WHAT: Poltergeist (1982)
WHEN: October 28, 2026 1 PM & 7 PM
WHERE: Pickwick Theatre, Park Ridge, IL
WHAT ELSE: Film critic Nick Digilio will introduce the 7 PM screening; pre-show organ music at 6:30 PM by Jake McDonagh; vintage cartoon
HOW MUCH: $12/$10 advance or $10 for the 1 PM matinee.
Advance Tickets: Click Here and select date and time (7 PM).
“Buried within the plot of Poltergeist is a basic, splendid fairy tale scheme: the story of a little girl who puts her parents through the most outrageous tribulations to prove their love to her. Underlying most fairy tales is a common theme: the comforts of family. Virtually all fairy tales begin with a disrupting of the family order, and their conclusion is usually a return to order.” ~ film critic Peter Rainer
“Theyyyy’re heeeere.” ~Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke)
Produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, Poltergeist (1982) is a film that still has the power to haunt forty-four years after its initial release. Being the same age as little Heather O’Rourke at that time, the film made a tremendous impact on me. I still remember being in the theatre and, after two hours of being terrified, getting a laugh from the film’s final shot– almost as though it were yesterday. I attribute the lasting impact to the theatrical experience. The early 1980s was certainly a good time to be a kid and seeing movies like this one in a theatre. Parts of my own childhood were captured there on the screen. What boy didn’t have his Star Wars toys scattered around the bedroom– and who wasn’t afraid of inanimate objects moving in the dark? Who can forget the clown doll with the creepy smile who sits on a chair one minute and is gone the next. Kids no longer felt safe in their own bedroom after seeing this. Poltergeist reflects not only our memories of growing up in the 1980s but the collective nightmares many of us share. Four years ago, we were unable to book the film for its 40th anniversary, so we are thrilled to finally be able to present it now at the Pickwick Theatre on October 28, 2026. Film critic and author Nick Digilio will introduce the 7 PM screening.
There are two questions that always seem to arise when Poltergeist is discussed: the question of authorship– who actually directed the film– and the mystery of whether the film was indeed “cursed.” Both of these will be touched upon in due course, but first, a few words about how this film originated. Night Skies was a story that Spielberg conceived as a horror follow-up to his hit Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). The sequel would go unproduced, but elements from it were incorporated into other Spielberg projects. Filmmaker Tobe Hooper claimed he turned down an offer to direct Night Skies and instead pitched an idea to collaborate with Spielberg on a ghost story. The two worked on the idea in London in 1980 when Spielberg was then working on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). One of the influences on their story was the Twilight Zone episode “Little Girl Lost.” Written by Richard Matheson, the story featured a girl who disappears into another dimension within her bedroom. Around this concept they put their own spin on it. But what would make the story so unnerving was the idea of bringing the fantasy horror into the family home. (Hooper had recently brought horror to another safe place– the traveling carnival in 1981’s The Funhouse.) At the same time, Spielberg wanted the story grounded in the reality of what ghost-hunters claim to do. The “science” behind it is conveyed through the supporting characters who try to record it.
To help work on the screenplay, Spielberg had sought horror author Stephen King, who was unavailable. The screenplay was written by Spielberg along with Michael Grais and Mark Victor– both of whom had a background in comedy and action. And like Hooper, they were drawn to the idea of a ghost story. At the time, Steven Spielberg was unable to direct another film himself because of contractual obligations to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), which he was making for Universal. To helm what would become Poltergeist, Spielberg, acting as the film’s producer, hired Tobe Hooper. Yes, the guy best known for making the landmark slasher film Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) was given the reins to this suburban family fantasy.
Diane (JoBeth Williams) and Steven (Craig T. Nelson) Freeling live in a cookie-cutter home in the suburban community of Cuesta Verde. As a real estate agent, Steven has helped build up this development. They are a modern family with three kids: Dana (Dominique Dunne), Robbie (Oliver Robins), and their youngest, Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke). Carol Anne is receptive to ethereal communications that are manifesting through the family TV set. Other strange disturbances reveal the home to be haunted by a poltergeist. The children are threatened, and Carol Anne is eventually blown into another world through a portal in her bedroom closet. Diane and Steven seek the help of a paranormal investigator (Beatrice Straight) and her team as well as a spiritual medium (Zelda Rubinstein) in order to rescue their trapped daughter. Steven and the family later discover the reason why they have been singled out by these angry spirits.
Steven Spielberg (left) and Tobe Hooper (center) with the cast.
Principal photography on Poltergeist began on May 11, 1981. The main location was in Simi Valley, California, where the Freeling household stood. From the outset, it was evident that Steven Spielberg would be a very hands-on producer. The film feels like a Spielberg movie right from the start. Its establishment of place is not unlike that of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The scene of the curbside kids racing the radio-controlled cars in the street is a moment that could’ve easily fit into the other film. Reportedly, Spielberg did shoot this sequence himself while Hooper was staging another scene. Regardless of what Spielberg may or may not have done behind the camera, he was involved in all the creative decisions, often offering suggestions while Tobe Hooper listened. If there was tension on the set, Hooper never let it show to those around him, perhaps understanding this was a film Spielberg would have wanted to direct himself.
What makes Poltergeist a success is the ensemble cast. Everyone in the film is good, especially JoBeth Williams as the mother who goes into a strange realm to retrieve her daughter. The emotion that these performances generate is why the film is so well-loved. Both JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson were relative newcomers at this point in their careers. Williams had starred in the soap drama Guiding Light and Nelson had a background in comedy writing. He is perhaps best known to TV audiences for his role in the 1990s comedy, Coach. Nelson brought some of his comedic improvisation to the role, notably in the early bedroom scene with JoBeth Williams. His character sucking his belly in and out in front of a mirror was one of the improvised bits that he contributed to the script.
JoBeth Williams’ notions of Hollywood glamour were shattered while working on this film. She had several challenging scenes that made physicals demands on her. One of the most unpleasant was the scene in which her character falls into the in-ground pool, which is filled with mud– and skeletons. As Williams explained in a 2022 Vanity Fair article by Anthony Breznican, “I always assumed that the skeletons were made by the prop department. A few years later, I ran into one of the special effects guys, and I said, ‘You guys making all those skeletons, that must have been really amazing.’ He said, ‘Oh, we didn’t make them, those were real.’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Yeah, they were real skeletons.'”
At the time of filming, JoBeth Williams wasn’t aware of this detail, but she was very much mindful of all the lights being used to illuminate the swimming pool she had to struggle in. She was terrified of the giant fans blowing them into the pool and being electrocuted in the water. To calm her fears, Steven Spielberg himself joined her in the muck for the first few takes to reassure her that it was safe. Besides this grueling sequence, JoBeth was put through the ringer in the scene in which her character is tumbled around the bedroom ceiling. The shot was accomplished by creating a replica of the Freeling bedroom on a giant gimbal with the camera operator strapped in. Like clothes in a dryer, she rolled around through take after take. In the same Vanity Fair article, Williams explained, “I had to be on a 360-degree turning set, which I had never even heard of. And when they said, ‘You’re going to just ride this thing and slide along the ceiling,’ I went, ‘Okay, I see.’ What they didn’t say was that I’d be doing 50 takes of it and by the end, my elbows and knees were bleeding.”
Of the children, audiences will always remember most Heather O’Rourke as Carol Anne. Her performance was more than just appearing cute on screen; it’s in her delivery of her lines and her reactions– all of which hint at what a great actress she would have become. On working with Heather O’Rourke, Williams said, “She was so sweet and easy to work with. And she just took my hand the first day and held on to me for the rest of the time. And if I would cry, she would cry. If I would scream, she would scream. Here’s this little five-year-old girl who has this innate empathy. She was truly a gifted little actress.”
Heather O’Rourke
In terms of its structure, the film has an efficient way of establishing the scene. Poltergeist opens with the “Star-Spangled Banner” playing on the television set with the family’s Golden Retriever essentially leading the audience around, introducing us to all the family members. From there, the tension gradually builds. There are legitimate shock moments throughout that deliver chills, yet there are subtle moments that, years later when I saw it again, I picked up on. There is a wonderful bit of foreshadowing early in the film with the shot of the backhoe unearthing the dead canary, who had recently been buried in a cigar box. Additionally, the quieter moments, the low-key scenes where characters are speaking in hushed tones about the afterlife, are the moments that give Poltergeist its resonance and humanity.
But, of course, it’s the big moments, the crazy imagery, that the film is celebrated for. Poltergeist features the amazing special effects work of Industrial Light & Magic– designed by Richard Edlund. Some of the more memorable effects include the gnarled tree that comes to life and attempts to devour Robbie– a tree later blown away by a tornado– the spectral visitors descending the living room staircase, and pretty much everything seen in the film’s climax– or double-climax– when all hell breaks loose. The effects were nominated for an Academy Award, but like its other nominations for sound effects and music, it would lose to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Effects technician Richard Edlund with a model of the Freeling home.
One of those nominations was for the film score composed by the legendary Jerry Goldsmith. The most famous cue is the haunting lullaby title song called, “Carol Anne’s Theme.” During the film’s post-production, Goldsmith said that Hooper was not involved at all. It was Spielberg with whom he worked. The producer knew the type of music he was looking for and worked closely with his composer. Goldsmith has stated in a previous interview, “We wanted a childlike theme for the little girl; Spielberg felt that much of the action in the closet should have a quasi-religious atmosphere to it. There was something definitely non-human about it, yet it was not evil all the way.”
The close collaboration between Spielberg and Goldsmith is an example of the influence Spielberg had as producer. Some connected to the production have claimed, perhaps unfairly, that Steven Spielberg “ghost-directed” the film. Others have insisted that Tobe Hooper was in fact their director. This MGM production could certainly pass as another Amblin film for Universal. (Spielberg’s longtime editor Michael Kahn assembled Poltergeist.) Certainly nothing Hooper made afterward had the same kind of tone or sheen as this film. But Spielberg has himself publicly acknowledged Hooper’s contributions (as well as his patience) during the making of the film. Spielberg may have been more hands-on, but it was in a creative way– in collaboration with Hooper. Spielberg would offer ideas and Hooper would listen. It wasn’t like the old days when an overbearing producer like David O. Selznick would dictate changes, and filmmakers were generally rubbed the wrong way by them. From all indications, Spielberg made the effort to make sure Hooper was valued for his contributions.
Mick Garris, who was a publicist on Poltergeist, has been quoted as saying, “Tobe was a terrific filmmaker. I don’t think it’s that Steven was controlling. I think it was Steven was enthusiastic. And nobody was there to protect Tobe. But all of the pre-production was done by Tobe. Tobe was there throughout. Tobe’s vision is very much realized there. And Tobe got credit because he deserved credit.” Spielberg and Hooper would work together again in 1987 for an Amazing Stories episode called “Miss Stardust.”
What were those specific contributions that Hooper made? Without a day-to-day production log to examine, only Steven Spielberg can answer that question. But there are certainly clues on the screen. Recall that Hooper was the director of one of the most unsettling and iconic ’70s slasher films of all time, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. There are moments in Poltergeist that seem less-Spielbergian. One example is the steak that comes to life and slowly crawls across the kitchen counter. Some of the more bizarre, gruesome details suggest Hooper’s presence and command. One of these disturbing moments is the scene in which a paranormal investigator starts peeling his face away in the washroom mirror to reveal a skull underneath. Finally, the intensity of the film’s climax, with the coffins bursting up out of the ground, seems more in Hooper’s realm than Spielberg’s, although Spielberg had just directed a movie that featured a scene of dozens of dead Egyptian bodies surrounding the female protagonist (Raiders of the Lost Ark).
Steven Spielberg on the set with James Karen (Lewis Teague) and Craig T. Nelson (Steven Freeling).
Poltergeist balances fear and the unknown with the purity and innocence of its angelic star, Heather O’Rourke. There is a sadness that hovers over the film. It comes with the knowledge that O’Rourke would only live to the age of 12. Her final appearance in Poltergeist III (1988)– a film she probably should not have made for a variety of reasons– would be released posthumously. O’Rourke had an intestinal disorder that was misdiagnosed by doctors. Even as early as Poltergeist, she would have stomach issues that were a sign of things to come. But she never complained when she was on the set of Poltergeist. The other tragedy that befell another of the cast was the death of Dominique Dunne, who played the elder sister, Dana. A few months after the release of Poltergeist, Dunne was strangled by an ex-boyfriend on October 30, 1982. She went into a coma and died shortly afterward. Her murderer would only spend two and a half years in prison. Her father, writer Dominick John Dunne, would chronicle this miscarriage of justice for Vanity Fair magazine and was a strong voice for victims’ rights.
The deaths of Heather O’Rourke and Dominique Dunne were tragedies, not evidence of a curse. It was no more a cursed production than The Exorcist (1973) before it. The earlier film had a long production, and because some relatives connected to the people making it passed away– as happens in life!– some kind of a link was drawn. But in the case of The Exorcist, the idea of a “curse” was played up by the filmmakers for the sake of publicity. With Poltergeist, tragedy hit after the film was completed, and over the years people not necessarily involved with the film have tried to draw some kind of connection, as though to imply that the filmmakers had tapped into something they shouldn’t have, and as a result, the cast suffered. The surviving cast have dismissed the notion of a “Poltergeist Curse.” Zelda Rubinstein, who played the medium Tangina Barrons, downplayed the idea. However, it was later reported that she famously experienced a strange coincidence during the filming of Poltergeist III when “a white light accidentally blotted out her face in a single frame of film at the exact minute her gravely ill mother passed away.”
Poltergeist was released on June 4, 1982, one week before E.T. landed its spaceship in theatres across the country. That year was a wonderful summer movie season. Some of the other movies that came out that month included John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing and Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott. Poltergeist became a huge commercial success and made over $76 million in the United States alone. It was the eighth-highest grossing film of the year. Critically, the film was well received and has been recognized as a modern-day horror classic. Of note, Andrew Sarris in The Village Voice praised the film for its theme of family unity and wrote that after Carol Anne disappears in the film, the parents and the two children “come together in blood-kin empathy to form a larger-than-life family that will reach down to the gates of hell to save its loved ones.”
Its special effects aside, the power of the movie comes through our empathy with the characters. As a moviegoer in 1982, I cared about this family. Their love for one another seemed genuine. Like The Exorcist, Poltergeist is also a love story that goes beyond its genre constraints. It’s the story of a mother’s love. Tethered by a rope to her husband, Diane Freeling submitted herself to the unknown to retrieve her daughter. It’s a movie that hits emotionally beyond just the jump-scares.
This Halloween, it’s time to commune with the spirit world– not through a static-filled TV but through the magic of the Mega-Screen. Let’s exorcise the Pickwick of ghosts so that once again we can say, “This theatre is clean.” Guiding us through this gateway into the paranormal is film critic and podcaster Nick Digilio. He is back once again to share his perspective on another horror classic. Nick is the author of a new book on horror movies, 40 Years, 40 Horror Films, which compiles his film criticism on some of the modern gems of the genre. Copies of his book will be available for purchase before and after the 7 PM screening.
~MCH
