...but it was called Poltergeist and it really scared the bejeezus out of you and stuck with you for days.
You probably understand the story line at this point from the other reviews here, but if not - here's a summation, with plot spoiler: Dad, mom & two kids move out into the burbs... Dad's gone A LOT for work... Mom & son are seeing "things" around the house (lights, movements, bloody water)... Dad doesn't believe her... Mom doesn't try too hard to prove her point... Mom stumbles across a psychic that tries to warn her of the harm coming her way... Dad has mom hauled off... 5 minutes later, dad's digging up gravestones in the back yard in the rain... Mom escapes from the hospital only to save her son in the last possible moment from the baddie while dad exclaims "I should've believed you!". Yawn.
This completely undisguised and unnecessary retelling of the Poltergeist story flips and flops like a fish out of water. It's almost painful to watch, but for some reason it is just barely able to hold you for the duration of the movie although it's rarely startling and never frightening.
Unfortunately, it's terribly clichéd and predictable from start to finish and it didn't have to be that way. The two main actors (although Beau is missing for long expanses of the movie (probably for reasons of salary)) hold this stinker together, and the supporting cast does a fine job of helping them along the way.
For whatever reason, the producer or director tried to insert some amount of levity at completely inappropriate times, and you could only notice this by the musical score becoming suddenly very "Looney Toons"esquire when there was terror afoot (note: I keep putting e s q u e after Looney Toons but it keeps auto-changing it to "esquire" and my corrections don't stick). These failed attempts at wry humor were completely lost, and perhaps I'm the only one that noticed they even tried.
Still, the special effects are well done and the music (aside from the unfortunate segues, above) is suitable if not sometimes sparse. If you've got nothing else to do and the couch is having a wicked gravitational pull on you, then watch it but be prepared to be unimpressed overall.
You probably understand the story line at this point from the other reviews here, but if not - here's a summation, with plot spoiler: Dad, mom & two kids move out into the burbs... Dad's gone A LOT for work... Mom & son are seeing "things" around the house (lights, movements, bloody water)... Dad doesn't believe her... Mom doesn't try too hard to prove her point... Mom stumbles across a psychic that tries to warn her of the harm coming her way... Dad has mom hauled off... 5 minutes later, dad's digging up gravestones in the back yard in the rain... Mom escapes from the hospital only to save her son in the last possible moment from the baddie while dad exclaims "I should've believed you!". Yawn.
This completely undisguised and unnecessary retelling of the Poltergeist story flips and flops like a fish out of water. It's almost painful to watch, but for some reason it is just barely able to hold you for the duration of the movie although it's rarely startling and never frightening.
Unfortunately, it's terribly clichéd and predictable from start to finish and it didn't have to be that way. The two main actors (although Beau is missing for long expanses of the movie (probably for reasons of salary)) hold this stinker together, and the supporting cast does a fine job of helping them along the way.
For whatever reason, the producer or director tried to insert some amount of levity at completely inappropriate times, and you could only notice this by the musical score becoming suddenly very "Looney Toons"esquire when there was terror afoot (note: I keep putting e s q u e after Looney Toons but it keeps auto-changing it to "esquire" and my corrections don't stick). These failed attempts at wry humor were completely lost, and perhaps I'm the only one that noticed they even tried.
Still, the special effects are well done and the music (aside from the unfortunate segues, above) is suitable if not sometimes sparse. If you've got nothing else to do and the couch is having a wicked gravitational pull on you, then watch it but be prepared to be unimpressed overall.