History YMMV / PolterGeist

!!The original
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: AwesomeMusic/JerryGoldsmith strikes again.
* CompleteMonster: Reverend Henry Kane was the insane leader of a utopian {{cult}} in the early 19th century who led his "flock" into an underground cavern under the premise that the world was about to end, but in actuality, his only intention was to harvest their souls for his own power. As a ghost, he absorbed the energy from his followers, which fused with the evil in his heart and [[EvilMakesYouMonstrous turned him into a monstrous apparition]]--a demon called "The Beast". When the Freeling family moves into the home built where the cavern once was, Kane tries to abduct the young Carol Anne and bring her to the realm of the dead, dubbed the "Other Side," where he could use her to attract more souls for his energy. In ''Film/PoltergeistIITheOtherSide'', he keeps on tormenting the Freelings, possessing Steven's body in order to rape Diane while taking a proactive role in psychologically and physically tormenting the family as he seeks to take Carol Anne. At the end of ''Film/PoltergeistIII'', Kane apparently abandons his pursuit of the Freelings and accepts the mystic Tangina's offer to show him into the light, but the film ends with a flash of lightning and Kane's demonic laughter, showing his supposed redemption as a sham.
* DirectorDisplacement: It's directed by Creator/TobeHooper, not Creator/StevenSpielberg. Interestingly, this popular belief might be nearer the truth than expected: Spielberg produced, wrote and storyboarded the film, to the extent some actors of the film have went to say he directed more than Hooper himself (Zelda Rubinstein claims that Spielberg directly directed her scenes, although other lead actors gave accounts that differed on who did what). All sources are in agreement that Hooper had little to no involvement in post-production, with the sound editor claiming he received no input from him and Jerry Goldsmith saying he only interacted with Spielberg, never with Hooper.
* FetishRetardant:
** The last twenty minutes of the film feature Jobeth Williams being thrown around in her panties and a football jersey, which keeps getting pulled up; then running outside and getting muddy when she falls into the pool; then a bunch of coffins rise from the ground, and their corpses, actual corpses mind you, fall out turning the thing into a bowl of dead guy soup.
** The scene with the football jersey becomes this when you realize that it is not just a cheap joke, but that the Poltergeist is trying to rape her.
* FunnyAneurysmMoment: The subtle RunningGag of Dana being a [[ReallyGetsAround bit of a tramp]] became harder to stomach when the actress was murdered by her ex-boyfriend only a few years later.
* HarsherInHindsight:
** The film focuses on Heather O'Rourke's character being trapped in a netherworld of ghosts. The actress would pass away at the age of twelve.
** A poster in the childrens' bedroom wall advertises the 1988 Superbowl. O'Rourke ended up dying on the day of the '88 Superbowl.
** The canary-burial scene's a lot grimmer when you consider that two of the three mourners will be dead in a few years.
* HilariousInHindsight: In one scene, Steve and Diane are in their bedroom and the movie ''Film/AGuyNamedJoe'' is playing on their television. Not only is this a movie about a dead person who is still "hanging around" as the spirits in this film are, but Creator/StevenSpielberg remade the film seven years later as ''Film/{{Always}}''.
* MemeticMutation: "They're HHHHEEEE-reeee!" and "This house is clean" both became famous quotes.
%%* {{Moe}}: Carol Anne is just adorable.
* {{Narm}}:
** Steve's angry outburst towards his boss at the end when [[spoiler: the corpses of the cemetery their house was built in start bursting from the ground during the final meltdown, revealing that he'd only moved the headstones and left the bodies exactly where they were]] is rendered unintentionally funny by Creator/CraigTNelson's hysterical delivery:
---> "You only moved the headstones! WHYYYY?!! WHYYYYY?!!"
** The ''constant'' screaming at the end can veer off into this for some viewers.
** When Steve/Nelson has packed his family into their car to flee the self-destructing house, he frantically paws at his rear pockets looking for his car keys while the camera focuses on his butt, making it look for about two seconds that Steve has decided to do a brief booty dance.
* NarmCharm: Tangina's [[HeliumSpeech voice]] is funny at first, but then you get used to it.
* NauseaFuel: The best example being a man ripping the flesh off his head.
* SpecialEffectFailure:
** The power of the stacked chairs scene is ruined once you see the crewmen in the chrome stacking them.
** Marty's face is clearly made of rubber when he's pulling the skin off his face.
** When the house implodes and the neighbors watch with the Freelings, Only Teague casts a shadow.
** The football game shown on the TV is pre-recorded, as it moves in slow motion.
* ValuesDissonance: The construction workers who are digging the pool hit on Dana as she heads out for school (and, mind you, she's wearing her uniform, so she's very obviously a child). It's PlayedForLaughs as she elaborately flips them off and seems no more than annoyed, but these are still three adult men catcalling a sixteen-year-old. This is especially highlighted that even her mom seems to find it funny.
* WatchItForTheMeme: ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' parodied the clown with Krusty and Bart in a Treehouse of Horror. It can be something of a surprise in itself to find out that the clown itself is not a larger part of the story and in fact is just one scare that occurs very close to the end. The Simpsons also included a number of shout-outs in the first ever Halloween short, including a house built on a burial ground, a vortex to another dimension in the wall (which becomes irritated when Bart keeps throwing garbage into it) and finally the house imploding, though this is PlayedForLaughs, as the house would rather be destroyed than live with The Simpsons.
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Yup. Written by the same dude who did ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial''. And, you know... ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. To make things even more interesting, according to David Hughes' ''The Greatest Sci-Fi Movies Never Made'', originally ''E.T.'' and ''Poltergeist'' were one film, the never-produced ''Night Skies''. The mind boggles.
----

!!The remake
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: An incredibly common criticism of the remake; it seems to have been made with little purpose but to cash in on the ''Poltergeist'' name, so it just rehashes the original and calls it a day.
%%* {{Moe}}: Madison.
* {{Narm}}:
** While it's inspired by the creepy chair-stacking scene from the original film, the scene where comic books are stacked like a house of cards and then blown across the hall is either just as creepy, or feels like a prankster ghost having a fun time trolling.
** The computerized special effects can be hit or miss. While Maddie getting abducted in the void can be terrifying, the CGI zombies that grab her might seem like they came out of a zombie apocalypse video game app. Plus, the gait they have when they drag her away is so uncanny as to possibly break the immersion.
** When Amy first hears Maddie from The Other Side, and says to her "I miss you so so so so so so so much"... It's the over-repetition of about a dozen "so"'s combined with her performance that makes it funny instead of dramatic.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Although some of the special effects may not be convincing, the Otherside is rendered in greater detail as a bleak, netherworld version of the home in question with countless lost souls covering the walls of the dark, decrepit simulicrum home. It truly gives off the feeling of a place you want to avoid unless there's no choice.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** Dana one-upping the catcalling builders is presented as a funny moment, but when you learn that her actress Dominique Dunne was strangled by her abusive ex-boyfriend...
** The canary-burial scene's a lot grimmer when you consider that two of the three mourners will be dead in a few years.
** One poster atop a little boy's bed says "1988 [=SuperBowl=] XXII", which is kind of eerie when you realize that [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19927_6-movies-that-predicted-disasters-with-eerie-accuracy.html this was almost the exact date that the film's star, Heather O'Rourke, died]].

** An odd meta-example. The scene near the end where an invisible force pulls up Diane's night-shirt and exposes her panties gets laughs from kids. However when seen as an adult, you realize that the poltergeist is attempting to rape her. (In the screenplay it actually does).
** The clown strangling Robbie when you hear that Oliver Robbins was really choking during the filming of that. Had the filmmakers not intervened in time, that would have made it all three of the Freeling children's actors who died young.
** An early draft of the script had Carol Anne dying in the first act and haunting the house, but they changed it for being too dark. Especially uncomfortable that Heather O'Rourke passed away at the age of twelve.

* MemeticMutation: [[TemptingFate "This house is clean."]]

** The computerized special effects can be hit or miss. While Maddie getting abducted in the void can be terrifying, the CGI zombies that grab her might seem like they came out of a zombie apocalypse video game app.

* WatchItForTheMeme:'WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' parodied the clown with Krusty and Bart in a Treehouse of Horror. It can be something of a surprise in itself to find out that the clown itself is not a larger part of the story and in fact is just one scare that occurs very close to the end. The Simpsons also included a number of shout-outs in the first ever Halloween short, including a house built on a burial ground, a vortex to another dimension in the wall (which becomes irritated when Bart keeps throwing garbage into it) and finally the house imploding, though this is PlayedForLaughs, as the house would rather be destroyed than live with The Simpsons.

* ValuesDissonance: The construction workers who are digging the pool hit on Dana as she heads out for school (and, mind you, she's wearing her uniform, so she's very obviously a child). It's PlayedForLaughs as she elaborately flips them off and seems no more than annoyed, but these are still three adult men catcalling a sixteen-year-old. This is especially highlighted that even her mom seems to find it funny.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Although some of the special effects may not be convincing, the Otherside is rendered in greater detail as a bleak, netherworld version of the home in question with countless lost souls covering the walls of the dark, decrepit simulicrum home.
It truly gives off the feeling of a place you want to avoid unless there's no choice.

** The computerized special effects can be hit or miss. While Maddie getting abducted in the void can be terrifying, the CGI zombies that grab her might seem like they came out of a zombie apocalypse video game.

* {{Narm}}: When Amy first hears Maddie from The Other Side, and says to her "I miss you so so so so so so so much"... It's the over-repetition of about a dozen "so"'s combined with her performance that makes it funny instead of dramatic.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Although some of the special effects may not be convincing, the Otherside is rendered in greater detail as a bleak, netherworld version of the home in question with countless lost souls covering the walls of the dark, decrepit simulicrum home. It truly gives off the feeling of a place you want to avoid unless there's no choice.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Although some of the special effects may not be convincing, the Otherside is rendered in greater detail as bleak, netherworld version of the home in question with countless lost souls covering the walls of the dark, decrepit simulicrum home. It truly gives off the feeling of a place you want to avoid unless there's no choice.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Although some of the special effects aren't convincing, the Otherside is rendered in greater detail as bleak, netherworld version of the home in question with countless lost souls covering the walls of the dark, decrepit simulicrum home.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Although some of the special effects aren't convincing, the Otherside is rendered in greater detail as bleak, netherworld version of the home in question with countless lost souls covering the walls of the dark, decrepit simulicrum home.

%%* ParanoiaFuel: The chairs. Good GOD, the chairs.

** An odd meta-example. The scene near the end where an invisible force pulls up the mother's night-shirt and exposes her panties gets laughs from kids. However when seen as an adult, you realize that the poltergeist is attempting to rape her. (In the screenplay it actually does).

** From the 2015 remake: when Amy first hears Maddie from The Other Side, and says to her "I miss you so so so so so so so much"... It's the over-repetition of about a dozen "so"'s combined with her performance that makes it funny instead of dramatic.

%%* NauseaFuel

* ToughActToFollow: The general opinion of the remake. While it's, at best, [[SoOkayItsAverage a decent movie]] on its on merits, it's in the shadow of a classic.

* WatchItForTheMeme:'WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' parodied the clown with Krusty and Bart in a Treehouse of Horror. It can be something of a surprise in itself to find out that the clown itself is not a larger part of the story and in fact is just one scare that occurs very close to the end.