DVD REVIEWS

Poltergeist

This DVD Review of Poltergeist was compiled by Matt Goldsmith of Kangaroo Point, Brisbane.

It's good to see Signore' Speilbergo...sorry......that's a Simpsons characters...(try $teven $pielberg) didn't have the power to prevent Poltergeist from making it to DVD, luckily he only served as executive producer here, otherwise this may be another great film seen only on DIVX...No, No, I shouldn't criticise, his paranoia started after someone handed him a VHS copy of E.T....right before its' world premiere. (That'd freak me out too!!)

Set in the early eighties, the Freelings' were the first family to move into a new estate owned by the company that Steven Freeling works for. Late one night after the TV goes off the air (before the days of 24 Hr Television...weren't those hard times) little Carol Anne begins talking into the Television and wakes everybody in the house up. Thinking nothing too much of this, everybody goes back to bed. The next day when only Diane and Carol Anne are at home by themselves, strange things start to happen and soon even stranger things happen, a tree attacks the kids, puppets come to life...eventually leading to Carol Anne getting sucked into the other world and being able to communicate to the Freelings via their TV set.

The Freelings then call in the Ghostbust.....alright, alright....parapsychologists, who are somewhat skeptical at first, but soon believe them after a few things go bump in the night. Unable to help the Freelings by themselves, they call upon a Psychic (Zelda Rubinstein), who has the ability to communicate with the other side, to help the Freelings get Carol-Ann back.

Cousin Jerry has created a fantastic score to accompany this film and ILM have again come up trumps with the "Ghostly" Effects.....and there is a truly gruesome face ripping scene....I was surprised after all this time that the special and makeup Effects still look so good, even by today's standards. Director Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) has certainly been able to dish up the goods here. The expanding hallway sequence is brilliant, my favourite of all camera tricks. Another thing about Poltergeist was it's similarity to an all time favourite horror film of mine , the original Nightmare on Elm Street. There are a few too many similarities between these two films....I wonder who ripped of who.....

So how does this transfer hold up? The print must have been in pristine condition for this transfer. It is fabulous. There were no artifacts, very little grain and colour wash and only the old speck of dirt showed up on the print . Before I had tweaked my system with VE, I thought the 16:9 Enhanced, 2.35:1 ratio image looked a bit grainy, but after, NO WAY!!! This is a terrific transfer for a 17 year old film. I was even more surprised when I heard the soundtrack. This is a real trip.....The music is quite enveloping, even in the mixdown from the remastered DD5.1 track, and the surrounds in some parts are very aggressive. There isn't a great deal of difference between the 5.1 track and a mixdown of it, but the discrete mix has a slightly wider sound stage and some of the rear effects are in stereo, so it is preferable, but not vastly different.

This MGM DVD contains the usual array of features, P&S and Widescreen versions , bios, multiple language tracks and subtitles and is broken up into 48 Chapters.

While this disc cost me $US21.95, I noticed that DVDExpress have started to sell it for $US19.95 making it even more of a bargain. Not only is this a terrorifically scary horror film, it's also a great quality DVD, in all areas. Highly Recommended.

***Features ***
Screen Ratio : 16:9 (2.35:1) & P&S
Audio Tracks : English (DD5.1), French (DD2.0), Spanish (DD2.0)
Subtitles : English, French and Spanish
Region Code : 1
Chapters : 48
Running time : 114 minutes.

PICTURE QUALITY (4/5...beautiful...taken form a terrific print)
SOUND QUALITY (4/5...not too many wrinkles for its age)

Review Equipment: TV: Mitsubishi DIVA 68cm, DVD: Samsung DVD905, Receiver: Marantz SR870, Speakers: B&W 602's (front), Sony (rears), Cinema Chairs (Gilberton Recliners....okay so there not REALLY cinema chairs but they're very comfy..)