Poltergeist (Blu-ray Book Packaging)(2008)

Review by John "Spooky Sully" Sullivan



If I made a list of my top ten scariest movies of all-time, 1982's Poltergeist would have a forever-engraved spot in the top five. As I stated before, it's the paranormal and unseen things that get me in a movie, not a killer in a mask. As a kid, many things about this movie were unsettling and made me think twice about my own household surroundings. And it was the movie's advertising tagline "It Knows What Scares You" that really scared the willies out of me! For everyone who has never seen it, here is the plot.
Enter The Freeling home. A nice, suburban locale for a nice surburban family. One night as everyone sleeps, the youngest daughter Carol Anne awakens to hear voices coming from the tv set. After supernatural forces shake the house and everyone awake, Carol Anne then lets her family in on a little secret - "They're Heere!" As the story goes on, strange, unexplainable things start to happen for The Freeling's until one dark and stormy night, their daughter disappears. Realizing they can hear her voice only through the television set, they bring in a group of local paranormal researchers to help find young Carol Anne. After investigating, they then come to the conclusion that the source of the disturbances is coming from the kids' closet. From then on out, it's more than any ghost enthusiast could hope for with plenty of shocks, scares, apparitions, and of course one of the best unforgettable endings to a horror movie ever!
Being one of my favorite movies of all time, when I heard they were releasing a 25th anniversary version a few years back, my thoughts were endless with the possibilities! So with the popularity of hi-def blu-ray, I opted for the book packaging which is identical to the regular blu-ray except with more of a "book-on-the-shelf" look and a collectible booklet inside. The case itself looks really nice and the booklet is a great read. The picture and quality - very impressive and really looks like a brand new movie. The special features for an anniversary edition however, should have stayed on '"The Other Side".
If the only extra on this was the original theatrical trailer, maybe I'd be ok with that. After all, that is what was released on the first dvd version. But instead of including it on this so-called 25th anniversary edition, the blu-ray has omitted that and replaced it with a two-part documentary entitled - They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists Revealed. After watching this "bonus" feature, I was disappointed thouroughly. I mean I would rather have heard a commentary from key cast members or even Tobe Hooper or Spielberg than this. I am sure there are a "haunting" amount of features out there from behind-the-scenes footage to numerous tv spots, radio spots and documentaries that would have fit nicely on a one-disc blu-ray or two-disc dvd set. As a long time fan of this film, that's what I would like to see. Maybe Warner Brothers could do it right and re-release it again this year. After all, 2012 is the 30th anniversary of when we would never look at television sets and clowns the same way again!