Editorials
Horror Education Of The Week: ‘Poltergeist’
“Some people believe that when you die there is a wonderful light. As bright as the sun but it doesn’t hurt to look into it. All the answers to all the questions you want to know are inside that light. And when you walk to it… you become a part of it forever. Now, some people die, but they don’t know they’re gone…”
Poltergeist is brilliant and beautiful. The events in the 1982 film almost seem like they could truly happen, and perhaps they have without the world knowing. Set in perfect suburbia, five year old Carol Anne Freeling awakens her family one night, yelling into the static of the television.
Little does the Freeling family know that Carol Anne, having been born in their perfect house in Cuesta Verde, has a light within her that is a gateway to the afterlife. A light which will let the spirits, or the “tv people”, into our world – starting with two little words:
“They’re here.”
The scares in Poltergeist come from subtle everyday occurrences or objects that turn menacing and horribly frightening. The believability and natural ease of the actors that portray our main characters, and our commonplace landscape, make everything that much more awesome.
It’s these little everyday things made to be terrifying that make Poltergeist so damn good. Here are a few of them to note:
– It all begins with little Carol Anne. Talking to the tv, answering unheard questions.
– How often do we see children talking to themselves or to an imaginary friend? Carol Anne’s answering questions being asked of her by an unseen entity is spooky because it is incredibly realistic.
– Older brother Robbie is awkward and has a sweet room decorated with numerous Star Wars toys, posters and sheets, an Alien poster and a clown doll. That f***ing clown doll…
– How many of us had some sort of toy as a child that looked far more menacing than it really was? The use of this doll is brilliant in this respect. Something so inanimate can take on a life of its own with the right mindset.
– Diane Freeling blames her daughter’s activities first on sleepwalking, as she herself did it when she was 10 years old.
– Again, how many of us have experienced this? Apparently my mother found me many times in our kitchen, staring at a wall. If she tried to nudge me to go back to bed I’d either start talking to her in incoherent message “I have to get toys for the boys” was one line, or I’d walk in circles. I remember nothing of this.
– Diane and Steve are seen smoking pot before all of the weird occurrences begin.
– While this isn’t a common everyday thing for most people, the idea that they’re “bad” parents by doing drugs is something to note. Perhaps their “troubles” could be seen as stemming from this act.
– The creepy tree. Steve tells Robbie to not be afraid, it’s just an “old tree” that has been around since before the company he works for built the neighborhood. He tells Robbie the tree is there to protect him. Robbie’s response? “It looks at me. It knows I live here.”
– Trees ARE creepy. If you stare at a tree long enough, its bark inevitably becomes a tough skin, any knots or holes become a face. And perhaps it is just sitting there, waiting to eat you.
– The closet is the portal to the other side. It opens up and sucks Carol Anne inside.
– Come on, do I have to explain the disturbing nature of closets?
– Ebuzz, the dog, is seen barking at the wall, ultimately bringing a toy to an unseen playmate. And he sits, patient, waiting as Diane nervously looks on.
– I have two cats that will suddenly both stare at the same spot in the room. No, there was no sound, there is no bug, there is nothing there I see that could cause them to do so. Maybe it is movies like Poltergeist that bring attention to something more malevolent that could be taking place, or it could be that Poltergeist is making something out of nothing. Either way, it’s great.
– THE SWIMMING POOL! After Carol Anne is sucked away while the family is distracted by Robbie and the tree, Diane’s first instinct after a furious search is the pool.
– I’ve had many moments very recently while watching my nieces and nephew where I turn around and they’re gone. Where are they? Where did they go? Immediately a mothering mind goes to the worst case scenario in that brief second. The idea of an open watery grave in the backyard is simple and terrifying.
– The entity, the Beast, tricks Carol Anne, speaking to her, as Tangina states, as a child. Confusing her to the point that she thinks it is another child.
– How often in real life are children lured in some way by someone who can speak on their level? Predators do this in many forms – more prominent now with the internet – with the ultimate wish of harming the innocent child in some way.
– Steak. Something as innocent as steak is made to be terrifying. Marty just wants a snack and well, that steak is a bad choice. He feels sick and runs to the bathroom…only to tear his face off.
– I don’t know about you, but the steak still grosses me out to this day. And following it up with the face scene? Sheesh. It’s a reminder to not eat raw meat and to never look in the mirror when on hallucinogenics. Not that I take hallucinogenics…
– In the end, we learn that a greedy Mr. Teague is to blame, ultimately. He removed the headstones from the cemetery that Cuesta Verde was built on, but did not remove the bodies. “It’s just people. We’ve done it before.”
– Greedy bastards. They’re everywhere. And they’re just another simple occurrence shown in Poltergeist that are just a reflection of everyday life.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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