Spielberg, Hooper & The Suburban Horror of POLTERGEIST

[@MattDraper]

What’s your favorite haunted house story?

[@ginofrancejr555]

Poltergeist the shining insidious

[@carsonsmith7314]

The Haunting of Hill House (Both the 1963 movie and the Netflix movie.) and The Shining.

[@albaniahenry-franklin2829]

"The Haunting" 1963.

[@diegolorente8435]

Egg pope

[@pjhunt4135]

The haunting of hill house

[@pantone41]

Matt Draper has resisted the need to appear on camera or use "related" inserts to tell his stories, and I really appreciate that. Narration is best served without a face.

[@gallery7596]

Yes, there are some video makers who I think would do well to follow Matt's example.

[@darklordgrim8484]

The line "She walked through my soul..." is such a good line and genuinely felt the emotion in that scene. Incredible movie!

[@scottielise]

It doesn't matter how many times I see it, that moment makes me tear up.

[@Anynom]

I have no idea why but my parents took me to see this in theaters when I was 8 years old. I have NEVER been able to watch it start to finish since, gave me nightmares for weeks.

[@mandalorianhunter1]

The movie that I saw so many parodies of. The family guy one is one of my favorites. Honestly this and the Amityville horror got me scared of certain houses. Another great review

[@jasonhunter2819]

Jerry Goldsmith's score is SO good, giving the movie a gentle, haunting tone

[@thomasffrench3639]

I am firmly in the camp that it was directed by Tobe Hooper, as it feels more like a Tobe Hooper movie than a Spielberg film. Sure it does not feel like TCM, but it is similar to Salem's Lot, and almost identical in style to The Funhouse. It does have a Spielberg touch to it, as the production and special effects are very Spielberg in a lot of ways, but this is mostly Hooper. Hooper filmmaking is way more diverse than people give him credit for. I think that the lack of respect for Hooper and horror filmmaking is apparent in the accusations, and it is unfortunate that it ended up that way.

[@BoyNamedSue4]

The first film is one of those films that end so perfectly I never had any interest in the sequels.

[@wowmartiean]

Oh good for you.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

And a remake

[@thomasffrench3639]

That's how I feel about Halloween lol

[@Yashichi788]

Poltergeist 2 is awesome, but you can skip Poltergeist 3, that one just sucks 😂😅

[@alejandrojuarez5640]

@@thomasffrench3639 I'm mostly the same, but I still have a soft spot for Halloween 2.

[@carsonsmith7314]

I didn't grow up with this movie, but I'm the first to put it on my list of the best Ghost movies and haunted house movies of all time. It's easily one of the best films by both Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg.

[@BartT75]

Poltergeist taught an entire generation that sound (thunder) travels 1 mile in 5 seconds

[@thomasffrench3639]

One of my favorite Hooper films with Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Salem's Lot. I watched this film again recently, and it is so amazing. It just has an excellent cast and story, and it is funnier than most horror comedies.

[@ginofrancejr555]

All time classic poltergeist is along with the shining and the Amityville horror are classic gothig ghost stories told in unique ways

[@ginofrancejr555]

And the tragedies the befell the franchise are still hauting to this day

[@jasonblalock4429]

12:00 this annoys me about a lot of other ghost movies. People see absolute confirmation of an afterlife, yet rarely bring up the larger issues. Sure, some movies have plots so tight that the characters aren't able to chat, but if there's downtime, one of the first conversations should always be "HOLY SHIT GHOSTS ARE REAL THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING" And it wouldn't just be navel-gazing. Scenes like that are a perfect way to get some character development into movies that often lack strong characters. How they react to the events *philosophically* would say a lot about them as people.

[@terry1912]

I can't picture the family getting philosophical after the kid gets sucked in, but I always thought it odd that mom was having such pa great time with daughter sliding across floor. No thought of ghosts or danger, just 'check it out, hon, isn't this fun?'

[@Mephiestopholes]

Ooooooo Oo Oo Oooooo Right at lunch break. These movies scared me even into my teens.

[@mctwist13]

Just found your channel this morning. Very impressive work. Definitely earned my sub. Your channel will be at a million before you know it. This level of production is sadly missing in most videos today.

[@Modenut]

I watched Poltergeist 3 and The Prince of Darkness back to back the same day in the theatre back in the day. I was paranoid about mirrors for a few days lol

[@yubbnubber3245]

Whenever someone tells me Hooper didn’t direct Poltergeist, I tell them to watch his previous film Funhouse. To me there is a clear line between the two.

[@thomasffrench3639]

Funhouse is not one of my favorites, but it does feel like a slasher version of Poltergeist.

[@jikorijo4516]

Good video! I didn't grow up with Poltergeist when I was a kid, but I was aware of it from it being referenced in Family Guy and it being well-liked as a horror film. I enjoyed it when I finally saw it. Haven't seen any of the sequels, other than Siskel and Ebert's review of Poltergeist 3, where they complain about how many times Carol Anne's name is said throughout the film.😂 Also, there was a remake?!😵‍💫

[@jonathanmulondo9206]

Poltergeist is the definitive family horror movie. It's definitely a spiritual precursor to Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark and to a certain degree Stranger Things.The sequels aren't bad but could've been better with their concepts.

[@robderiche]

saw original theatrical release at maybe just a little too young an age. when i got home, everyone in suburban neighborhood was out on their lawns trying to stay cool-heatwave caused a small blackout, whole neighborhood was dark and our house was pitch black. “there are leftovers for you in the fridge,” my mom said. a kitchen was the last place i wanted to be but i couldn’t cop to being freaked out by a movie lest i lose the privilege of seeing grownup films, so i toughed it out despite being scared shirtless. that night is etched deep in memory.

[@Jamesotronart]

The face tearing scene definitely stuck with me after I watched it all those years ago.

[@magitek09]

Gosh darn it, I've been stuck with a scene from this movie the whole week!!! At the very end, with that sign and the "we'll miss you" it's been stuck on my head, but I couldn't remember which movie it came from!

[@johnpittsii7524]

Thanks for the amazing video Matt ❤️

[@jamesabernethy7896]

This is such a great movie. Because of my love of Sci-fi , I watched a lot of stuff about special effects. This naturally extended to horror movies but I often found the movies themselves to be cheesy. I'm starting to try and watch more actual horror and really enjoying it. I watched this 2-3 months ago after picking it up from a charity shop. I love how the characters feel so grounded and relatable, even with all the fantastical events around them. Great effects, great pacing and brilliant score. I'm not American but these Suburban settings really relate to me, a sense of knowing your neighbours. I also watched Insidious 1 and 2 a couple of weeks ago. Really solid movies, especially the first. Although I get what you're saying I didn't find Insidious too derivative. Poltergeist was told THROUGH the people and Insidious was told ABOUT the people. Great retrospective.

[@vodoodoll6953]

This was the first horror movie I ever saw. I was 4. I was raised by my grandmother and she was obsessed with ghosts. For some reason she thought i could handle it. She was right. It scared the shit out of me and i couldn't really look in a mirror for a long time but it made me realize i love being scared as long as it's not real. I've been obsessed with horror ever since. I remember telling the kids in my nursery school about it and told her i wanted to show them. She let me take the Vhs the next day 😂 of course they didn't let us watch it but I still have the VHS with my name in her handwriting and its one of my most sentimental things I own.

[@MatineeIdyll129]

"...and with E.T. released one week later, it really was the Summer Of Spielberg." John Carpenter is bristling right now

[@davebooth5608]

Watched “Salom’s Lot” when it came out as a kid and had to turn it off! I was a scarred 10yr old! Would like to see a retrospective on that! Thank you for this channel!

[@MrStath1986]

I watched it for the first time earlier this year; Mr Barlow is still incredibly creepy.

[@thomasffrench3639]

I just saw it a few days ago. It’s so good and creepy. Tobe Hooper is a master

[@lazypugfilms]

Tobe Hooper! A true legend in horror. One of my favorites

[@chrisprescott2273]

Poltergeist is in my top three movies of all time. Poltergeist 2 is such an underrated film and I adore it and especially loved Taylor the shaman. Also Reverend Kane was really scary. Poltergeist 3 we don't talk about because it makes me sad.

[@ThroughtheLensProductions]

Jesus, Matt: why did you have to make me cry with the final sentence of your essay?

[@shanepetyko8004]

I loved and was terrified of it as a child and feel like it aged so well if it came today it would be Oscar worthy

[@ba6428]

It's Hooper's film, but you do see scenes and sequences that pretty much shout "Spielberg", in particular the scene in the upstairs hallway before they go in to rescue Carol Anne. It's all a oner, beginning with a tight shot of the tennis ball in Dr. Mitchell's hand, pull-back to a wide shot of the hallway and personages, with the choreography of the actors in the frame and the frame itself constantly shifting, characters approaching camera, moving away from it, ending with a close-up of Tangina grasping the bedroom doorknob. Hooper may have called action on that shot but I am convinced Spielberg at least helped block it; you see oners like this across Spielberg's work but not so much in Hooper's. But looking at Poltergeist alongside Lifeforce and Invaders from Mars you see Hooper contributed as much to the film's look and staging as Spielberg supposedly did.

[@BubblegumCrash332]

That white long legged Skeleton Ghost in front of the door was in my nightmares all thru the 80s

[@StoneyBrownTV]

I saw this movie in theaters and was probably too young to be seeing it. This movie gave me nightmares. I still have an issue sleeping with the closet door open.

[@RobGa66]

Here’s something to think about: early in the movie, CarolAnne’s pet bird, Tweety, dies and she gets 2 pet goldfish. Later on, when CarolAnn is sucked into the other dimension, do the goldfish go also? It can be assumed that they did because when Dr Lech and her assistants are standing at the bedroom door and looking into the bedroom, the goldfish or the bowl are not seen. So, if the goldfish went into the other dimension, wouldn’t the spirits on the other side be attracted to the goldfish’s life source? Something to think about..

[@ChrisAguilera-q3l]

Was that a picture of the kids from Poltergeist and ET with Speilberg at @17:43?

[@bingerz237]

Indeed it is

[@mordaciousfilms]

Come to think of it... there are certain elements obviously borrowed for EVIL DEAD II and I had never thought of that until watching these clips together now - the tree, the spiral portal, the giant skull face in the open doorway... lots of imagery like that.

[@meimei8718]

Great movie thanks for covering it

[@scatsandwich38]

Watched this with my dtr recently and she loved it. Half way through the movie she asked me “does”anyone die in this movie?” I thought for a moment and answered “No.”. Great movie.

[@rayjoe5]

@9:55 Obligatory shout out to Matt for using Hollow Knight music again. 💪

[@WilliamTucker-x1q]

Rev. Cain is still scary

[@Briarpatchlogic]

Some very interesting points...although ive been very familiar with this film for years, i never saw it in quite the light you ascribe. It would be more correct to say: I never assigned the depth of emotion you point out. New found appreciation

[@guillermomedina7793]

My favorite haunted house movie of all time. I always wanted Diane and Steve Freeling to be my parents. 😂

[@newtypepunk9967]

Ah one of the few films that actually gave me nightmares (I was young) and I refuse to watch it ever again lol. Great video.

[@VoiceInHisHead]

Just watched this for the first time last week, and it was not at all what I was expecting. I really enjoyed it, but no doubt would've found it scary as a kid. It's much more of a family friendly, ET horror film, which makes sense of course.

[@LukeLovesRose]

To me, Poltergeist IS the greatest haunted house movie ever made.

[@casachezdoom2588]

Just realized the actor playing the developer/contractor was in Return of the Living Dead… kinda fitting lol

[@madmarx7543]

The thing that annoys me about Pet Sematary is that in the book it ISN'T a Native burial ground, because of course it's not why would you make a burial ground out of a patch of dirt that turns corpses into angry zombies? Jud explains in the book that the natives were wary of the ground in the Pet Sematary and avoided it at all costs.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

Moment you said tobe hooper knew you’d say that hohoho

[@Anynom]

And one of the most "who really directed this" debates in film history.

[@thomasffrench3639]

Hooper definitely directed most of it.

[@KyleRDent]

0:01 Flashing light warning throughout.

[@robcressey7228]

I keep seeing people say they were an average family. Yes in a nice loving way. But as a kid who was 12 in 1982, these guys were RICH! They had a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath with a 2 car garage and a den. They had 3 TV'S!! They were putting in a pool! Had Star Wars toys. She didn't work. They rich by 1982 standards. Also don't know if the unmoved graves checks out. No one else had a pool or basement? No one dug six feet down? Really?

[@MrStath1986]

I mean, Steve works for the company that's building the estates and the midpoint scene with his boss talking about a new development kinda implies it's a perk for his job. As for the graves, it depends on just how far down they were and how much the land was rearranged; I'd wager they were buried just below the floor of the pool. And the reaction from Steve's boss in the finale all but confirms Steve was right.

[@theblacklagoon]

They were upper middle class. Rich is mansions, multiple houses, multiple expensive cars, expensive clothing and jewelry, extensive traveling all over the world, etc. etc.

[@Deadwolf27]

Thanks for letting me know I literally never need to see Insidious

[@JediJunkie247]

The first is a classic. No doubt about it. While the second isn't great, I still enjoyed it. I actually saw the second one on home video before ever seeing the original. I was a kid, and some of it was quite disturbing. The third one is a mixed bag. It's not terribly scary, but not a happy film either. Especially when you consider what Heather O'Rourke was going through.

[@Hiphiphistorian]

There are people who legitimate believe in that and in curses I don't but there are people that do to say that their belief that it is a curse is debasing to their beliefs

[@Jack-ht3fr]

my first horror movie

[@henrywallacesghost5883]

I'm still waiting for a haunted trailer story😂

[@Lazarus1095]

I've seen a lot of movies by Spielberg and a few movies by Hooper. I honestly think that spillberg was the person most responsible for Poultergeist.

[@MrStath1986]

This. It's perfectly in keeping with the darker elements of Jaws and the emotional core of something like ET. I think Hooper is maybe responsible for how intense the film can feel at times, though.

[@thomasffrench3639]

Only a few? Because this is definitely a Hooper films in many ways.

[@Lazarus1095]

@@thomasffrench3639 Well, yes. I've seen Lifeforce, bits of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, abd The Mangler. So maybe 2 and a half?

[@thomasffrench3639]

@@Lazarus1095 I would check out Funhouse. It is very similar to Poltergeist.

[@henrywallacesghost5883]

Poultergeist? Is that a story about a chicken haunting😂

[@56postoffice]

The first film is an all time classic. The sequels, nah. Haven't bothered to watch the remake, never say never, curiosity is a strong thing.

[@curiousworld7912]

The one point I would give the remake, is the underlying change in how it views US economics. In the original film, America is happily capitalistic, a place where a family of five can afford a large-ish house in the 'burbs, on one income. In the remake, late-stage capitalism has left its mark in the family's far-more tenuous finances. Just an observation. :)

[@chaddelk3605]

I place each one in the exact same order. 1,2,3 and 4. The original is the best and I wouldn't waste my time with the remake.

[@attackofthecopyrightbots]

1:11 sad movie

[@stevekasan3105]

I'm not opposed to remakes, but, what do you do when the original was such a rollercoster of à film where it is hard to even come close to the grand décisions made? To me Poltregeist is one of those films. Why even bother as what can you do to set yourself apart?

[@Nono-hk3is]

GOOD LORD Jobeth Williams is attractive

[@gallery7596]

"Poltergeist," "The Thing From Another World," "Tombstone,": all films cursed with this lingering suspicion about who actually directed them. Hate it.

[@sam-co1oo]

i like the remake

[@WillisWheeler]

For me I actually like part 2 more then part 1. Because of Kane . God is in his holy temple.

[@briansays2286]

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@dustywaynemusic6297]

I've had 2 terrifying, unexplainable, possibly paranormal experiences while watching films. Both involved objects in my house moving loudly, visibly, and violently with no apparent natural or human contact. One happened while watching Poltergeist. I was joking about a "ghost" in my house during the chair scene and said "why can't my ghost do something cool like that?" My window blinds immediately started shaking violently, and the window was closed. I just said "fair enough" and finished the movie. The other time I was watching The Exorcist. I said nothing, then my front door started shaking violently and I SAW the doorknob turning. I opened the door, while it was still shaking, thinking it was someone messing with me. There was nobody there. I shut that movie off immediately and haven't watched it since. I've watched Poltergeist several times since though. Edit: I had seen both of these films many times before these experiences. I saw Poltergeist when I was 8, Exorcist when I was 13, these experiences happened in my 30s

[@JosephDickersonUX]

Sorry, when you look at so many scenes in the original, it's clear that Spielberg was behind the camera lens. Hooper never showed such shot choices before or since. Just watch any film by either director after watching Poltergeist.

[@thomasffrench3639]

I can see some influence from the Berg, but Hoop was definitely the guy doing most of the directing. The Funhouse has a very similar style to this movie

[@bingerz237]

The choice shots you're talking about are largely thanks to the actual person behind the camera lens, cinematographer Matthew F. Leonetti, and the picture's editor Michael Kahn, who edited over a dozen of Spielberg's movies. The direction by Hooper is clearly seen in the performances of the actors, the unsettling tone and, most of all, the scares.

[@thomasffrench3639]

@@bingerz237 Yeah, the naturalistic acting is a key aspect to Hooper's work.

[@heyhonpuds]

Big horror fan but never seen the appeal in this one. Massively overrated IMO.

[@sam-co1oo]

i think part 3 is the worst one

[@horrorsthetics]

100th like

[@paulzenco6182]

It doesn’t. Next question.

[@sspdirect02]

I covered this in my own video. I even give my thoughts on this "curse" that people seem to harp about. The Movie Isn't Cursed! kzbin.info/www/bejne/bmGnl4GHZZyKrM0si=mXMZJlk53IYbcYWq

[@MusicFromAnotherTime]

This comments section...is clean. 🫧