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Blu-ray Review: POLTERGEIST

Oct 04, 2015 Posted by in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

The Bowen family is going through a bit of a rough patch financially. Patriarch Eric (Sam Rockwell) has been out of a job for months and wife Amy (Rosemarie DeWitt) is a writer, but spends most of her time taking care of their children—rebellious teenager Kendra (Saxon Sharbino), scared-of-everything Griffin (Kyle Catlett), and the slightly odd but well-behaved Maddison (Kennedi Clements). The family is forced out of their home and must move somewhere cheaper, but the only thing in their price range is a foreclosed property in a less-desirable part of town. However, the realtor failed to disclose that the house had been built on top of a graveyard.

Shortly after moving in, strange things start occurring. Youngest Maddie is constantly waking up in the middle of the night to talk to the static on the television. One night Griffin follows her and is totally creeped out when she turns to him and says “They’re Here”. And he’s right to be, because that’s when all hell breaks loose, literally. The spirits are angry and start shaking the house—they want something, and they take Maddie in order to get it. Now the Bowens must seek out some unconventional assistance to help get their daughter back.

While I’ve certainly seen bits and pieces of the original Poltergeist film from the 80s, it’s not one that I know in great detail, so I was excited to see this new film. The overall framework of the movie is somewhat the same, with the remake hitting several of the original’s iconic moments. However, it does change some things up, and is certainly not a scene-for-scene remake.

Like in the original film, the parents seek out help from the paranormal research department at the local college. Dr. Brooke Powell (Jane Adams) brings students Boyd (Nicholas Braun) and Sophie (Susan Heyward) with her to the Bowen’s house to try to determine what exactly they are dealing with. However, instead of next employing a spiritual medium to help with the situation, in this modernized adaptation, the Bowens instead seek assistance from TV ghost hunter Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris). This character is a great addition to the story as he brings both gravitas and a bit of levity to the scenes he is in.

Overall, I really enjoyed the film—it had many creepy, tense and suspenseful moments. However, it wasn’t as scary or gory as I expected it to be. While I was slightly disappointed by the former, I was actually really happy about the latter—it was nice to see a suspenseful film that doesn’t rely on blood and guts to make you scared. The first 45 minutes of the film builds the tension slowly, which then leads into a short lull before everything goes crazy for the intense finale.

The Blu-ray presentation is top notch. The picture quality is nearly perfect and the audio track surrounds the viewer in every squeak, crash or whatever creepy noises the poltergeists are creating to make their presence known. However, on the flip side, the bonus material included is quite disappointing. Besides including two cuts of the film, there are only a few small bonus features—a short alternate ending, a twelve photo production gallery and two theatrical trailers for the film.

The extended version of the film is the one I would recommend watching as it contains 7 extra minutes, and a couple extra creepy, suspense-filled moments. TCFHE has also released this title in a 3D combo pack that contains an extra 3D Blu-ray disc with the theatrical cut of the film in 3D. It’s great to see them still supporting this format for those who prefer to watch films in 3D!




What’s Included:

Film: (Theatrical 1:33:41, Extended 1:40:53)

    Blu-ray:

    • 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1
    • Audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1 (Theatrical Only), Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French (Quebec) Dolby Digital 5.1, French DTS 5.1, Castilian DTS 5.1, German DTS 5.1, Italian DTS 5.1, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, Hindi Dolby Digital 5.1
    • Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French (Quebec), French, Castilian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Hindi, Arabic, Tamil, Telugu, Mandarin, Turkish

    Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 9/29/2018):

    • Digital Copy of Extended Cut redeemable via iTunes, Flixster (UV), Google Play or Vudu (UV)

Extras:

  • Extended Cut (1:40:53)
    The extended cut of the film adds 7 minutes of footage back into the film. The alternate scenes are noted on the disc when you are navigating the chapters. The extra footage provides a few fun tense moments, and some additional footage of the family moving in and getting things set up that we don’t see in the theatrical version.
  • Alternate Ending (1:46)
    The ending used for the film provides a more upbeat, fun ending to the movie. This one additional scene does the usual horror film trope of showing that things aren’t necessarily over.
  • Gallery (1:03)
    Use your remote control to manually step through this gallery of 12 production stills, or let the slideshow auto-advance every 5 seconds.
  • Theatrical Trailers
    • Theatrical Trailer 1 (2:20)
    • Theatrical Trailer 1 (1:41)
  • Sneak Peek (9:31)
    Play All or select from trailers for “Discover Digital HD”, Before I Wake, The Exorcism of Molly Hartley, The Pyramid, American Horror Story: Freak Show, and The Lazarus Effect.

 


Final Thoughts:

My Rating
Film:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Recommended

I really enjoyed this new version of the Poltergeist. The movie has a great cast and some really suspenseful moments. If I had one complaint, it’s that the film wasn’t as scary as I had hoped it would be—I had no problems sleeping the night after I watched it! The Blu-ray audio and video presentation is really well done, but the disc is lacking in bonus features. However, I think it’s worth checking out for the film itself.