Poltergeist

This review may contain spoilers.

This film just felt like a bad rip off The Conjuring in the way it was made. I would give Poltergeist a 6/10.

Poltergeist has some great visual effects within this film; the type that really bolstered it's ability as a remake. Furthermore the film has some great cinematography, set up in a way that showed the close reactions of the characters and the actual horror unfolding. The pacing of the plot was great, moving through a really solid three act structure.

Kyle Catlett, who played Griffin Bowen, proved himself to be a really good protagonist in this film; it was through his eyes that we watched most of this film and he really spearheaded through the plot of the story in a way that speaks wonders about his acting talent. Kennedi Clements, who played Madison Bowen, is one of the best child actors I've seen; she delivers the role of spirit interaction in a powerful way but also shows the horror elements of the film really well. Jared Harris, who played Carrigan Burke, could have been a gimmick character like Adams' one was; however he really embodied this role of travelling psychic and launched his energy into the bravado of the role.

However the best performance came from Sam Rockwell, who played Eric Bowen. Rockwell is well known to be a comedic actor, and he utilised his comedy to maneuver out of what could have been a stereotypical horror film role. He brought a degree of realism to his character which really made his character more engaging. It was also when it came to portraying extremes of emotion that we saw how great an actor Rockwell is.

Yet despite all this Poltergeist fell flat on a story that was less scary and more startling; it went off track and never found it's mojo again. The first half of the film set up a brilliant haunted house story but the minute the occult people entangled into the plot it got messy and confusing. There were more complexities than what was needed. Furthermore the music for this film was very generic and quite uninspired.

Rosemarie DeWitt, who played Amy Bowen, was very generic in her maternal role in this film; she cried and flustered over her children and didn't do a whole lot more. Saxon Sharbino, who played Kendra Bowen, was one of those really unnecessary roles; despite being a part of the family she had very little to do with the plot or any subplots. Jane Adams, who played Dr. Brooke Powell, was a bit erratic in her performance; it was like she was delivering a powerful role until she was undercut by this heartsick persona she wound up playing. Susan Heyward, who played Sophie, was incredibly underused despite having some of the better lines of the film; her screen presence is simply not there. Nicholas Braun, who played Boyd, was very generic as the profession who doubles as skeptic; beyond this his role was only used to extend the horror value of the film.