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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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 ❤️
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)
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! 😉
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.
You have quickly become one of my favorite reaction channels! If you dig haunted house horror flicks, you'll love THE AMITYVILLE HORROR 1979, THE CHANGELING 1980, and THE CONJURING!
+1 for The Changeling! Even from a young age, most slasher films wouldn't bother me but creepy films with intelligent characters and little or no bloodshed would play with my head. The Changeling gave me nightmares in the 80's that Jason and Freddy never could.
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.
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.
A real classic of horror cinema. Despite the terrible tragedies, this movie has good production value and the effects alone are so striking. This scared the crap out of me as a child.
this trilogy is why I don't like the movies/shows released after it in the "haunted house/person" sub genre of horror, because I keep comparing them to this trilogy and i've found everyone to fall short, even the remake
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.
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.
The house imploding was done by a model of the house on it's back over a large vacuum funnel while the camera is filming from above and the crew where shooting the model with b b guns. Stephen Spielberg has the pieces of the model in a clear enclosed square glass (i think) box on the top of his grand piano at his office.
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.
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.
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 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
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?
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.
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 .
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.
remotes of that time period were more like radio signal based versus infra-red light / line of site (and now-a-days blue-tooth). so it is possible, if someone's houses were very close and on the same exact frequency.
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!
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)
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.
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 😎🤓👍👍
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! 😎👍
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.
"They're here." Fun Fact: Heather O'Rourke kept the pet goldfish Carol Anne has in the film. Cameo Hands Fact: The hands which pull the flesh off the investigator's face in the bathroom mirror were the film's producer, Steven Spielberg. Quick Change Fact: The shot of the chairs that position themselves in the amazing balancing act on the table was all done in one take. As the camera panned along with JoBeth Williams, who was getting some cleaning materials, several crew members quickly set an already organized pyramid of chairs on the table, then took the single chairs away before the camera scrolled back. The table is off-screen only seven seconds. The chrome toaster on the kitchen counter reflects the crew switching the chair arrangement. Moreover, the leaves of the plant in the corner get disturbed.
Oh whoa! That's such incredible dedication... I love how so many of these older films put in the extra effort to have long shots with neat tricks like that!
A lot of times the simplest effects are the best. For example, in the 1960s movie The Haunting (a very moody, atmospheric, psychological thriller worthy of viewing), the scene with the "breathing door" was achieved by a stagehand pressing a 2x4 against the other side of the door. God, I miss those great spooky movies from my childhood.
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
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 😂🤣
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. 😖
Imagine the fun we had in the 80's. No phones or internet. Just great movies & music.
"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 😂
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
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.
So refreshing to see younger generations appreciate the Cult Classics. ❤
I wouldn't call it that. It was a huge commercial success
I remember those old clicker remotes we used to have one when we were kids back in the 80's.
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!
and she wasn't too bad to look at
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
The Changeling is super creepy.
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.
R.I.P To All Those Who We're In The Poltergeist Movie's, Still Miss Them All
Suggestions for John Carpenter's movies
Christine
The Fog
Escape from New York
The Thing
So many to choose from! Thank you!!
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
The Goldsmith score is amazing in every scene.
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 legend of hell house with Roddy McDowall is also a great one
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
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.
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.
You should do George A. Romero's Creepshow and Dan O'Bannon's Return Of The Living Dead
Believe it or not, they actually used real skeletons for the pool scene.
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.
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
This movie is a classic. Love the family, do not like what happens to them ! xx
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.
“Theyyy’rrreee Heeerrreeee” was a popular meme way before the internet 👍
Movie references are just memes that evolved.
Kinda like dinosaurs and birds.
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
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 ❤️
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!
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?
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.
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.
1963 The Haunting is one of my all time suspense thriller movies. A classic ghost story
I remember seeing this in the theater when I was 6 years old. Still a classic!
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)
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! 😉
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 😂
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.
JoBeth Williams: Best horror movie mom ever.
You have quickly become one of my favorite reaction channels! If you dig haunted house horror flicks, you'll love THE AMITYVILLE HORROR 1979, THE CHANGELING 1980, and THE CONJURING!
+1 for The Changeling! Even from a young age, most slasher films wouldn't bother me but creepy films with intelligent characters and little or no bloodshed would play with my head. The Changeling gave me nightmares in the 80's that Jason and Freddy never could.
Yes! Thanks for making my day! U guys are great!
Aww thank you so much!! ❤❤❤
@maplenutsreact You're welcome so much!
I think. That was some kind of special effect. With the house.
One of the most authentic-feeling movie families of all time. Superb casting and acting all around, paired with amazing effects and music score.👌
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"
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 😘😊
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.
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
A real classic of horror cinema. Despite the terrible tragedies, this movie has good production value and the effects alone are so striking. This scared the crap out of me as a child.
this trilogy is why I don't like the movies/shows released after it in the "haunted house/person" sub genre of horror, because I keep comparing them to this trilogy and i've found everyone to fall short, even the remake
I agree! Everything about this movie was so well done. Also, there's no way in hell I could have watched this as a child haha
@@maplenutsreact It was rated PG, so a bunch of little 80 kids saw it and it scared the heck out of us.
Yeah my mom took me to see this when I was 9. Not her smartest idea.
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.
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.
The house imploding was done by a model of the house on it's back over a large vacuum funnel while the camera is filming from above and the crew where shooting the model with b b guns. Stephen Spielberg has the pieces of the model in a clear enclosed square glass (i think) box on the top of his grand piano at his office.
Watched this on repeat when it came to cable, I was 8. Made me person I am today haha
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.
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.
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!
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.
Now let’s go get you daughter is one of most badass lines in film history.
Great Performances By Everyone In This 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.
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?
In 1982 I was 12 and saw this rated PG movie in the theater by myself, loved it
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!
The collapsing house was built from balsa wood and was designed with automated folding in just like you said. Great movie
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.
Great Reaction Guy's To One Of My All Time Favorite Horror Movie's, Guy's
A lot of real life tragedy around this film, but it's so good.
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 .
Yup this was PG when I was a kid! I think I was 11 or 12 ! Pretty fun stuff, so different
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.
Love the Phasmophobia talk at the beginning! Love it in VR!
Love your reactions to horror! How about doing the latest Halloween trilogy (it's a continuation of the original only) or the Scream series?
remotes of that time period were more like radio signal based versus infra-red light / line of site (and now-a-days blue-tooth). so it is possible, if someone's houses were very close and on the same exact frequency.
"I thought it looked like a throat." I'm with you, bud, but I always came at it from the other end. 😅
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! 🥳🎉
another classic. great movie. you should check out The Blob (80's) remake. also, the faculty was cool, and the final destination movies ;)
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)
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.
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 😎🤓👍👍
Great! It is very interesting to see your reaction to the film Robocop 1987. This is a cool movie 👍🔥🦾
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! 😎👍
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.
I really enjoyed your reaction and glad you enjoyed the movie.
"They're here."
Fun Fact: Heather O'Rourke kept the pet goldfish Carol Anne has in the film.
Cameo Hands Fact: The hands which pull the flesh off the investigator's face in the bathroom mirror were the film's producer, Steven Spielberg.
Quick Change Fact: The shot of the chairs that position themselves in the amazing balancing act on the table was all done in one take. As the camera panned along with JoBeth Williams, who was getting some cleaning materials, several crew members quickly set an already organized pyramid of chairs on the table, then took the single chairs away before the camera scrolled back. The table is off-screen only seven seconds. The chrome toaster on the kitchen counter reflects the crew switching the chair arrangement. Moreover, the leaves of the plant in the corner get disturbed.
Oh whoa! That's such incredible dedication... I love how so many of these older films put in the extra effort to have long shots with neat tricks like that!
A lot of times the simplest effects are the best. For example, in the 1960s movie The Haunting (a very moody, atmospheric, psychological thriller worthy of viewing), the scene with the "breathing door" was achieved by a stagehand pressing a 2x4 against the other side of the door. God, I miss those great spooky movies from my childhood.
“Don’t need to do that.” 🤣❤️
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
I don't remember and remotes in the 80s interfering with other TVs but I can see how it could happen if they used RF instead of IR.
It was a thing and you could do the same with garage door openers
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 😂🤣
Imagine how MISERABLE it must feel to hear your baby girl scream "HELP ME! PLEASE!" and not be able to do ANYTHING..