Poltergeist

[Person]

The German release of the SE of Poltergeist has been announced for October.

'Paltry' is the word. It sounds like the new documentaries focus on the phenomena of ghosts and not the film's production. The original behind-the-scenes is
quite good, though (it's on You Tube). I'll be happy to see a new transfer with accurate colors, as the previous transfers had some discrepancies, apparently.

[patrick]

I'm assuming that this is just a byproduct of Warner Bros. creating a new transfer for the high-def release.

[Buttery Jeb]

From Video Business:

Warner delivers the classic horror Oct. 9 (prebook Sept. 4) remastered and restored for $19.97....

...The DVD doesn't have much in the way of special features, just a two-part documentary called "They Are Here: The Real World of Poltergeists Revealed."

Somewhat disappointed by the specs, but the frightened seven-year-old in me has been praying for a decent looking edition to come down the pike for a while now; so it's as good as bought.

-BJ

[Dylan]

I'm not surprised that this "SE" is nil on anything behind the scenes - with the (now, for the most part, publically forgotten) controversy on who really directed it (which Spielberg has stated he will never discuss in interviews) to the sad, unusual deaths that occured after the production, the wounds are still (and forever will be) potentially far too sensitive for the studio to allow people to publically get into, and I imagine lots of people would get in trouble, professionally and personally, if they spoke too much about what went on via an official DVD documentary produced by the studio.

For the fascinating backstory one will have to do their own research. A lot of it can be found online, or offline in various magazines such as Cinefantastique and also the "E True Hollywood Story," if you can catch that. There's also this impressive essay on Poltergeist from the blog "Windmills of My Mind."

Meanwhile, I've known in passing several of the ILM effects crew on this production. While hanging out with one a few years ago, I asked him who actually directed the film, since it certainly doesn't look or feel like a Tobe Hooper movie. He replied very matter-of-factly: "Spielberg did."

[Close The Door, Raymond]

Didn't the special edition laserdisc have more extra features than upcoming so-called "DVD Special Edition".

I remember hearing about a bootleg 6-disc box set of the Poltergeist movies being auctioned on eBay. It was supposed to be released for its 20th anniversary and included several documentaries including an episode from E! Hollywood True Story, some making-of featurettes, a soundtrack CD, and more. What happened?

Even sadder, Digital Bits website says there are no plans for a high-def version.

[Dylan]

What happened?

A lot of people don't want Poltergeist's production history easily accessible on a studio DVD, and since 25 years have past and most of these stories are publicly forgotten, people involved with the film (and likely many people at the studio) took advantage of preventing the potential resurgence of its former reputation both as an ambiguous production and as a 'curse' on some of its cast and crew.

With that said, however, there apparently has been interview footage filmed for a documentary, but I imagine nothing will become of it.

And finally, DavisDVD reports that in addition to what has already been announced, the original 7 minute featurette "Making of Poltergeist" will be included. At least they allowed that past the vaults.