't Tobe Hooper.
BTW: Here's what the third poster down says:
'Steven Spielberg has been called the American screen's master story-teller. From the thrashing terror of "Jaws" to the awesome spectacle of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" to the globe-trotting adventures of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," he has delighted, mystified and scared more audiences...more imaginatively...than any filmmaker of our time.
As producer and co-author of "Poltergeist," Spielberg is joined by co-producer Frank Marshall, with whom he made "Raiders of the Lost Ark," co-authors Michael Grais and Mark Victor, director Tobe Hooper, and the special effects wizardry of Oscar winner Richard Edlund ("Star Wars") and Industrial Light and Magic.
In "Poltergeist," they cross a frightening new threshold, encountering forces which baffle science, defy reason...and turn the once peaceful lives of a normal American family into an existence that must be experienced to be believed.'
I was having a conversation with my brain the other day - which happens all the time - and we were talking about the scene where JoBeth Williams is laying in bed in that giant football jersey after the lying munchkin says "this house is clean" and is suddenly pseudo-raped by the ghosts in the house - where they drag her onto the ceiling and keep yanking her jersey up and exposing her mom-panties - and just how extremely fucked up it is. As disturbing as the maggoty-chicken-leg and the face-ripping and the boy-eating-tree and the clown (shudder... the clown!) is, this nice little ghost movie tries to rape Mom! Fucked up.
ReplyDeleteShe was very vocal about who really directed the film, and it wasn't Tobe Hooper.
ReplyDeleteAll that means is that Spielberg directed the scenes with her. How much screen time did she appear in? Not very much.
JoBeth Williams was HOT.
ReplyDeleteThe second to last Poltergeist 2 poster rules hard. Tons of negative space = scary.
ReplyDeleteCraig T Nelson puking up a giant tequila worm in Poltergeist 2 = good stuff.
ReplyDeleteSure...the rest of the movie sucked ass but that scene made it all worthwhile.
concerning Arbogast and rd's post: arbogast, that's not necessairly "all that means". she didn't say that spielberg directed the scenes she was in, she said he directed the film, which is pretty much common knowledge by now. Poltergeist looks like a steven spielberg movie, and not anything like a movie hooper has ever touched. Everyone has their own spin on it, and I admit that I wasn't there to see who did what, but it makes sense when you watch the movie and it's obvious who directed the thing. It's like comparing close encounters of the 3rd kind to texas chainsaw massacre part 2 - completely different styles.
ReplyDeleteshe didn't say that spielberg directed the scenes she was in, she said he directed the film, which is pretty much common knowledge by now
ReplyDeleteI never trust common knowledge. But knock yourself out.
5th poster down (Japanese poster):
ReplyDeleteSuper charged-scary rainbow-fun time-OHHHH!!!
I find Poltergeist III scary. There, I said it. plus it has the great line "your knight in shining acne."
What was the deal with the Poltergeist: The Legacy TV series? I couldn't get into that show on any level.
It scared me shitless when I first saw it in high school (how embarrassing). I was a BIG fraidy-cat, but surrounded by my peers I couldn't look away or hide behind my hands. That day we were watching it to kill time while the busses came to take us home early, before Hurricane Gloria hit us. And my boyfriend had given me a note telling me he wanted to break up with me. It was 'him' not 'me'. So yeah, big emotional memory there.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone mentioned the Spielberg-takiung-over-directing controversy. To me, the T. Hooper drop point is after Mom shows Dad that Carol Anne sliding across the floor. After that, it's ALL Spielberg with all the intrusive John Williams music cues in case we don't know how to feel about what we've just seen.
i heart poltergeist! the top poster was used as the ad in uk newspapers, and i became obsessed with seeing it.
ReplyDeletethe sequence with the playback of the stairs ghosts is one of my favourite movie scenes ever.
i think that maggoty meat bit might have turned me vegetarian.
For those of you who live in southern CA, you can see the actual house used in the first Poltergeist film located at 4267 Roxbury St in Simi Valley. It's very cool too see in person, but remember it is a private residence so don't bug the owners!
ReplyDeleteOkay, how many of you would actually want to live in that house? Would you totally want to live in that house, or never ever want to live in that house? I am in the second camp.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a cool house...sign me up, as long as the interior shots were all actually shot in the house. :)
ReplyDeleteoi´épa eu é que não dormia contigo!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, I love this
ReplyDelete