HE YEAR 1982 WAS ARGUABLY THE MOST COMPETITIVE ONE IN THE HISTORY OF GENRE CINEMA. Instant classics, neglected curios and outright stinkers duked it out at the box office for every last cent. Along the way there were some high-profile casualties (The Thingand Blade Runnerbeing two fa- mous examples) as a wrinkled alien with a glowing finger and benevolent dis- position laid waste to the competition.


Emerging relatively unscathed was Poltergeist,


yet another blockbuster offering from E.T. direc- tor Steven Spielberg, which would become the highest-grossing horror movie of the year. This time, the Hollywood wunderkind would be col-


luding with a mild-mannered, cigarillo-smoking Texan named Tobe Hooper, the man who had helmed the most gut-wrenching fear film of all time, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. At first, they appeared an unlikely pairing but both shared a strong mutual respect. Spielberg had hailed TCM as “one of the most truly visceral movies ever made. Essentially it starts inside the stomach and ends in the heart… I loved it.” With this endorsement still ringing in his ears, Hooper was understandably thrilled at Spielberg’s suggestion they work together on a film. But on what kind of film? After the cancellation of Night Skies (a sci-fi horror movie that also featured a


family terrorized by malevolent forces), Spielberg was eager to find another project that allowed him to explore his darker side. Hooper proposed a ghost story and thus began one of the most controversial working relationships between producer and director. Although greatly preoccupied with the shooting of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the development of E.T, Spielberg commissioned a script that was derived from his own initial ideas concerning a family besieged by spirits in their suburban tract house. His treatment drew heavily on The Wizard of Oz, The Haunting and Richard Matheson’s 1962 Twilight Zone episode “Little Girl Lost,” which also featured a fe- male child disappearing through a bi-located hole into another dimension. In this story, scripted by Spielberg, Mark Grais and Mark Victor, a serene California


suburb called Cuesta Verde becomes the setting for the haunting. Realtor Steven Freel- ing (Craig T. Nelson), his wife Diane (JoBeth Williams) and their kids Dana (Dominique Dunne, who was strangled to death by her boyfriend several months after the film came out), Robbie (Oliver Robins), and Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke, who starred in all three Poltergeist films before dying at age twelve of a misdiagnosed bowel obstruction) live the prototypical American family life, until one night Carol Anne wakes up and starts communicating with something inside a static-filled television screen. (Other actors died shortly after making the film, as well, leading to talk of a “Poltergeist curse.”) Soon, furniture is moving around, houseware spontaneously breaks, and the family


is attacked by malicious spirits. The most infamous scenes see Bobby grabbed by the twisted, old tree in the backyard and attacked by a terrifying clown doll, Dana


tossed onto the ceiling of her bedroom and Carol Anne sucked into a portal in her closet. The young girl disappears but her voice can be heard from inside the TV, so the family calls in parapsychologists from the local university – Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight), Marty (Martin Casella) and Ryan (Richard Lawson) – who determine that the home is haunted by multiple ghosts. As Steven soon discovers, via his boss Lewis Teague (Return of the Living Dead’s James Karen), the house was built on a former cemetery. The researchers bring in Tangina Barrons (diminutive character actor Zelda Rubinstein), who reveals that Carol Anne is being held by a demon called The Beast. They mount an inter-dimensional rescue mission as the spiteful forces attempt to destroy them. Lensed from May to August of 1981, Poltergeist finished shooting two days ahead


of schedule but twelve percent over budget, coming in at $10.8 million. Soon after its June 4 release, rumours began to circulate that Spielberg had enjoyed more of a creative hand in the authorship of the film than was first realized. The mud-slingers alleged that he had been on set for all but three days of the twelve-week shoot. Fu- elling the growing discontent was a trailer in which Spielberg’s name appeared twice as large as that of Hooper. MGM was subsequently fined $15,000 by the Di- rector’s Guild of America, prompting Spielberg to take an ad out in Variety, praising the “rather unique, creative collaboration” he experienced with his director. Although debates persist over how much of Poltergeist is Hooper’s doing, one


thing is certain: in their attempt to reinvigorate the haunted house formula as a state-of-the-art FX extravaganza, both men delivered a carnival ride of wonderment and visceral chills that has held audiences spellbound under its dark thrall for three decades. Indeed, the film’s oft-quoted dialogue has now entered the common ver- nacular, with lines such as “They’re heee-ere” and “This house is clean” holding the same currency as “Phone home” and “We’re gonna need a bigger boat!” In preparing this article, several members of the production, including Hooper,


Nelson and cinematographer Matthew Leonetti, among others, either declined or ignored requests for an interview. In spite of this reticence, Rue Morgue has gathered together several key contributors to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Polter- geist: co-writer Michael Grais (who also co-scripted Poltergeist II: The Other Side); actors Robins, Karen and Casella; makeup effects artist Craig Reardon; and sound effects specialists Mark Mangini and Alan Howarth (see sidebar), all discuss the film’s creation, controversies and lasting appeal.


You’re Sitting Too Close: Steven (Craig T. Nelson) wonders what Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) sees in the TV, and (opposite, clockwise from top) Nelson, JoBeth Williams, O’Rourke, Oliver Robins and Dominique Dunne.


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