The movie Poltergeist stands out to me. Maybe because it came out 2 years before I was born so I likely saw it poking around cable by the time I was old enough to realize I could watch it. In fact seeing it on TV is what I remember most as I saw it on TNT's MonsterVision with Joe Bob Briggs. Joe Bob, in the spirit of early TV late night hosts, would introduce horror and monster movies and, between commercials, have little bumpers referencing specific scenes or trivia. Monster Vision is where I first saw Carrie which Joe Bob bemoaned the TV cut for the opening shower scene. "You really need to see this on video, folks!" he said. This is also where I first saw Maximum Overdrive and learned who Stephen King directed it and why he did so. As someone who loved Mystery Science Theater as a child/teen this was in that same spirit.
The Angry Video Game Nerd did a nice mini history of Monster Vision and Joe Bob Briggs is still active on the Shudder network. If interested here is the AVGN's video. BTW I love the AVGN. He is one of the original "nerd Youtubers" and is truly wholesome and a nice guy. Where so many of these guys have been marred by saying something racist (PewDiePie) or being shifty business people (The Nostalgia Critic) or being beyond the wall bullies (Hambly and whatever Unsleeved media is now) he is true. Well, him personally. His personality does regularly say "eat a bag of donkey dicks"
All this to say that I watched the remake of Poltergeist recently which came out in 2015. All while OG Poltergeist is memorable this one I barely remember existing. In fact I thought it was a knock off (Maybe Poltergeist is spelled with a Y instead of an I!) but it is true and made by Sam Raimi who made Spiderman and Evil Dead!
And...its ok. As a curiosity really. Oh the clown doll looked like this in the original one and now it looks like this in the 2015 one. You are not really looking to be scared but instead treated to these little variations. Its like going over to a co-workers house for the first time. "Oh so this is how it is, huh?" But its still the same person.
My favorite scene in the OG Poltergeist is where the mom walks out of the kitchen and then walks back and the spooks have stacked all the furniture on top of the table. Its both very goofy and very scary because of the speed implied. I also can't imagine the poor PA who had to stack all that and have it keep! NOBODY MOVE!
They re-do this in the new one but with comic books that they stacks (CGI) into a house of cards effect and back light as you pull away in a long hallway.
Poltergeist is also a Mami movie.* As in if you say you saw it then she will tell an anecdote. Usually about the "little girl who died because she could not poop" in reference to Heater O'Rourke (who played Carol Anne, the little girl who utters "They're here") who died at 12 due to complications from Crohn's Disease. As a child I was terrified of using the bathroom at school and my mother said I would end up like the "girl from Poltergeist."
But I am here to write this blog, mami!
*Other Mami movies include Airplane, Top Secret, The Rock, The Naked Gun Series, Doctor Zhivago, Mary Poppins, King of Kings and Ben Hur.
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