Movies
[Vintage Video] 36 Years Ago, Chilling ‘Poltergeist’ Trailer Used Paranormal Experts to Tease the Horror
The unknown will be revealed. The visible will be seen.
As horror fans, we’ve all spent too much time debating who actually directed 1982’s Poltergeist. Was it Tobe Hooper, who is officially credited as director? Or was it Steven Spielberg, who was credited as producer but sure seems to have had a hand in the film’s directing? On that subject, I ask a more important question: does it really matter?
No matter who directed the bulk of Poltergeist, the fact of the matter is that it’s one of the best horror films ever made, introducing us to a truly likable family and then subjecting them to iconic and enduring sequences of terror. Many films over the years have tried to do what Poltergeist did 36 years ago… most have failed.
Yes, Poltergeist turned 36 today, having been originally released on June 4, 1982. In celebration of the anniversary, writer Shane Bitterling shared the film’s original teaser trailer over on Twitter, which we figured we’d share with you guys. The teaser mostly used still images from the film, alongside interview snippets with paranormal experts.
Bitterling recalls, “This is the first trailer I saw for [Poltergeist] and one of my favorites ever. The “real” paranormal experts scared the poo out of me and solidified that I would never see the movie. That lasted until June 4th.“
The unique teaser advertised that Poltergeist was “the first real ghost story,” and goddamn was it effective. It managed to spoil nothing about the movie while ensuring anyone who saw it simply *had* to buy a ticket, teasing the horror that awaited inside that darkened theater without actually providing any real peeks at it.
It worked. Poltergeist was a smash hit. Today, it’s an all-time great.
Movies
‘Abigail’ on Track for a Better Opening Weekend Than Universal’s Previous Two Vampire Attempts
In the wake of Leigh Whannell’s Invisible Man back in 2020, Universal has been struggling to achieve further box office success with their Universal Monsters brand. Even in the early days of the pandemic, Invisible Man scared up $144 million at the worldwide box office, while last year’s Universal Monsters: Dracula movies The Last Voyage of the Demeter and Renfield didn’t even approach that number when you COMBINE their individual box office hauls.
The horror-comedy Renfield came along first in April 2023, ending its run with just $26 million. The period piece Last Voyage of the Demeter ended its own run with a mere $21 million.
But Universal is trying again with their ballerina vampire movie Abigail this weekend, the latest bloodbath directed by the filmmakers known as Radio Silence (Ready or Not, Scream).
Unlike Demeter and Renfield, the early reviews for Abigail are incredibly strong, with our own Meagan Navarro calling the film “savagely inventive in terms of its vampiric gore,” ultimately “offering a thrill ride with sharp, pointy teeth.” Read her full review here.
That early buzz – coupled with some excellent trailers – should drive Abigail to moderate box office success, the film already scaring up $1 million in Thursday previews last night. Variety notes that Abigail is currently on track to enjoy a $12 million – $15 million opening weekend, which would smash Renfield ($8 million) and Demeter’s ($6 million) opening weekends.
Working to Abigail‘s advantage is the film’s reported $28 million production budget, making it a more affordable box office bet for Universal than the two aforementioned movies.
Stay tuned for more box office reporting in the coming days.
In Abigail, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
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