Rachel Wagner Rachel's Reviews (YouTube) Oct 28, 2025

They do a great job building tension with some effective scares

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Bryce Hanson Horror Movie Talk Sep 18, 2025 10/10

It really has something for everyone. It’s accessible enough to general audiences that don’t want to see gore, or be constantly scared out of their gore, but it has enough scares and good special effects to satisfy most horror fanatics.

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Patrick Cavanaugh The Wolfman Cometh Sep 11, 2025 4/5

The major scares stuck with audiences for good reason, though it's the family dynamics that really make this one a classic.

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Julian Singleton Cinapse Jul 11, 2025

Where the shocks of Chain Saw felt limited to the avoidable horrors of back country Texas, Poltergeist places its phantoms within the walls where we feel safest: our own.

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Sean Burns Crooked Marquee Nov 2, 2023

Made around the same time Spielberg was shooting 'E.T. The Extraterrestrial' — the two films were released a week apart that summer — and in many ways it can be seen as that humane masterpiece’s sicko B-side.

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Wendy Ide The Times (UK) Oct 23, 2023

... A masterclass in creeping suburban horror.

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Jenn Adams Bloody Disgusting Feb 18, 2023 A

Though often remembered for its ominous catch phrase, “They’re here…”, its evil clown, and its gruesome conclusion, Poltergeist is a film brimming with strong female characters.

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Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand Oct 29, 2022

Tobe Hooper does a great job of creating a sense of suburban normalcy and playful family dynamics. Plus he delivers some really creepy scenes.

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Kevin Maher The Times (UK) Oct 21, 2022 4/5

One of the great anti-TV movies, alongside Network and The Truman Show.

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Peter Bradshaw Guardian Oct 21, 2022 5/5

The keynote of the film is O’Rourke’s eerie, ethereally pale face, illuminated by the unearthly light of the haunted TV.

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Olly Richards Sunday Times (UK) Oct 17, 2022

It’s not a horror with much depth, but if you like your scares jumpy, there are plenty here.

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Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Sep 25, 2022 3.5/4

Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper have refashioned the haunted-house movie as an amusement park ride, complete with plenty of jolting motion and no small measure of hair-raising turns.

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John Brosnan Starburst Jul 29, 2022

A family horror movie designed to offend as few people as possible and to appeal to the majority.

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Kristy Strouse Wonderfully Weird and Horrifying Nov 12, 2021

Poltergeist is a compelling entry that resides in a simpler, but no less effective time of supernatural horror.

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Peter Stack San Francisco Examiner Nov 11, 2021 2.5/4

Fortunately, Spielberg has maintained a wry sense of humor throughout, and that makes most of this affair rather fun.

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Michael Ventura L.A. Weekly Nov 10, 2021

Poltergeist has a humanity, a care for genuine human feeling, rarely found in scare-movies -- I left not so much afraid of nightmares, as I often am, but hoping to find a ghost of my own to mess with.

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Robin Holabird Robin Holabird Oct 15, 2021

The movie feels more family sensitive than Hooper's other works but includes its share of creepy moments and good reasons not to build your house on top of a cemetery. It also offers a classic phrase to raise hairs on the neck...

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Chris Stuckmann ChrisStuckmann.com Oct 3, 2020 B+

One of the most fun haunted house movies ever made.

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Mike Massie Gone With The Twins Sep 6, 2020 9/10

One of the all-time great haunted-house epics.

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Diego Galán El Pais (Spain) Aug 26, 2019

Poltergeist doesn't deserve serious attention... It lacks minimal logic and a coherent objective. [Full Review in Spanish]

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