Editorials
The Iconic ‘Poltergeist’ Clown Doll Still Triggers Nightmares [Scene Screams]
![The Iconic 'Poltergeist' Clown Doll Triggers Nightmares as it Ushers in the True Climax! [Scene Screams]](https://bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/poltergeist1982-1.jpeg)
The restless spirit tormenting the Freeling home in 1982’s Poltergeist uses every scare tactic possible in its attempts to snatch young Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O’Rourke). That includes utilizing each family member’s worst fears against them and, in turn, ours. Director Tobe Hooper tackled two phobias at once when the poltergeist targets Robbie (Oliver Robins), ushering in the climax with the iconic, nightmare-inducing attack by the clown doll.
Diane (JoBeth Williams) and Steve Freeling (Craig T. Nelson) live the idyllic suburban life in a new planned community with their three children. That changes when paranormal activity plagues their home shortly after breaking ground on a backyard swimming pool. What begins as benign ramps up to a menacing degree fast until Carol Anne gets kidnapped by a malevolent entity dubbed the Beast. Poltergeist builds the terror and stakes until spiritual medium Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein) steps in and guides the Freelings through a daunting process of entering the spirit realm to retrieve their daughter. Steve nearly derails the dangerous mission out of fear for his wife and daughter, but Diane succeeds.
The entire sequence feels like a climax, from the slime-coated spectacle of crossing over and back to the emotional payoff of Carol Anne’s return. Just as the Freelings’ joyous tears dry, their sighs of relief fade and they attempt to resume their quiet life, the Beast violently pulls the rug out from under us all.
Diane, alone in the house with Carol Anne and Robbie, draws herself a bath as the house settles down for the night. Robbie nestles down under his covers, but not before giving the ghastly grinning clown doll at the foot of his bed one last anxious glance. He tries to cover it with a jacket and misses, then tamps down his fear by rolling over and ignoring it. That’s when a creak catches his attention. The clown’s chair is empty. Hooper stretches out the tension here to an unbearable degree as Robbie slowly peers around his bed and underneath it. The tension explodes when Robbie sits back up to find the clown waiting for him, where it then elongates its arms to coil around his neck and drag him under the bed. It’s the sounding alarm that signals the Beast’s final onslaught to steal Carol Anne for good.
[Related] Mediums, Mothers, and the Miraculous Women of ‘Poltergeist’
What makes this Poltergeist scene so potent isn’t just the eerie design of the clown doll, how its face grows more grotesque and toothsome, or the way Hooper stages this scare. It’s the way the filmmaker establishes Robbie’s fear of the doll very early on in the film, biding his time until the precise moment where the payoff will achieve maximum impact. In one of the first scenes with Robbie, his trepidation toward the doll is apparent as he covers its watchful gaze before bed. Hooper ensures the viewer never wholly forgets about the doll’s existence throughout, keeping it in the frame when the camera enters Robbie and Carol Anne’s bedroom.
Even as the Beast hurls visions of rotting flesh or ghostly images upon the family, the doll remains an inanimate object. It’s a passive reminder of Robbie’s fear that lulls the viewer into a distracted complacency. Then comes the false climax. The emotional relief of the Freeling reunion feels like closure with only an uplifting epilogue remaining. Tangina did, after all, proclaim the house as cleansed of evil. By the time the doll does spring to life, we’re no longer wholly prepared.
While Robbie struggles against the coiling clown, Diane faces a gauntlet of horror to race back to her children as the Beast whips up a paranormal storm. That the clown doll’s attack serves as the starting point only adds to its power.
Of all the unforgettable scares and moments in Poltergeist, the clown doll stands apart for how Hooper patiently uses it. It’s a chilling demonstration of the Beast’s tactic for using someone’s worst fears against them and how long it’s willing to wait. Triggering both pediophobia and coulrophobia at once ensures its perpetual nightmare fuel.
Scene Screams is a recurring column that spotlights the scenes in horror that make us scream, whether through fear, laughter, or tears. It examines the most memorable, and often scariest, scenes in horror and what it is about them that makes them get under our skin.
Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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