https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHFuKE6Hdzg The Movie: Coming largely from the mind of co-writer/co-producer Steven Spielberg, Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hooper, established several tropes that have since been copied to death: the little kid who becomes the evil spirits' conduit; the freaky apparitions that haunt a youngster in his bedroom, at night, while mommy and daddy are snoozing; the medium and her sidekicks who move into the house to exorcise the demons. The Ending: As the film's evil house is in the midst of self destructing, all hell breaks loose. Aside from general chaos, there are coffins exploding out of the ground spilling their contents. The family make it to their car and drive off. A final lightning bolt is seen before the structure disappears into the ground. The family ends up at a motel, where the exasperated father throws the television - the catalyst for all this mayhem - out of the room. The last shot of the film is a long, slow withdraw; a shot which suggests, literally, that the American family must back away from the beast known as television, lest it suffer the same kind of agony as these people did. Or maybe that's reading too much into it.
Jesse Gumbarge is editor and chief blogger at JarvisCity.com - He loves old-school horror films and starting pointless debates. You can reach out at: JesseGumbarge@JarvisCity.com