The Evil Dead director Sam Raimi presents a modern take on the 1982 suburban frightfest Poltergeist, with Gil Kenan (Monster House) directing. Sam Rockwell and Rosemarie DeWitt star as the Bowens, a couple whose youngest daughter is abducted by terrifying apparitions.
A remake of the Steven Spielberg-produced domestic horror classic from 1982 could quite reasonably have suffered from a case of the 'John Carters'. Which is to say, it's based on source material that has been so influential, any new adaptation would undoubtedly be cursed by a sense of over familiarity.
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An act of homage that hews reverently to its source material while missing the essential spirit and vitality that once powered it.
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Very tame, but saved from the remake scrapheap by Sam Rockwell's surprisingly touching performance and a final reel that - briefly - takes the material somewhere new.
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This has more in common with slick, audience-goosing modern spookers like 'Insidious' than with Hooper & Spielberg's imaginative original.
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It’s a scare machine, and in this respect Kenan’s is the more efficient telling...
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It’s a shame Kenan can’t muster his own bit of gothic shorthand for post-credit crunch America, but the film still has a fluid, 3D-orientated immediacy.
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Not only delivers on the promise of Hooper's Poltergeist, but significantly raises the stakes for similar PG-13 fare.
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A disappointingly tame and unimaginative effort, which throws away much of what was best-loved about the original and fails to find worthy replacements.
Full reviewPoltergeist (2015) is available to stream in New Zealand now on Google Play and Prime Video and Apple TV.
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