I'm not a massive fan of reboots. But it’s a horror, so of course it’s a reboot/remake/reimagining/upteenth sequel/Hollywood without an original thought… All the usual protests.
To be fair to reboots, I loved The Amazing Spiderman (2012) whereas I hatedSpiderman (2002) and what annoyed me about The Amazing Spiderman (2012) being released was the miniscule five year gap between Tobey Maguire’s nauseating Spiderman 3 (2007) and the 2012 reboot with the amazing Andrew Garfield. So at least Poltergeist have time on their side, the original being from 1982. Am I completely disregarding the two sequels? Yes. Why Poltergeist is being rebooted 33 years later is a question for another day.? Should classic, ground-breaking films be remade? The answer is yes, but by gosh, you better hope something new is bought to the table.
Two moments struck me about this trailer. Firstly it stars the wildly talented Sam Rockwell playing a horror movie Dad, an unassumingly ordinary role that might just be a waste of his talents. Dad runs after his possessed daughter. Other family members reach out to stop Dad going after her and all I could think was what awful family members, why wouldn’t a Dad want to go after his daughter? Demonic or not! And though that last reveal was predictable, it made me jump. Successful horror films make you more than scared at the cinema, they make you scared to drive home or turn on the tv or be more careful where you buy a house. Seriously, are there not laws about building homes over cemeteries?!
Will Poltergeist scare you enough? Hard to tell from a minute-long clip, but it’s a well-edited clip with a strong actor involved, so we can hope for the best…
Poltergeist is out May 22nd