Thursday, October 9, 2014

31 DAYS OF HORROR! - Day 9: What's your favourite supernatural horror film?

"It knows what scares you."

I first saw 'Poltergeist when I was a kid, I was around maybe 9 or 10 years old. Coincidently it was a Thursday; I remember that because I had McDonald's for dinner as Thursday was always take away night. All I knew at the time about the supernatural classic was that it involved a little girl getting stuck in the telly, as my Mum put it. But as it turned out, that little girl was far more than just stuck, lost beyond that noisy fuzz we call static.

I received a proper good fright from 'Poltergeist', it was just one terrifying scene after another. I never thought I would see a tree try to devour a little boy after snatching him from his bedroom window; and I was just thinking moments before, "Why is he so scared of that three, what's it gonna do eat him? " It's the little things like that which ring turn to the film's short but very effective tagline, "It knows what scares you." The film's premise of an idealistic American family in the suburbs who suddenly find themselves terrorized by angry and violent spirits is very unsettling. Day to day life being thrown into turmoil and the endless agony of the disappearance of the youngest family member within the house, but not tucked away in any crawlspace or under any bed.

Poltergeist is a marvel of special effects, which is reason enough alone to watch it. The visual trickery, the haunting use of sound, light and shadows are significant factors that greatly contribute to the film's overall success and shock value.

I consider Poltergeist to be one of the definitive titles of it's genre and a staple of 1980s cinema. Now matter your age there's will be something within this film that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. I'm off to revisit it tight now.



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