The imploding house effect at the end of "Poltergeist" was done using an extremely detailed, $25,000+ miniature model of the house. The model was rigged with steel cables at various points which pulled the house into a funnel (to make it look like it was collapsing down to a point), on the other side of which was a vacuum system to capture any dust and fragments not pulled through by the cables. It was shot with a high-speed camera and, because the model was so expensive to build, they only had one and had to do the shot in one take. The actors in the foreground filmed their part against a blue screen and the footage was rotoscoped and composited afterward. All of this because the script contained the four words: "and the house implodes." Spielberg wanted it to look like it was being pulled into a black hole at its center and asked ILM to figure out how to make it happen. And of course, being ILM, they did. The "throat" in the closet that you guys discussed was also a miniature, filmed separately and composited after the fact. I don't know what materials it was made out of - probably just a lot of latex and whatnot - but I've seen a BTS shot of it in a documentary about the making of "Poltergeist" and the miniature is on a rig with a lot of vacuum hoses and such attached to it to make it move and undulate. Then, just like with the house, they filmed the actors against a blue screen and composited the two shots to make it look like the "closet throat" was huge and in the same room with them. I'm not one of those people who hates on CG and always thinks practical FX look better (I mean, look at the scene where Marty tears his face off in the mirror... it doesn't super hold up, and neither does the cartoon ghost hand that comes out of the TV near the beginning) but a lot of the FX they shot for this movie still look pretty great. And given the limitations of the time, the guys who put them together deserve all the props because they came up with some innovative solutions, most of which still hold up pretty dang well, imo.
The National Anthem, followed by static... was what used to happen around 1am on oldschool broadcast tv... basically tv signals would just "sign off" til 5 or 6 am... and yes, it was just static for those next few hours. It was spooky.. which is why it's used the intro here. In the late 80s, tv stations started to sell that overnight airtime for infomercials and then the whole "sign off" thing ended.
@@maplenutsreact Anorher horror movie that features a tv signal sign off... NEAR DARK (1987), an excellent vampire film with a good chunk of Aliens cast that came out the same year as The Lost Boys.
I remember those days! You can actually look at old TV Guide's online, and after 11p-1am, every channel was "Off the Air." It's crazy to think in today's world of 24/7 everything that we actually stopped broadcasting.
Steven Spielberg was actually supposed to direct Poltergeist, but he was busy directing E.T. instead, so he turned it over to Tobe Hooper. So it' has the warm, family feel of Spielberg movies, yet the gruesome horror of Tobe Hooper films.
All three of those movies opened the same month. You can keep E.T. though, lol. Also in 1982 was Creepshow.....and White Dog! So definitely a good year for horror movies. And non-horror: Sophie's Choice (incredible), Bladerunner.....you had some great mainstream comedies: Tootsie, Victor Victoria, My Favorite Year and some non-mainstream ones: Eating Raoul, A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy. And for non-English films, Herzog's Fitzcarraldo and Bergman's Fanny And Alexander. Not a bad year! "Year Of Living Dangerously" was a good one, that came out that year, too, almost forgot about that one. "The Verdict". "The World According To Garp"! "Diner"! "Deathtrap"!
@tictocmelody9190 also released in 82.... Blade runner, Rocky 3, First Blood, 48 hrs, Wrath of Khan, pink Floyd The Wall, fast times at Ridgemont High ..... Hell of a year
Spielberg produced a whole bunch of those "suburbia" movies: Idyllic settings and then something weird, strange, horrific happens. It seems that all of those not directed by Spielberg were scored by Jerry Goldsmith (including this here Poltergeist and the first sequel), who really was a master at pulling your heartstrings right up until the breaking point. Greatest movie music composer ever.
Part 2 is not a great movie, but you do find out who the Beast is ... and why he needed Carol Anne to keep "his followers" with him, and how they all ended up under the Freeling's house.
This was back when the PG rating actually meant that parental guidance was necessary. This, Gremlins, Jaws, and the Indiana Jones films really pushed the PG rating. They caused the PG-13 rating to exist, starting in I think 1984. It's amazing to see what used to be considered G and PG before the 2000s.
The street looks like its from E.T. beacuse it is lol. This and E.T. were both filmed in the same housing devlopment. Like literally a few streets away from each other. And Fun Fact: they were able to film this super cheap because instead of paying the normal film location fees the team just paid for the landscaping instillation for all the houses on the street as it was all new construction, nobody had grass or plants yet. And the model home they show in the beginning was the actual model home for that development.
One of my fave all-time and seasonal movies, and film score; glad you liked it! The imploding house was done with vacuums, shot guns and a high-speed camera, if I remember correctly! Thank you for the watch and review!
Every time I watch this movie I think it's insane that JoBeth Williams (the mom) didn't get an Oscar nomination. She's so damn good. One of my all time favorite performances and one of my all time favorite movies.
I COMPLETELY AGREE. I have been saying this for years. She only got a Saturn award nomination. She at least deserved a Golden Globe nomination. Now that I think about it, Meryl Streep was up for Sophie's Choice and Jessica Lange was up for Frances. Tough competition. Beatrice Straight and Zelda Rubenstein are also terrific. Beatrice Straight already had an Oscar for Network.
Other movies in the same vein that I really enjoy are The Legend of Hell House(1973) and the Changeling(1980). Neither has that magical Spielberg feel that Poltergeist has, but both are amazing movies in their own right.
I'd like to suggest a few more movies such as, "Duel", with Denis Weaver, which is another Steven Spielberg movie when he first started out on a made for TV movie that still shines to this day. It's a gem. Another movie is "The Thing", another John Carpenter movie and the movie, "They Live", again, another John Carpenter movie starring WWF wrestler Roddy Rowdy Piper and a gem as well. And if neither of you have watched the original 1968 Planet of the Apes starring Charlton Heston, it's a wonderful movie that still works today.
It didn’t.. in England we didn’t have the national anthem.. first it was a picture of royalty and then a girl with a clown doll, in front of a black board.
I love how the movie lets us get to know the family and like them before things get really scary. That way we care about them and feel scared for them. Such a great cast in this one. I love every character.
There is a Twilight Zone episode called Little Girl Lost in which a little girl goes into a different dimension in her room. You should check out that episode as some inspiration came from that episode for this movie. Also, when Marty was pulling off his face, the hands were Stephen Spielberg's
The most interesting and scary aspect of this movie and franchise is the behind-the-scenes stories, deaths, and rumors. Whether or not this franchise was truly cursed by evil spirits or not people can debate forever, but it is true that tragedy and crazy events haunted the production of the entire series. If your interested in real-life stories, it is worth checking out what happened on-set and surrounding cast members. Not fun.
Yeah, at the end they used a model of the house and it was sucked into a hole with a vacuum. So it looks like it's imploding. The only regret they had was that the frame rate was too low but the model was 25k so they couldn't re-do it.
Great reaction guys...refreshing to see people react to a old school classic movie without going on about how outdated it is or why people consider this to be a classic etc ... Well done. This is one of my favourite movies as well 😊
So glad you liked the movie! It's one of my all time favourites and a lot of younger reactors don't like it because of the special effects...not understanding at all that for its time it was phenomenal ❤️
My favourite Tobe Hooper film growing up was LifeForce. It's cocaine-fuelled madness, but it's also a mix of horror, sci-fi and it's about vampires, so you can't go wrong. Just make sure to strap in your seatbelt! 😉
Yes you did hear a TIE fighter noise when they open the room for the investigators, if you watch the scene again a toy Tie Fighter goes flying by...lol
Between being Canadian & so young you have to remember TVs in the US used to turn off & before they did they would have a public service announcement or more commonly play the national anthem & the broadcast TV wouldn't come back on till morning
There is the scene when Diane tried to get into the kids room, but this giant spirit monster stood in front of the door and wouldn’t let her in. That one is called “the guardian”. Spielberg wanted it to look ethereal. So, the made up a new technique. They made it into a marionette type puppet. They used very light material, as thin as Toilet paper but real material. They immersed it in a giant tank of water with all sides painted black. The camera lens was attached to the front glass so there could be no reflection. The puppet master would manipulate the moves while they are swirling the water, giving it motion in this “spiritual earth bound plane.” 😊 They did the same thing with the big lady ghost at the top of the stairs and then all of the spirits walk down the stairs. Toby directed, but not really. Spielberg had him direct this while he was in principal photography with “E.T.” Every night, Spielberg would go to the production offices of “Poltergeist”. To see how it was going. He would watch the rushes and say no, the shot should be from this angle, no that’s not what I asked you to do, etc so basically Spielberg did direct this one, too. He first saw Heather O’Rourke sitting in front of a grocery store waiting for her mother. Spielberg said, “Hey! She would be great in E.T.!” He talked to her mom, who was at that time, living in a trailer house. Then he auditioned Drew Barrymore and hired he for “Poltergeist.” He got to know their personalities and thought, ya know! Drew is a tomboy and Heather is a sweet, delicate girl that audiences would be heart broken if anything happened to that precious baby. So the switch worked beautifully.
28:14 - There is a very big chance that she actually has a bruise from her abusive boyfriend, who few months later strangled her. Actress Dominique Dunne (1959-1982).
I was also born in '59 and saw this film when it was released in '82..not a bad movie,didn't find it particularly scary..and was shocked to see on the news that Dominique Dunne had been murdered.I'd just watched her on 'the big screen'.Kind of takes something from the movie..this and the passing of Heather O'Rourke.
He needed some help on this one... "By some point, Steven wasn't in the picture anymore, he was too busy prepping E.T. [...] Tobe handled the reins." - Martin Casella (Marty in Poltergeist)
I was in high school back in '82 and was obsessed with this film. Steven Spielberg Produced, wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay. Tobe Hooper is listed as director. There has been much debate as to who actually directed the film. The Directors Guild of America had a rule that a director could not make two films simultaneously. Spielberg was directing E.T. at the time of production on Poltergeist, so Tobe Hooper was brought on to direct. Although both Spielberg and Hooper have stated that Hooper directed the film, Spielberg was on set frequently and made suggestions. Personally, it has Spielberg written all over it in my opinion. The camera angels and movements are strikingly similar to Spielberg's other works. The are publicity stills of Spielberg with both child actor casts of E.T. and Poltergeist together. Hollywood likes a good story and has generated numerous rumors about a "Poltergeist Curse," due to the untimely deaths of some of it's actors. However, Heather O'Rourke passed from a misdiagnosed genetic defect. Dominique Dunn was murdered by her boyfriend, the actor who played Reverend Kane in Poltergeist II was dying, and being treated, for stomach cancer during the filming. While Poltergeist II was lacking the heart of the original, over all it was not bad (until the embarrassing effects at the end, which was part story issue and part effects budget.) Part III, in my opinion, shouldn't have been made. They eliminated the family, keeping only Carol Anne, and shipping her off to relatives in Chicago. I felt that there is no way the family would have broken off with what they had been through in the previous films. It was the family bond that got them through. Reverend Kane was back but was re-cast, due to the passing of the original actor. At this point, Heather's misdiagnosed illness had progressed to a point where she didn't look well in the film. MGM should have stopped at 2.
In my opinion, they should have just kept it a stand alone film. One of the things I liked about the first film was that "the beast" was more ambiguous, which made it more creepy. But having it explained to just be the evil ghost of Rev. Kane in the second movie watered it down quite a bit.
First time watching you guys great reaction. Thanks for the entertainment. I grew up with this movie, so obviously I’m a lot older than you. But I love watching other people enjoy it. This is a very special movie to me. I find it to be the most realistic family maybe ever on a film. Very believable very normal. And I also very much appreciate the way that they showed marijuana use. You can still be a very wonderful, loving, successful, healthy family and smoke a little weed. Anyway thanks for the entertainment.
30:59 Yep, you're right, Chandra. It was a rotating room and the camera was locked in place on the floor to make it look like JoBeth Williams was being dragged along the wall and ceiling.
28:14 That's not a hickey on her neck, that's a bruise from her boyfriend choking her. Her real life boyfriend choking her, not her movie one. He actually killed her by choking her to death a couple of months after the movie was released.
The house collapsing at the end: they used a very elaborate model paper house, and put a very high powered vacuum behind it. They slowly sucked the paper model in through the nozzle of the vacuum. (I saw an interview on how they did some of the effects. This is one of my favourite movies!)
Poltergeist was made by tobe Hooper as you said the director of texas chainsaw massacre, some have said Stephen Spielberg was a hands on producer, some have confused this with Spielberg directing the movie.
I was born at the very tail-end of the "this concludes our broadcast day (static)" era. Mid 90s we got a satellite system (one of those big honkin' dishes that had to rotate to pick up the individual satellites), and that was it. No more local TV for us.
Love you guys reaction Poltergeist is one of my favorite movies it's not just a horror movie but aslo a suspense movie as well especially building up to the scary moments in the movie but you definitely have to watch Poltergeist 2 the other side the sequel lives up to the original and it's really good and scary love to see your reaction
Hey guys! Yeah, PG-before-13 was wiiiild, eh? Hey, you guys are choosing ALL the best movies! Abd seeing them again through your eyes is just so fun. So keep up the good work! 😎👍
For those of you who are completely unaware of the way the early days of TV worked for decades. They had what was called sign-on and sign-off for TV stations. The national anthem would play and what was referred to as snow on your television. The signal would sign-off until the following morning. This was many worlds before 24-hour broadcasting or cable TV. This continued until the late 1980s and early 1990s. No exact date can be given because it was kind of an evolutionary process. That took time for various TV stations and different parts of the country to be completely updated with the new 24-hour broadcasting and cable TV services.
Once upon a time, back in the prehistoric days, there was no 24 hour broadcasting. Gasp! So at around midnight to 1 am, they'd play the national anthem with those scenes every night, then nothing but static! Also back in these dinosaur days, you could share same remote with someone who has same remote and TV or a universal, and hijack their signal. This before plasma tvs when it was transistors and tvs were huge. Of course they were also much more durable. You could kick em, drop em, hit em, didn't do much. Touch plasma tv and the screen goes out. Also back in those days, kids were expected to be tough and mature, basically be home in time for supper or before street lights came on, and don't know what you're doing and where. People weren't freaked out at the tiniest thing and vet offended and expect it to be fixed. You took it and moved on. No one cared. Different time.
For the question about how they got paranormal investigators for the house, the 1970s and 80s were huge for ghost scares. You could hardly throw a stone without hitting a paranormal investigator back then.
As crazy as it sounds, I've always felt like Poltergeist, The Shining and The Exorcist exist in the same universe. I mean it's plausible that Carol Ann and Danny (from The Shining) both had the "Shine" and possibly Regan McNeill (from The Exorcist) did too and was targeted by The Devil. Anyhoo, that's just an idea cooked up by my warped mind lol But yeah awesome reaction and review guys 😎🤓👍👍
Hello from Ontario Canada I was a kid when this movie came out this movie and the Original Exorcist with Linda Blair are just two of my favorite horror movies I have been Researching Studying and Investigating the Paranormal Supernatural for over 30 years this movie is loosely based on an actual case where a subdivision in Texas was built on top of a cemetery the subdivision is vacant now except for a few holdouts .
I saw Poltergeist with my circle of friends as a teenager the Summer of 1982, in a packed movie theater on a military base. My Father was in the Air Force. He passed away in 2018. R.I.P. Daddy. The steak has nothing to do with this family’s house. OMG! Are you kidding me right now?
Yes... One of my all-time favorite movies! From what I've read about it, the house scene was done using a model with wires strung to a number of individual parts. The wires were pulled into a funnel-like device which also had a large vacuum attached, to pull in any loose debris. The camera was set above the model (which was resetting on its side), so gravity also assisted in the illusion of the house being swallowed up. Movie I'd love to see you both react to (in no particular order): ◽The Abyss ◽The Ghostbusters (and sequels) ◽The Rocketeer Keep up the great reactions! 🍺
That effect description sounds nuts! Also, thank you for the recommendations! Jordan's been wanting to show me Ghostbusters for a long time now, so we're definitely adding that one to the list!
You asked what director's have you watched that you need to watch more? You watched E.T. (1982), so Spielberg is an obvious answer. But, another one is, you watched Carrie (1976), and should watch more Brian De Palma. Sisters (1972), Phantom of the Paradise (1974), Dressed to Kill (1980), Blow Out (1981), Body Double (1984) is a short list, he has many more.
I saw this movie for the first time in 1985 with older cousins, and it freaked me out. 😄 The skeletons were actually real dead people, which added to the lore of this movie and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding it.
the tv remote controls in the 70s-80S were first ultra sonic, if you had bad luck then your neighbour could have the same frequency that you have, and yes, then switching each others channels did happen 😂🤣
A scary haunted house movie with a 70s look, a totally different vibe than Poltergeist, and a film that everyone who likes horror movies should watch, is, ‘The Changeling’ (1980), starring George C. Scott. While Poltergeist is a horror movie with a lot of adventure and comedic elements in the mix, The Changeling is very serious in mood, and quite tragic. It’s also a movie mystery that needs to be solved. There are no chainsaws, there is nobody ripping apart their own face, and there are no buckets of pigs blood poised preCARRIEously above a prom stage in The Changeling, but it will still manage to scare you both silly. Christmas is coming, eventually, so, ‘Black Christmas’ (1974) is something to keep in mind. The director Bob Clark also directed, ‘A Christmas Story’ (1983). Black Christmas is a slasher movie - my favourite slasher movie - and, oddly, A Christmas Story is an excellent, and beloved, children’s holiday classic. Thanks for making videos eh.
My mom, a lifelong horror fan-whose first and middle name happens to be Carol Ann-tried to show me this when I was a kid when it played on TV. It scared the crap out of me, especially the giant head that came out of the closest. I ended up sleeping in their bed that night, and without my glasses (my eyesight has always been terrible) I was convinced that the blinking clock on the vcr was that dang head coming after me. The last ten or so minutes of Evil Dead 2 contains some pretty choice references to this movie.
1:11 'What movies should we watch that directed movies we've already watched?' (John Carpenter, who directed Halloween, They Live) - The Fog (1980) or Christine (1983) (John Hughes, who directed Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Home Alone) - The Breakfast Club (1985) or Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) (Joe Dante, who directed Gremlins) - Innerspace (1987) or Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) (Brian De Palma, who directed Carrie) - The Untouchables (1987) (Kathryn Bigelow, who directed Point Break) - Near Dark (1987) (Tim Burton, who directed Batman) - Beetlejuice (1988) (Simon West, who directed Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) - Con Air (1997) (Paul W. S. Anderson, who directed Mortal Kombat) - Event Horizon (1997) (Steven Spielberg, who directed E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) - Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Another thing you don’t see anymore but was very common in the 80s, kids playing outside riding bikes in the street not just a few kids every kid was outside playing.
Well you see that in cities, but definitely not in suburbs. Also, there is a severe lack of "third spaces" for not just kids, but for everyone. 😓 Like malls for exampme
You asked about the money shot at the end with the house being pulled into the portal - as I recall, the bulk of the effect was achieved by building a scale replica of the house and crushing it in a compactor. It cost quite a bit and they were concerned as they only had the budget to do it once.
That was a rotating room when she was on the ceiling. Man...I *WISH* practical effects would make a comeback.
Aha! That's so cool! And yes, I totally agree... I absolutely LOVE all these practical effects!
The imploding house effect at the end of "Poltergeist" was done using an extremely detailed, $25,000+ miniature model of the house. The model was rigged with steel cables at various points which pulled the house into a funnel (to make it look like it was collapsing down to a point), on the other side of which was a vacuum system to capture any dust and fragments not pulled through by the cables. It was shot with a high-speed camera and, because the model was so expensive to build, they only had one and had to do the shot in one take. The actors in the foreground filmed their part against a blue screen and the footage was rotoscoped and composited afterward. All of this because the script contained the four words: "and the house implodes." Spielberg wanted it to look like it was being pulled into a black hole at its center and asked ILM to figure out how to make it happen. And of course, being ILM, they did.
The "throat" in the closet that you guys discussed was also a miniature, filmed separately and composited after the fact. I don't know what materials it was made out of - probably just a lot of latex and whatnot - but I've seen a BTS shot of it in a documentary about the making of "Poltergeist" and the miniature is on a rig with a lot of vacuum hoses and such attached to it to make it move and undulate. Then, just like with the house, they filmed the actors against a blue screen and composited the two shots to make it look like the "closet throat" was huge and in the same room with them.
I'm not one of those people who hates on CG and always thinks practical FX look better (I mean, look at the scene where Marty tears his face off in the mirror... it doesn't super hold up, and neither does the cartoon ghost hand that comes out of the TV near the beginning) but a lot of the FX they shot for this movie still look pretty great. And given the limitations of the time, the guys who put them together deserve all the props because they came up with some innovative solutions, most of which still hold up pretty dang well, imo.
The National Anthem, followed by static... was what used to happen around 1am on oldschool broadcast tv... basically tv signals would just "sign off" til 5 or 6 am... and yes, it was just static for those next few hours. It was spooky.. which is why it's used the intro here. In the late 80s, tv stations started to sell that overnight airtime for infomercials and then the whole "sign off" thing ended.
Oh neat! I just assumed that was all specific to the movie.
@@maplenutsreact Anorher horror movie that features a tv signal sign off... NEAR DARK (1987), an excellent vampire film with a good chunk of Aliens cast that came out the same year as The Lost Boys.
I remember those days! You can actually look at old TV Guide's online, and after 11p-1am, every channel was "Off the Air." It's crazy to think in today's world of 24/7 everything that we actually stopped broadcasting.
That's where we heard about spray on hair and the juice master. Give me back the static
@maplenutsreact It was only after the internet was taken into our homes that the world turned into the 24/7 calamity that it is today. 😖
"You've never done this before."
"Neither have you."
"You're right. You go." Is my favourite piece of dialogue from the movie. Simple and fun.
I was 12 when this came out and I saw it in a packed theater.
Everyone died laughing at that!!
That little pause when she realizes 😂
I remember those old clicker remotes we used to have one when we were kids back in the 80's.
1982 gave us This, ET and The Thing.... what a year for movies
Steven Spielberg was actually supposed to direct Poltergeist, but he was busy directing E.T. instead, so he turned it over to Tobe Hooper. So it' has the warm, family feel of Spielberg movies, yet the gruesome horror of Tobe Hooper films.
Oooo, Well we loved this and ET, so now we HAVE to watch The Thing!!
Also the massively influential sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner :-)
All three of those movies opened the same month. You can keep E.T. though, lol. Also in 1982 was Creepshow.....and White Dog! So definitely a good year for horror movies. And non-horror: Sophie's Choice (incredible), Bladerunner.....you had some great mainstream comedies: Tootsie, Victor Victoria, My Favorite Year and some non-mainstream ones: Eating Raoul, A Midsummer's Night Sex Comedy. And for non-English films, Herzog's Fitzcarraldo and Bergman's Fanny And Alexander. Not a bad year! "Year Of Living Dangerously" was a good one, that came out that year, too, almost forgot about that one. "The Verdict". "The World According To Garp"! "Diner"! "Deathtrap"!
@tictocmelody9190 also released in 82.... Blade runner, Rocky 3, First Blood, 48 hrs, Wrath of Khan, pink Floyd The Wall, fast times at Ridgemont High ..... Hell of a year
Spielberg produced a whole bunch of those "suburbia" movies: Idyllic settings and then something weird, strange, horrific happens. It seems that all of those not directed by Spielberg were scored by Jerry Goldsmith (including this here Poltergeist and the first sequel), who really was a master at pulling your heartstrings right up until the breaking point. Greatest movie music composer ever.
Imagine the fun we had in the 80's. No phones or internet. Just great movies & music.
Part 2 is not a great movie, but you do find out who the Beast is ... and why he needed Carol Anne to keep "his followers" with him, and how they all ended up under the Freeling's house.
So refreshing to see younger generations appreciate the Cult Classics. ❤
I wouldn't call it that. It was a huge commercial success
This was back when the PG rating actually meant that parental guidance was necessary. This, Gremlins, Jaws, and the Indiana Jones films really pushed the PG rating. They caused the PG-13 rating to exist, starting in I think 1984. It's amazing to see what used to be considered G and PG before the 2000s.
Back when PG meant "Pretty Graphic!" Hahaha
forgot Jaws was rated PG. The last 20 minutes or so are pretty intense. Can only imagine some parents bringing their 8 year olds to it
@@howaboutsomesoyfood I'm still amazed that "Airplane!" is PG
@@howaboutsomesoyfood My mom saw that when she was 9. Scarred her for life.
*“Dracula Has Risen From The Grave” (1969) was rated G.* It has bloody gore like you’ve never seen in another G-RATED movie.
The Goldsmith score is amazing in every scene.
The street looks like its from E.T. beacuse it is lol. This and E.T. were both filmed in the same housing devlopment. Like literally a few streets away from each other. And Fun Fact: they were able to film this super cheap because instead of paying the normal film location fees the team just paid for the landscaping instillation for all the houses on the street as it was all new construction, nobody had grass or plants yet. And the model home they show in the beginning was the actual model home for that development.
Oh no way!! That's so cool!
One of my fave all-time and seasonal movies, and film score; glad you liked it! The imploding house was done with vacuums, shot guns and a high-speed camera, if I remember correctly! Thank you for the watch and review!
The score was one of the film's 3 Oscar Nominations:
It lost to Spielberg's other hit, E.T.
Every time I watch this movie I think it's insane that JoBeth Williams (the mom) didn't get an Oscar nomination. She's so damn good. One of my all time favorite performances and one of my all time favorite movies.
agree. she was awesome
I COMPLETELY AGREE. I have been saying this for years. She only got a Saturn award nomination. She at least deserved a Golden Globe nomination. Now that I think about it, Meryl Streep was up for Sophie's Choice and Jessica Lange was up for Frances. Tough competition. Beatrice Straight and Zelda Rubenstein are also terrific. Beatrice Straight already had an Oscar for Network.
I agree, she was AMAZING!
The VFX in this still hold up really well for the most part.
They were Oscar nominated. It lost to Spielberg's other hit, E.T.
Other movies in the same vein that I really enjoy are The Legend of Hell House(1973) and the Changeling(1980). Neither has that magical Spielberg feel that Poltergeist has, but both are amazing movies in their own right.
Awesome, thank you for the recommendations!
Yes, those are both great choices. It's amazing how they made a simple ball bouncing down the stairs so creepy it has stuck with me all these years.
I'd like to suggest a few more movies such as, "Duel", with Denis Weaver, which is another Steven Spielberg movie when he first started out on a made for TV movie that still shines to this day. It's a gem. Another movie is "The Thing", another John Carpenter movie and the movie, "They Live", again, another John Carpenter movie starring WWF wrestler Roddy Rowdy Piper and a gem as well. And if neither of you have watched the original 1968 Planet of the Apes starring Charlton Heston, it's a wonderful movie that still works today.
Before tv became 24/7 tv in uk and usa used to end with the playing of the countries' National Anthem,youngsters 🎩
Haha it's amazing how many things like that we just never experienced!
It didn’t.. in England we didn’t have the national anthem.. first it was a picture of royalty and then a girl with a clown doll, in front of a black board.
@@VictorLugosiwell that’s pretty creepy lol
I love how the movie lets us get to know the family and like them before things get really scary. That way we care about them and feel scared for them. Such a great cast in this one. I love every character.
R.I.P To All Those Who We're In The Poltergeist Movie's, Still Miss Them All
There is a Twilight Zone episode called Little Girl Lost in which a little girl goes into a different dimension in her room. You should check out that episode as some inspiration came from that episode for this movie. Also, when Marty was pulling off his face, the hands were Stephen Spielberg's
The most interesting and scary aspect of this movie and franchise is the behind-the-scenes stories, deaths, and rumors. Whether or not this franchise was truly cursed by evil spirits or not people can debate forever, but it is true that tragedy and crazy events haunted the production of the entire series. If your interested in real-life stories, it is worth checking out what happened on-set and surrounding cast members. Not fun.
Yeah, at the end they used a model of the house and it was sucked into a hole with a vacuum. So it looks like it's imploding. The only regret they had was that the frame rate was too low but the model was 25k so they couldn't re-do it.
25K!!! Omg, yeah you have to use that one take then haha
I cant get enough of your reactions. You two are great !
They seem so genuinely warm and friendly.
Aww thank you so much!! ❤❤❤
You're so sweet! Thank you ❤@@PerryCJamesUK
You know I'm watching this in the middle of the night when I see the name of your channel and read it as "Mantuplets"
This movie is a classic. Love the family, do not like what happens to them ! xx
Great reaction guys...refreshing to see people react to a old school classic movie without going on about how outdated it is or why people consider this to be a classic etc ... Well done. This is one of my favourite movies as well 😊
So glad you liked the movie! It's one of my all time favourites and a lot of younger reactors don't like it because of the special effects...not understanding at all that for its time it was phenomenal ❤️
JoBeth Williams: Best horror movie mom ever.
the legend of hell house with Roddy McDowall is also a great one
Yes! Thanks for making my day! U guys are great!
Aww thank you so much!! ❤❤❤
@maplenutsreact You're welcome so much!
Now let’s go get you daughter is one of most badass lines in film history.
Suggestions for John Carpenter's movies
Christine
The Fog
Escape from New York
The Thing
So many to choose from! Thank you!!
“Theyyy’rrreee Heeerrreeee” was a popular meme way before the internet 👍
Movie references are just memes that evolved.
Kinda like dinosaurs and birds.
Oliver Robbins who played the boy Robbie is still alive. He's in his 50's now. Rest in peace Heather O' Rourke and Dominique Dunne. Great actresses.
My favourite Tobe Hooper film growing up was LifeForce. It's cocaine-fuelled madness, but it's also a mix of horror, sci-fi and it's about vampires, so you can't go wrong. Just make sure to strap in your seatbelt! 😉
Spielberg filmed E.T. and POLTERGEIST in the same neighborhood simultaneously.
E.T. and POLTERGEIST were filmed a month apart. Spielberg was busy doing pre-production for E.T. while POLTERGEIST was shooting.
You should do George A. Romero's Creepshow and Dan O'Bannon's Return Of The Living Dead
Yes you did hear a TIE fighter noise when they open the room for the investigators, if you watch the scene again a toy Tie Fighter goes flying by...lol
Between being Canadian & so young you have to remember TVs in the US used to turn off & before they did they would have a public service announcement or more commonly play the national anthem & the broadcast TV wouldn't come back on till morning
I remember seeing this in the theater when I was 6 years old. Still a classic!
1963 The Haunting is one of my all time suspense thriller movies. A classic ghost story
Now that I mentioned it, and looked back at your reactions, you should watch "Gremlins" in December. It's also PG.
I've heard really good things about Gremlins! Thank you for the recommendation!
Now this is a true Horror movie! I first came across this on HBO later in the 80s as a child and it scared us. We watched the sequels anyway though 😂
There is the scene when Diane tried to get into the kids room, but this giant spirit monster stood in front of the door and wouldn’t let her in. That one is called “the guardian”. Spielberg wanted it to look ethereal. So, the made up a new technique. They made it into a marionette type puppet. They used very light material, as thin as Toilet paper but real material. They immersed it in a giant tank of water with all sides painted black. The camera lens was attached to the front glass so there could be no reflection. The puppet master would manipulate the moves while they are swirling the water, giving it motion in this “spiritual earth bound plane.” 😊
They did the same thing with the big lady ghost at the top of the stairs and then all of the spirits walk down the stairs.
Toby directed, but not really. Spielberg had him direct this while he was in principal photography with “E.T.” Every night, Spielberg would go to the production offices of “Poltergeist”. To see how it was going. He would watch the rushes and say no, the shot should be from this angle, no that’s not what I asked you to do, etc so basically Spielberg did direct this one, too.
He first saw Heather O’Rourke sitting in front of a grocery store waiting for her mother. Spielberg said, “Hey! She would be great in E.T.!” He talked to her mom, who was at that time, living in a trailer house. Then he auditioned Drew Barrymore and hired he for “Poltergeist.” He got to know their personalities and thought, ya know! Drew is a tomboy and Heather is a sweet, delicate girl that audiences would be heart broken if anything happened to that precious baby. So the switch worked beautifully.
28:14 - There is a very big chance that she actually has a bruise from her abusive boyfriend, who few months later strangled her. Actress Dominique Dunne (1959-1982).
I was also born in '59 and saw this film when it was released in '82..not a bad movie,didn't find it particularly scary..and was shocked to see on the news that Dominique Dunne had been murdered.I'd just watched her on 'the big screen'.Kind of takes something from the movie..this and the passing of Heather O'Rourke.
Great reaction guys to a steven spielbierg classic one of the PG movies of the 80s which should have been rated R
PG-13 at most
He needed some help on this one...
"By some point, Steven wasn't in the picture anymore, he was too busy prepping E.T. [...] Tobe handled the reins." - Martin Casella (Marty in Poltergeist)
I was in high school back in '82 and was obsessed with this film. Steven Spielberg Produced, wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay. Tobe Hooper is listed as director. There has been much debate as to who actually directed the film. The Directors Guild of America had a rule that a director could not make two films simultaneously. Spielberg was directing E.T. at the time of production on Poltergeist, so Tobe Hooper was brought on to direct. Although both Spielberg and Hooper have stated that Hooper directed the film, Spielberg was on set frequently and made suggestions. Personally, it has Spielberg written all over it in my opinion. The camera angels and movements are strikingly similar to Spielberg's other works. The are publicity stills of Spielberg with both child actor casts of E.T. and Poltergeist together. Hollywood likes a good story and has generated numerous rumors about a "Poltergeist Curse," due to the untimely deaths of some of it's actors. However, Heather O'Rourke passed from a misdiagnosed genetic defect. Dominique Dunn was murdered by her boyfriend, the actor who played Reverend Kane in Poltergeist II was dying, and being treated, for stomach cancer during the filming. While Poltergeist II was lacking the heart of the original, over all it was not bad (until the embarrassing effects at the end, which was part story issue and part effects budget.) Part III, in my opinion, shouldn't have been made. They eliminated the family, keeping only Carol Anne, and shipping her off to relatives in Chicago. I felt that there is no way the family would have broken off with what they had been through in the previous films. It was the family bond that got them through. Reverend Kane was back but was re-cast, due to the passing of the original actor. At this point, Heather's misdiagnosed illness had progressed to a point where she didn't look well in the film. MGM should have stopped at 2.
Pure nonsense there’s no debate, the whole cast said tobe directed it and told Steven off several times.
In my opinion, they should have just kept it a stand alone film. One of the things I liked about the first film was that "the beast" was more ambiguous, which made it more creepy. But having it explained to just be the evil ghost of Rev. Kane in the second movie watered it down quite a bit.
Believe it or not, they actually used real skeletons for the pool scene.
One of the most authentic-feeling movie families of all time. Superb casting and acting all around, paired with amazing effects and music score.👌
I am writing this to help out these two amazing people and this video and this channel with the algorithm 🥰❤️✌️☺️
Hehe, thank you! ❤❤❤
@@maplenutsreact your welcome thank you guys for the amazing content 😘😊
First time watching you guys great reaction. Thanks for the entertainment. I grew up with this movie, so obviously I’m a lot older than you. But I love watching other people enjoy it. This is a very special movie to me. I find it to be the most realistic family maybe ever on a film. Very believable very normal. And I also very much appreciate the way that they showed marijuana use. You can still be a very wonderful, loving, successful, healthy family and smoke a little weed. Anyway thanks for the entertainment.
30:59 Yep, you're right, Chandra. It was a rotating room and the camera was locked in place on the floor to make it look like JoBeth Williams was being dragged along the wall and ceiling.
28:14 That's not a hickey on her neck, that's a bruise from her boyfriend choking her.
Her real life boyfriend choking her, not her movie one. He actually killed her by choking her to death a couple of months after the movie was released.
The house collapsing at the end: they used a very elaborate model paper house, and put a very high powered vacuum behind it. They slowly sucked the paper model in through the nozzle of the vacuum. (I saw an interview on how they did some of the effects. This is one of my favourite movies!)
Poltergeist was made by tobe Hooper as you said the director of texas chainsaw massacre, some have said Stephen Spielberg was a hands on producer, some have confused this with Spielberg directing the movie.
It has a very Spielberg feel
Great Reaction Guy's To One Of My All Time Favorite Horror Movie's, Guy's
I was born at the very tail-end of the "this concludes our broadcast day (static)" era. Mid 90s we got a satellite system (one of those big honkin' dishes that had to rotate to pick up the individual satellites), and that was it. No more local TV for us.
I think. That was some kind of special effect. With the house.
I can see Robbie being put in an insane asylum, can you imagine being his therapist and hearing him say that a tree tried swallowing him?
In 1982 I was 12 and saw this rated PG movie in the theater by myself, loved it
Yeah my mom took me to see this when I was 9. Not her smartest idea.
"I thought it looked like a throat." I'm with you, bud, but I always came at it from the other end. 😅
Love the Phasmophobia talk at the beginning! Love it in VR!
The iconic line " They're here "
Great Performances By Everyone In This Movie
“Don’t need to do that.” 🤣❤️
Great! It is very interesting to see your reaction to the film Robocop 1987. This is a cool movie 👍🔥🦾
Love you guys reaction Poltergeist is one of my favorite movies it's not just a horror movie but aslo a suspense movie as well especially building up to the scary moments in the movie but you definitely have to watch Poltergeist 2 the other side the sequel lives up to the original and it's really good and scary love to see your reaction
It's true! There's so much more to this movie than just horror.
Hey guys! Yeah, PG-before-13 was wiiiild, eh? Hey, you guys are choosing ALL the best movies! Abd seeing them again through your eyes is just so fun. So keep up the good work! 😎👍
For those of you who are completely unaware of the way the early days of TV worked for decades. They had what was called sign-on and sign-off for TV stations. The national anthem would play and what was referred to as snow on your television. The signal would sign-off until the following morning. This was many worlds before 24-hour broadcasting or cable TV. This continued until the late 1980s and early 1990s. No exact date can be given because it was kind of an evolutionary process. That took time for various TV stations and different parts of the country to be completely updated with the new 24-hour broadcasting and cable TV services.
Once upon a time, back in the prehistoric days, there was no 24 hour broadcasting. Gasp! So at around midnight to 1 am, they'd play the national anthem with those scenes every night, then nothing but static! Also back in these dinosaur days, you could share same remote with someone who has same remote and TV or a universal, and hijack their signal. This before plasma tvs when it was transistors and tvs were huge. Of course they were also much more durable. You could kick em, drop em, hit em, didn't do much. Touch plasma tv and the screen goes out. Also back in those days, kids were expected to be tough and mature, basically be home in time for supper or before street lights came on, and don't know what you're doing and where. People weren't freaked out at the tiniest thing and vet offended and expect it to be fixed. You took it and moved on. No one cared. Different time.
Love your reactions to horror! How about doing the latest Halloween trilogy (it's a continuation of the original only) or the Scream series?
For the question about how they got paranormal investigators for the house, the 1970s and 80s were huge for ghost scares. You could hardly throw a stone without hitting a paranormal investigator back then.
As crazy as it sounds, I've always felt like Poltergeist, The Shining and The Exorcist exist in the same universe. I mean it's plausible that Carol Ann and Danny (from The Shining) both had the "Shine" and possibly Regan McNeill (from The Exorcist) did too and was targeted by The Devil. Anyhoo, that's just an idea cooked up by my warped mind lol But yeah awesome reaction and review guys 😎🤓👍👍
Yup this was PG when I was a kid! I think I was 11 or 12 ! Pretty fun stuff, so different
Watched this on repeat when it came to cable, I was 8. Made me person I am today haha
The house implosion was done with high speed cameras and a scale model of the house being uscked into a vacuum
Hello from Ontario Canada I was a kid when this movie came out this movie and the Original Exorcist with Linda Blair are just two of my favorite horror movies I have been Researching Studying and Investigating the Paranormal Supernatural for over 30 years this movie is loosely based on an actual case where a subdivision in Texas was built on top of a cemetery the subdivision is vacant now except for a few holdouts .
so glad u decided to watch this one so good!
I saw Poltergeist with my circle of friends as a teenager the Summer of 1982, in a packed movie theater on a military base. My Father was in the Air Force. He passed away in 2018. R.I.P. Daddy.
The steak has nothing to do with this family’s house. OMG! Are you kidding me right now?
Yes... One of my all-time favorite movies!
From what I've read about it, the house scene was done using a model with wires strung to a number of individual parts. The wires were pulled into a funnel-like device which also had a large vacuum attached, to pull in any loose debris. The camera was set above the model (which was resetting on its side), so gravity also assisted in the illusion of the house being swallowed up.
Movie I'd love to see you both react to (in no particular order):
◽The Abyss
◽The Ghostbusters (and sequels)
◽The Rocketeer
Keep up the great reactions! 🍺
That effect description sounds nuts! Also, thank you for the recommendations! Jordan's been wanting to show me Ghostbusters for a long time now, so we're definitely adding that one to the list!
@@maplenutsreact -Can't wait! 🥳🎉
I really enjoyed your reaction and glad you enjoyed the movie.
You asked what director's have you watched that you need to watch more? You watched E.T. (1982), so Spielberg is an obvious answer. But, another one is, you watched Carrie (1976), and should watch more Brian De Palma. Sisters (1972), Phantom of the Paradise (1974), Dressed to Kill (1980), Blow Out (1981), Body Double (1984) is a short list, he has many more.
Oooo thank you for all of these recommendations!
The collapsing house was built from balsa wood and was designed with automated folding in just like you said. Great movie
A classic. The sequel is a cheap cash in with neither Spielberg or Hooper, but the third one is actually pretty good and has some clever camera tricks
Oooo good to know! I love me some good camera tricks!
A lot of real life tragedy around this film, but it's so good.
You guys are looking more and more comfortable doing these reactions. Much more animated, keep it up.
I saw this movie for the first time in 1985 with older cousins, and it freaked me out. 😄 The skeletons were actually real dead people, which added to the lore of this movie and the unfortunate circumstances surrounding it.
Imagine how MISERABLE it must feel to hear your baby girl scream "HELP ME! PLEASE!" and not be able to do ANYTHING..
another classic. great movie. you should check out The Blob (80's) remake. also, the faculty was cool, and the final destination movies ;)
Great kids movie. The 80’s were wild!
the tv remote controls in the 70s-80S were first ultra sonic, if you had bad luck then your neighbour could have the same frequency that you have, and yes, then switching each others channels did happen 😂🤣
A scary haunted house movie with a 70s look, a totally different vibe than Poltergeist, and a film that everyone who likes horror movies should watch, is, ‘The Changeling’ (1980), starring George C. Scott.
While Poltergeist is a horror movie with a lot of adventure and comedic elements in the mix, The Changeling is very serious in mood, and quite tragic. It’s also a movie mystery that needs to be solved.
There are no chainsaws, there is nobody ripping apart their own face, and there are no buckets of pigs blood poised preCARRIEously above a prom stage in The Changeling, but it will still manage to scare you both silly.
Christmas is coming, eventually, so, ‘Black Christmas’ (1974) is something to keep in mind. The director Bob Clark also directed, ‘A Christmas Story’ (1983).
Black Christmas is a slasher movie - my favourite slasher movie - and, oddly, A Christmas Story is an excellent, and beloved, children’s holiday classic.
Thanks for making videos eh.
My mom, a lifelong horror fan-whose first and middle name happens to be Carol Ann-tried to show me this when I was a kid when it played on TV. It scared the crap out of me, especially the giant head that came out of the closest. I ended up sleeping in their bed that night, and without my glasses (my eyesight has always been terrible) I was convinced that the blinking clock on the vcr was that dang head coming after me. The last ten or so minutes of Evil Dead 2 contains some pretty choice references to this movie.
1:11 'What movies should we watch that directed movies we've already watched?'
(John Carpenter, who directed Halloween, They Live) - The Fog (1980) or Christine (1983)
(John Hughes, who directed Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Home Alone) - The Breakfast Club (1985) or Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
(Joe Dante, who directed Gremlins) - Innerspace (1987) or Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
(Brian De Palma, who directed Carrie) - The Untouchables (1987)
(Kathryn Bigelow, who directed Point Break) - Near Dark (1987)
(Tim Burton, who directed Batman) - Beetlejuice (1988)
(Simon West, who directed Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) - Con Air (1997)
(Paul W. S. Anderson, who directed Mortal Kombat) - Event Horizon (1997)
(Steven Spielberg, who directed E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) - Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Another thing you don’t see anymore but was very common in the 80s, kids playing outside riding bikes in the street not just a few kids every kid was outside playing.
Well you see that in cities, but definitely not in suburbs. Also, there is a severe lack of "third spaces" for not just kids, but for everyone. 😓 Like malls for exampme
You asked about the money shot at the end with the house being pulled into the portal - as I recall, the bulk of the effect was achieved by building a scale replica of the house and crushing it in a compactor. It cost quite a bit and they were concerned as they only had the budget to do it once.
This movie looks Amazing, AND the scene of the portal always got me ❤