1982's Poltergeist is still a film which is widely discussed today. There remains debate over whether or not it was truly directed by Tobe Hooper or Steven Spielberg; there remains astonishment that it was ever released as a PG. But above and beyond this, it's widely agreed that the original is one of the best big-budget, FX-driven mainstream horror movies ever. And nobody wanted to see it remade. Even with Sam Raimi on board as producer, director Gil Kenan (who had previously made a great kid-friendly horror in Monster House) was ice-skating uphill from the very beginning. Even early interviews with star Sam Rockwell seemed to indicate the actor knew it was doomed to fail. And fail it did: critics were unkind, and audiences stayed away in droves (it opened behind notorious Disney flop Tomorrowland). Still, given the source material, this was at least one contemporary horror which fans couldn't bemoan for being rated PG-13.
