Unlike some recent episodes where I’ve struggled to pick appropriate movies to watch for our Film After 11 podcast’s run through the alphabet this year, I knew exactly where I wanted to go for the letter “P.” This week, my son Joseph sits down for Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper’s 1982 haunted house thrill ride Poltergeist. I doubt the movie actually scared the kid at all, but he had a good time with it, which is all I can ask.

Poltergeist has long been the target of speculation about its directorial credit. As producer, Spielberg took an extremely heavy hand during its making, showing up to set every day and imposing his own creative decisions. While most of the cast (except Zelda Rubinstein) say Hooper directed them, many from the crew claim otherwise. At the end of the day, it’s clear this was a passion project for Spielberg, and the final result feels more of his oeuvre than of the guy who made The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Regardless of any of that controversy, Poltergeist remains an enormously enjoyable light-horror flick that worked out just about perfectly for both a 12-year-old, first-time viewer and his dad. We had fun both watching and talking about it afterward.

Title:	Poltergeist
Year of Release:	1982
Director:	Tobe Hooper
Watched On:	4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Also Available On:	Blu-ray Howdy Various VOD rental and purchase platforms/

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Poltergeist first came to Blu-ray in 2008 via Warner Home Video, distributing for MGM. I bought that in a Digibook package, which you can see in the podcast episode, though we didn’t actually watch it that way this time. I hadn’t looked at that disc in over a decade.

A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray manifested in 2022, now under the branding of SDS, a distribution partnership between Warner Bros. and Universal Studios. The UHD package also includes a standard Blu-ray that has new menus and couple additional bonus features, but I can’t tell whether it’s actually been remastered from the new source or is just a re-encoding of the previous video master. They look pretty much the same to me. The new disc is perhaps an infinitesimal bit sharper, but that could just be due to better compression and is unlikely to be noticed during regular playback. (Click the links in the captions for the full-size images. I’m unable to take 4K screencaps at this time.)

The 4K disc itself looks terrific. Although pretty grainy at times, especially during the opening credits, the 2.40:1 image is nicely sharp and detailed, with vibrant colors and strong contrast. The HDR grade is lovely and makes great use of highlights during the many strobe light effects. (Light-sensitive viewers should be advised that this movie could be legitimately dangerous for them. I don’t have that particular ailment myself but can sympathize.)

The only audio option on the disc is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack, remixed from the original Dolby Stereo surround. The results are kind of a mixed bag, but I don’t know if that’s the fault of the remix or stems from the original source. In the track’s favor, the Jerry Goldsmith score sounds pretty good and the movie has a ton of discrete directional effects that are a lot of fun. At one point, a mosquito circles the room in an amusing way. On the low-end, thunder rumbles well.

The movie makes very effective use of quiet scenes to create discomfort. In those moments, the clarity of whispers and subtle sound effects is well delivered. However, in general, dialogue sounds a little muted, perhaps rolled-off. The louder big scare scenes also feel dulled.

The older Warner Bros. Blu-ray from 2008 only offered a half-hour making-of documentary, split into two parts. That’s retained on the newer Blu-ray copy, which also adds a trailer and a 7-minute vintage promo piece filmed during production. In the latter, I have to say, it sure looks like Steven Spielberg directed this movie. He’s seen right there on set, telling everybody what to do and orchestrating the effects set-pieces. While Tobe Hooper is shown briefly, he hardly says anything.

The 4K disc has no extra features on it. They only appear on the Blu-ray copy.

Related

• Steven Spielberg (producer)
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  • Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)
  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)
  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
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  • Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
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  • Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
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