The title of this blog refers to "Super Mario Galaxy". In the game, you have to fight this ethereal rock monster (no, not a rock lobster) and they call it a "bouldergeist". Needless to say, I laughed for a good couple of minutes after I first saw this. I'm a pun kinda guy. Maybe that makes me unpopular with certain people (mostly girls), but that's just because most girls are uptight and don't want to laugh. Too busy putting up impenetrable walls.
Before I get too involved with the tangent, what I want to say is one of the reasons that the word "poltergeist" is so widely known is because of the 1982 film "Poltergeist". Seems fairly obvious. It wasn't exactly a commonly used word at the time but the movie made it insanely popular. But I'm not going to talk about the first movie. No, that'd be too easy. I'm gonna talk about the second one.
Why?
Because I think it deserves recognition.
Back when I was a sophomore in college, I started my search for the original "Poltergeist" on DVD. I remembered seeing it at Wal-Mart so I went there. No such luck. I worked at Blockbuster at the time so I decided to just order it. It was 19.99 with a 20% discount.
This was a movie that I watched in the daytime specifically because when I was a child it scared the living shit out of me. I didn't remember much about it, but the title evoked this feeling in my body that immediately got me a little sick to my stomach. (I admit, I was a weird kid.) I didn't know what to expect from the movie when I watched it this time. I was older, arguably more mature. Maybe it was still going to scare me.
But what happened surprised me. It was a touching, scary, exciting ghost story with special effects that still hold up.
I got a sick obsession with this movie. I watched it with my father, my sister and by myself. Each time, I saw something else in it I liked that much more. The score by Jerry Goldsmith (insert Mike Sloyka rolling his eyes here) really adds to the movie, as all scores should. There are particular cues that shows Goldsmith's range. From heroism, fear and the unknown, it's all covered here, on film and on the score.
One of the scenes in the movie gets me each time I watch it:
As I've discussed in the past, I have this thing that happens when a movie is really well done. I get goosebumps. The goosebumps, if they get intense enough, cause me to tear up. Why, you might ask? I don't actually know. The only thing I can relate it to is just being an idiot.
There is a scene in the movie where the parents of the abducted child decide to go after their child by way of white, windy portal in the door. It doesn't make sense, but it doesn't have to. The father ties a rope to the mother as the mother prepares for the unknown. The music swells, they look at one another and they know words won't help. Words don't suit what they're about to do. They kiss, blocking the light and causing a perfect silhouette.
So, because of the first having such an effect on me, I kept thinking to myself, I gotta watch the second one. Lucky for me, the second and third were in an MGM two pack.
A couple of weeks pass and I get the second and third on DVD. I am ecstatic. I watched the second one as soon as I could get the packaging off. The one hesitancy that I had was the fact that I remember Craig T. Nelson drinking tequila and spitting up a worm. And an old man. A very scary old man.
The weird thing about the sequel is that you really like it though you know you really shouldn't. It's a decent follow up. If nothing else, you have time to spend with a likable family that you identified with in the first. Granted, JoBeth Williams is significantly less hot and Craig T. Nelson's hair changes length mid movie without any explanation, but you almost don't notice. Jerry Goldsmith does the score again and it's as strong as the first, if a little more quirky.
The thing about the second one that makes it almost more watchable than the first is that it's not nearly as good as the first. I know that's a weird thing to say, but the best way I can describe it is like this:
You gotta think of the first movie as being a complete meal. Thanksgiving dinner. You're around the table with your family, having fun, telling stories and getting full.
The second movie is more like getting Chinese. It's good, it's filling and your family is still happy, but it's a lot less work. Almost like junk food.
"Poltergeist II" is comfort food. Something I can watch at almost anytime. It reminds me of being a kid, covering my eyes with my hands. Sitting around with my dad, brother, mother and sister on the floor of our living room. It's a good feeling. Comfort food needs it's place just like the Thanksgiving meal.
Not just that, but the second one has some legitimately good shock moments. Some of it is a little ridiculous, but that was just part of being the 80s. The first movie threw everything into it, from a guy ripping his face off to a tree that eats children. They had to up the ante somehow. Who knew they'd add attacking braces and a tequila worm that turns into a monster, that turns into a crab that's actually the spirit of an old preacher that can be defeated by Native American smoke. If you follow the line of logic, it kinda makes sense. Kinda like the argument that I made to my father during "The Mummy" about how one of the guys shot more than six bullets out of a six shooter. I told him, "We're watching a movie about a resurrected mummy." That kept him quiet...for a while.
I won't mention the third because it makes almost no sense. Less than the second (and that's saying something). I do remember Lara Flynn Boyle being reborn out of a hollowed out Zelda Rubenstein. But then again, I fell asleep while watching it so it could have been a dream. Good Christ, I hope it was a dream...
It should also be mentioned that I own the scores to the first two movies. I listen to them frequently throughout the year. The scores, in themselves, are so good that you can picture the movie while you're listening to them. Not only that, but listening to particular tracks from each of the scores help me get to work on time. And yes, that means I speed.
As I did with my previous blog, I'm going to do the three things I learned from the second movie.
Poltergeist II - The Other Side (1986), Directed by Brian Gibson
Tagline : They're back.
1. If I were to be adopted by any actor, I wish it were Craig T. Nelson.
2. Even if you don't truly believe in another religion, it's power can help you in the nick of time against a crustacean spirit.
3. Evangelists are always creepy, especially when they're ghosts that, when alive, sealed their entire congregation in a cave.
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