Poltergeist

People look for work, and this movie is here for them

A down-on-their-luck family moves into an old house to subsidize their current living situation. The father who is recently out of work, and mother who has made her living staying at home and writing, must deal with their children who are not happy about all of the recent changes. Unfortunately, this old house has angry spirits dwelling within it, and they might take more than the family's finances before the night ends.

A brief history on the "Poltergeist" movie franchise before I get into the actual review (or more accurately a curse... fitting right?). If you are a fan of this series like I am, you will have undoubtedly heard of the curse that surrounds the "Poltergeist" movies. Two unexpected deaths happened while one of the movies were in production, one happened to the child actress that brought life to the phrase "They're here!," the other was the big sister in the first film. Two more deaths happened to actors that played in this series but they were foreseeable. Ever since than this movie has lived in Hollywood as a small omen to avoid, whether people actually believe in this stuff or take other's advise is completely subjective. I guess we will all have to wait on the news to see if the attached cast of this remake is getting haunted.

Anyway, now that I have set the tone let's get into it.

As stated in the above history/curse lesson, I am a big fan of the first film, and I watched the others. The first film scared the hell out of me. The first film through out the rule book for scary movies and just did what they wanted. The first film gave the family a false since of security, then flipped the switch and terrified them. The family knew strange events were happening in the first film, and proceeded to have fun with their haunting. The first film was great, but what of this? Honestly, it is still scary, but not nearly as scary as the original. It is damn hard in this business to do away with preconceived notions when making a remake, but this made a fair enough effort. A big thing that holds this movie back is recycled characters. I know we are making a remake movie, but it doesn't hurt to try and play around with characters that could have popped off the page. We've seen the little boy that doesn't get listened to, and it comes back to bite the family in the ass. We've seen the over privileged, foul-mouthed, teenage daughter. Fortunately, their are two characters that kind of save this movie. I love the father's arc of recent unemployment and feeling like a failure to his family. I love the overly caring, but not caring enough mother.  The youngest daughter is the same as she was in the first movie, and that is kind of integral to the story, so they get a pass on that. The story itself was filled with a lot of cliches, but still managed to scare me, and in the end that is the only thing that truly matters,

Gil Kenan is not known in the directing world at large. He has a small body of work, that only contains this movie, "Moster House," and "City of Ember." I hope this movie sets him up to make more horror films, because this was shot exquisitely. I think the way this movie was shot gives credence to why this film was so scary in the first place. He let your mind do the work, and build the tension. You might have known what was going to happen to a character, but your mind asks "what if it didn't? What if the thing under the bed is actually the thing in the closest? And what if it was a lot bigger than I remember? And what if it kills the boy? Is it going to kill the boy? Please don't let it kill anyone?" It doesn't quite get your brain to that level )I mean, it wasn't the scariest movie in my life), but it gets your mind in that area of thinking. The sound haunts every shot, and makes you want to be scared. The camera angles lead to tension. Every bit of this movie bled horror onto the screen, Thus I was frightened.

The thing that drags this movie down. The thing that is even worse than recycled characters. The thing that annoyed me about this movie the most. The acting. Wow. Just WOW, is the only thing that comes to mind when the cast at large is phoning in these performances so hard you would think they were someone's lifeline on a game show. Sam Rockwell paints us a pretty picture of what it is like to be looking for work, since he seems so damn disinterested in the work he is doing now. He may have been perfect for the role, if he was trying to show us a realistic take on how his character got fired from "John Deer." Saxon Sharbino is clearly not ready to helm a film of this caliber, and if she doesn't learn to emote she never will be. Nicholas Braun is quite possibly the worst example of "act scared" that I have ever seen. His one scene where he had the most screen time was filled with so many issues, I honestly don't know where to start. The term "don't look at the camera, but don't try to look like you are not looking at the camera" comes to mind, the guy letting out the most fake of fake screams in the world, the guy not knowing how to look confused after he was just "acting" scared. He was the worst, and I ask that no one put him in movies again. Please. Luckily, not all is lost since we have Gil Kenan to save us from the depths of despair. I may still miss the old woman from the original, but this guy knows how to act, and I can appreciate that. The rest of the cast went from mediocre to bad, but I won't go into too much detail, this is that highlight reel after all.

Final Verdict: Rent it A movie that scares me is truly hard to find these days, but when actors are so bad that they take away from the tension it is a bit upsetting. Still worth some money, see it if you have the time.