I am either a blind fool for not recognising “Poltergeist” as a haunted house classic like countless critics or I am simply exposing the weak nature of this messy picture. I like to think the latter is true. “Poltergeist” didn’t scare me like a lot of 80s horror movies and it is done in a way that isn’t sure if it wants to be a real horror film or a comedy ghost film. Ghost films always seem to suffer from the problem of not being funny enough as comedies and too cheesy as actual horror pictures. I expected more from the combined efforts of Steven Spielberg (“Minority Report”) and Tobe Hooper (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”).

In “Poltergeist”, the seemingly innocent Freeling family are being terrorised by a group of ghosts. At first, it’s just the mild irritation of having your furniture moved about and then it becomes a fight to survive. The trees come to life and smash up the home and the family find themselves on the ceiling. The worst thing the ghouls do is kidnap little Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke).

The family in this movie at times do act like their home is being invaded by ghosts but at other times, they seem like they are in a parody of ghost films such as the mediocre “Beetlejuice” (I still like that film much more than this though). The creatures look amazing though.

Although I love the look of the monsters (especially near the end of the film), this is just another dull ghost film. Ghost films always force you to suspend disbelief because if doors started locking by themselves and furniture was being turned upside down, I’d be straight out of there. Not only would I be concerned about the possibility of ghosts but the idea of the living stealing my home would have me terrified. Those scared by this type of film must find it hard to sit through the likes of “Psycho” and “Alien”.