REVIEW: Poltergeist 2015 Falls Flat!!!

We had hope for the 2015 Poltergeist, but the Gil Kenan directed REBOOT lost the essence of what makes you scared and overall, Poltergeist 2015 Falls Flat.

Overall RATING D+

Reviewed by Emilio Ricci

If you’re a Poltergeist fan then let us be the first to tell you the movie is packed with ghostly scares that don’t compare to the original.

This time around the family moves to a not so good area of town, the kids are caught up in video games and cell phones and the house they move into is an 80s style home reminiscent of the house in the original masterful collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper movie.

Yes, we said masterful, because there is NOTHING masterful about this REBOOT that should be thrown down the trash shoot.

Basically, the family is forced to downsize into a less desirable suburban neighborhood, a somewhat-ragged development that another character implies was a more popular destination in the ’90s, kind of like the original film which was more desirable in the 80s.

As an avid movie goer and critic CelebNMusic247.com went with an open mind hoping for the best, waiting for something that would scare us like the first, but instead we were left waiting, and waiting, and waiting, because It NEVER happened!

The covenant role of Carol Anne, who is now renamed as Madison and played by Kennedi Clements. We liked her acting when she is talking to the closet when the first move in, but as the Poltergeist plays out her character appeal begins to fade. Although, when the ghosts arrive, the scene lacks the scare. there is NOTHING that makes you feel afraid. The spookiest scene is the closet door that won’t open, the snaps of static electricity at the base of the stairs, and little Madison chatting with invisible friends while her parents assume they’re imaginary. But the problems of the REBOOT appear early on since Rockwell and DeWitt are constitutionally incapable of giving uninteresting performances, even in stock horror-parent roles.

Sam Rockwell is a great actor, but it seems that he was in his head too much while making this film questioning if he was over the top? He wasn’t!   Instead he came off like he played his role of Eric Bowen completely safe. Basically boring and this is NOT Rockwell’s best work, he is amazing as the conniving, manipulative Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2, but not Poltergeist. Craig T Nelson holds it down in part 1 and 2 of the original Poltergeist franchise.

Earlier this week actor Sam Rockwell was asked what scares him the most, and he replied “bad acting.” Well his performance was bad, if you put him up against Craig T Nelson, because his role as a father who is dealing with a haunting is flat. Rockwell normally takes charge of his film roles, but he lacked expression, anguish, and fear. He NEVER carries the fear and we NEVER saw it.

Next up is, Rosemarie DeWitt as Amy Bowen, whose performance was less exciting compared to paint drying. DeWitt was flat, emotionless, boring as Madison’s mother. He role is the MOST demanding, because she lost her daughter. DeWitt came off like she lost her dog, her fear is emotionless, her loss of a child was lackluster. What made it more pathetic was the backstory that she had lost her son 3 years prior and hadn’t forgiven herself. DeWitt’s performance had us begging for JoBeth Williams  (the original mom in the original Poltergeist) to pop up in the film to rescue her. None of that translated on film and to be honest it ALL falls on the director who should have told his actors to push their fear to the limits. Sorry Kenan, but maybe animation is where you should stay since you can have animators draw the fear on your character since you have no clue how to get real life actors to express REAL LOSS, REAL ANGUISH and REAL FEAR!

The 93 minutes snore fest had about 15 minutes of great filming and that is the reimagining of the clown(s) and the oldest daughter going into the garage. We understand Gil Kenan had to fill some very big shoes when compared to the king of horror, Tobe Hooper, but screenplay writer David Lindsay-Abaire should have really watched the original film because this one seemed RUSHED and FORCED.  You would think with a slew of writers Poltergeist would have been so much better, but NOT one of these writers on Abaire’s team (Paul Harris Boardman, Juliet Snowden, Scott Derrickson, Stiles White) could rescue the sinking REBOOT! The Weeping Willow tree scene lacked and the ghosts taunting the father instead of the paranormal investigator lacked.

What we liked was how Lindsay-Abaire added a new dimension to the jerky paranormal investigator Boyd (Nicholas Braun) with the closet. That was cool, but came off like we’ve seen it before. Abaire obviously took from films like Insidious, The Grudge and other films that push the envelope giving audience goers something new and fresh. Poltergeist does NONE OF THAT, there is no originality in scares and nothing you haven’t seen before. Boyd should have been scared right out of the house, that would have made more sense. There should have been some emotion from that, but instead he comes down stairs with like nothing happened and the movie goes back to a stagnant mundane.

The only actors in this film that are worth the buck is Kyle Catlett who plays the brother Griffin Bowen. This time around the brother has more of a role in the film. However, we feel this is where the issue is with David Lindsay-Abaire storyline. He tried to make the brother a more pivotal role on how to become brave and not to be scared. That is great and all, but it takes away from the scare factor and origin and why Poltergeist should have been a horrific rollercoaster of scares. The original nailed it, because the film is about a mother’s bond with her daughter, a connection, and the morals of how family overcomes all obstacles. Poltergeist 2015 falls flat on all its marks.

We enjoyed that the older sister role of Kendra Bowen, played by Saxon Sharbino had more onscreen time, but the garage scene was so cliché, Saxon should have walked out into a forest calling for her friends “hello, are you there.” When you see something strange, why does writers always have the person investigate? have them run away and be pulled in against their will. We strike this to writers without true imagination, but we’re not talking about David Lindsay-Abaire who murdered Steven Spielberg’s incredible story of a family being haunted.

Overall, there is no climax, no urgency and the ghostly threats come off like meaningless lackluster scares that is worse than the slew of gloomy low-budget exorcism movies that should have NEVER been made.

Maddison says in the film “They’re here”…we say, “No They’re NOT”!

Some movies should NEVER be remade!

Why Hollywood, Why????