13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2009: Night #13 Poltergeist

Ah! It's Hallowe'en! How are you my pretties? Ready with your candy and drinks to settle in for our movie of the dark night of nights? Good. Sit back and press play on the number one pick for Hallowe'en and my all time favourite horror movie, Poltergeist. This week I read more than one article talking about people's memories of their early horror movie experiences and the sense of great fear, dread, and trepidation of but immense attraction to particular films and shows. For me Poltergeist stands as one of my experiences like that. The commercials and trailers for Poltergeist were terrifying and I loved every jangly-nerve, heart beating hard moment until I could see the movie. I saw it short weeks after Xtro on that same video disc format. I don't know how many times I watched it that weekend, but it was a lot.

One thing I always say about Poltergeist is that it is the most beautiful horror movie I've seen. Some of the scenes are just as awe inspiring as they are creepy or scary. Beyond the visuals there is also the family component that adds so much to the movie. The horror is so much the better for the contrasting scenes and for the real tension created because we feel for this family. The movie touches on a lot horror staples providing a great smorgasbord of terrors. Then there are the imagined horrors behind the scenes. The Poltergeist trilogy has been considered cursed, what with the deaths of Dominique Dunne (murdered), Julian Beck and Will Sampson (cancer), and finally child star Heather O'Rourke (disease). On the other hand Craig T. Nelson has done more than all right.

Mood: festive.

Music: This Is Halloween by Danny Elfman off of The Nightmare Before Christmas (soundtrack).