Film Review: Poltergeist (2015)

If I could pinpoint one thing that causes confliction in my life, horror films would be it. I love nothing better than to curl up on the chair anticipating myself for a good scare, but spend most of the time watching the film through my fingers, or not at all, because I am that much of a scaredy cat.

After months of avoiding anything scary, I thought it was about time to allow those goosebumps to come out again. For an entire week, I prepped myself for the one month of nightmares I was sure to have after watching the latest remake of Poltergeist. Except they never came.

I have never seen the original film so no comparisons can be made, although I have been told that it was as bad as the current version. I entered the cinema expecting something like Paranormal Activity, but instead got Not Another Teen Movie.

Based on my knowledge of hauntings and paranormal activity, Poltergeist had it wrong in a number of ways. I don’t want to go into too much detail here and give away and spoilers, it is just that the storyline wasn’t realistic at all. Some may laugh and say that none of these types of films are realistic, but I do believe in ghosts and films with any sort of paranormal activity are the ones that scare me the most. However, even I scoffed at half of what was going on. A certain comic element featured throughout the film which made it feel even more ridiculous. I think a film can be either funny or scary, not both.

The acting actually wasn’t that bad, with Kennedi Clements (Maddie) and Kyle Catlett (Griffin) stealing the show. I did cringe at the Irish accent of Jared Harris though.

Overall, I can’t saw that this was the worst horror film I have ever seen. At the same time, it certainly wasn’t worth the cost of a cinema trip. My recommendation is to wait until it is shown on TV.

Let me know if you think they are any horror films out there worth a good scare.