Poltergeist: 10 Big Differences Between Original And Remake

Let’s talk about the clown. 

One of the most iconic scenes of the original film takes place towards the end when a clown doll becomes possessed and attacks the son. It’s kind of minimalist in that we don’t really see the clown moving around a whole lot. Robbie looks under the bed, and when he comes back up, the clown is right behind him.

The clown sequence is also in the remake, but there are a few differences. For one, here the clown is one of many creepy dolls Griffin finds from a previous owner, whereas in the original, it’s the only one. But this time, the doll also moves around a lot more, jumping across the room straight at Griffin and attacking him. We see a lot of its movement, whereas in the original, much of that is unseen.

For the most part, the clown works well in the remake, and there’s a great addition of a pull string nose that adds a fantastic sense of dread as we follow the string across the floor. But seeing more of the doll does arguably make things a bit less scary. The doll moves around a little too much in this one, and while it mostly looks good as a special effect, sometimes it’s better to keep things in our imaginations.