Although the original Steven Spielberg/Tobe Hooper horror classic included its fair share of insane special effects, the film was coming at a time when it was all new enough to feel revolutionary. With nothing to compare it to, the effects looked positively real, and the differing looks to all the ghosts kept things fresh. Compare that to Fox's 2015 remake of the film/CGI bonanza, where all the ghosts that reside in and around the house look a) all the same and b) entirely fake. We've seen too much good CGI to settle for sub-par offerings, and we've seen enough great practical make-up to know that it's always a better option when it comes to horror. It boggles the mind that filmmakers are still unwilling to accept that - perhaps CG is actually cheaper than practical work at this point - who knows? Either way, this atrocious SFX ran roughshod all over Poltergeist, squandering a half-decent (if rushed) first act in favour of a computer-generated spirit world that didn't look much better than any of the effects you might have seen in the 1999 redo of The Haunting. And that was 17 years ago. Even the usually-sublime Sam Rockwell, sleepwalking through his role as an unemployed dad, couldn't elevate proceedings.
Cinephile since 1993, aged 4, when he saw his very first film in the cinema - Jurassic Park - which is also evidence of damn fine parenting. World champion at Six Degrees of Separation. Lender of DVDs to cheap mates. Connoisseur of Marvel Comics and its Cinematic Universe.
