From: utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!upstill Newsgroups: net.movies Title: Poltergeist (a review) Article-I.D.: ucbvax.7514 Posted: Thu Jun 3 10:24:28 1982 Received: Fri Jun 4 05:42:57 1982 I saw one of the "sneak previews" of Poltergeist two weeks ago. It opens this Friday at a theater near you. Nano-review: massively entertaining. I loved it. As one who has been passionately attached to the SF/fantasy genre since childhood, I have to say that Poltergeist is my movie. Spielberg has definitely reached the peak of his craft in terms of constructing and executing a movie. It's all there -- the slightly warped humor, the little middle class tags we can relate to, the sense of the fantastic, the relentless buildup from little eerie events to shivery spectacle. I alternated between bursting out laughing and muttering exclamations of awe to myself. Of course I was completely unhyped and unprepared for it all (which is one of the prime advantages of sneak previews). The technical credits on this film are just superb -- it is definitely prime material for a first-rate theater with 70mm and Dolby sound; the images on the screen are crystal clear. ILM's special effects are in a universe by themselves; I was stunned to learn that the budget of the movie was moderate by Hollywood standards, only about 70% of the cost of Close Encounters 3 1/2 years ago and half that of Empire. If these descriptions make the movie sound a little cold, that's the way I can't help thinking about it...afterwards. While it was running, it blew me away. Afterward, it became hard to see why I got so involved on a gut level. But I did, and I bet you will.