Caffeinated Clint
After much anticipation the new “Poltergeist” DVD arrives in stores with barely a whimper… and barely an extra.
Craig T.Nelson, Jobeth Williams, Heather O’Rourke, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne, Oliver Robins
A few months back Warner teased us with the news of a new two-disc 25th Anniversary re-issue of the original “Poltergeist” on DVD. It’d feature not only a brand-spanking new transfer but 2-discs worth of fan-friendly extras.
And then, the “Poltergeist” curse struck again – only this time, we were the ones who’d cop it.
After much anticipation the new “Poltergeist” DVD arrives in stores with barely a whimper… and barely an extra.
Something happened on the way to DVD Supplementary Materials Heaven, it seems, with near everything – bar a lousy featurette on paranormal Ghost Hunters (sheesh!) that you can find on The History Channel any god damn night of the week – extracted like a black tooth from a sore mouth.
Knowing what a huge fan of the movie he is, we offered a friend of ours, one of the biggest Poltergeist fans out there, the chance to review the DVD for us. Not surprisingly, the chap was that heartbroken by this new release he refused because ‘’I just don’t think I could come up with anything good to say about it besides that it does have an excellent transfer. The lack of special features is just such a huge letdown. The 30 minute documentary on “real ghost hunters” could have been fun in a corny kind of way if it were included along with all the other things fans were hoping for. And, despite what the early specs said, there isn’t even a trailer on the new disc.’’
Another big Spielberg-fan, Steven Awalt from SpielbergFilms.com wrote, “The bonus feature situation is a massive, massive letdown, and I’d love to be able to take a nail and magnet to the area on the DVD that has those embarrassing ass documentaries on “real” parapsychology. If the talking heads present on the documentaries are serious scientists, then I’m Colonel Sanders. There’s one “ghost hunter” that is wearing a pullover shirt with the words “Ghost Trackers” embroidered on its front. Kinda like how Einstein used to get e=MC2 half-shirts made at Super Tees.
Besides a few of the usual suspects like Hans Holzer and an oh so dapper Colin Wilson (the paranormal author, not the one Colin Wilson that works with Spielberg), we get a bunch of people who walk around with low-tech geegaws who claim to be hunting ghosts, and even a magician and a damned mountain climber!
Frank Marshall and Richard Lawson show up for ultra-brief sound bytes, which is a big tease for those who would want to hear these men and others discuss the actual film’s production. Utter Discovery channel bunk, and easily the absolute worst bonus feature ever included on a Spielberg film. Makes that damned “E.T.” planets thing palatable.”
And that’s exactly how I feel. I love this movie – considering how ‘family friendly’ it is, it’s such a terrifying movie, and holds up beautifully! – and think they’ve done a wonderful job on the transfer too, but Warner have definitely let us all down with the extras. Kane must be smiling from ear to ear to see us in such misery.
Nothing to see here. Move on.
Rating : 
(the film that is)
Reviewer : Clint Morris
