First, every time I saw Sam Rockwell, he looked like the unholy offspring of Christian Bale and Luke Wilson. The dude has just lost a job at John Deere corporate. So he's moving his family into a new subdivision. He randomly gets stuck with a house built over a cemetery. This ain't exactly a shitty house, either. If he's unemployed, how is he affording this? Did he live in a mansion before and have to sell it off? He's also got some great spending habits. After finding a couple of his credit cards maxed out, he buys a $500 drone/cheap special effect device and other various things on the third card.
I will say this version was more focused on the kids, much to its detriment. It also shows what the other side looks like, much to its detriment squared. The pissed off spirits terrorize the children before the adults and it's the son that goes in to get his little sister back.
The classic scenes from the original that are made shitty:
1) Tree does some simply unreal shit or it's the Swamp Thing's cousin.
2) The clown lasts about 20 seconds before getting its head kicked in. All the tension is in the shots you see in the trailers. It falls out of a hidden attic space and looks objectively evil from the get-go. Anyone except a serial killer would have taken one glance and burned that fucker on the spot.
3) The scene where the wife falls into the half-finished pool that's filled with rising corpses is reduced in scope, length, and effect.
4) Requisite false ending before a secondary climax. Like your moms.
5) The midget medium from the original is replaced with some guy from the "Assorted Eurotrash" casting call the producers put out. He can't decide if he's British or Irish (even though the actor is from London). After the son pulls the youngest daughter from the other side, then this fucker figures out he needs to man up and cross the line himself to settle shit permanently. Beaten to the punch by an 8-year old. He's also involved in the requisite meaningless romantic subplot.
6) Fucking hell, the other side itself, where do I begin? The original chose not to show it at all. Probably for budgetary reasons, but I like to lie to myself and say it was for artistic reasons. Felt like watching a cutscene from a fourth-rate console game.
Know what makes the original trilogy scary? Each movie killed someone.
Poltergeist I: actress playing the oldest daughter got killed by her insane boyfriend.
Poltergeist II: old dude playing Kane dies of stomach cancer and can't do post production. This cheery fellow (who was actually an anarchist with over three dozens arrests to his name):
Poltergeist III: actress portraying the youngest daughter dies of simple, treatable medical condition.
The above photos are more frightening than anything in the movie.
Edited By Malcolm on 1432785029