Film

Poltergeist

Name: Poltergeist
Genre: Horror
Released: 1982
Cast: JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne, Heather O'Rourke

Suburban horror at its most literal: the American dream turns hostile, and Tobe Hooper (with Spielberg's fingerprints all over it) makes a swimming pool, a closet, and a television set feel like the scariest things in the world. It's PG-rated but genuinely unnerving, more theme-park ride than slow-burn dread — big set pieces, real scares, a family you actually like.

TMDb rating

7.2

If you liked this

The Amityville Horror1979

The blueprint for the American haunted-house-as-real-estate-nightmare movie. Slower and more grimly serious than Poltergeist, but it's clearly the house this one grew up in.

But Dated pacing and a heavier, more oppressive tone than Poltergeist's rollercoaster energy.

Insidious2011

James Wan doing his own version of 'family under supernatural siege,' with a kid in danger, a portal to another realm, and jump scares engineered with real craft.

But Leans harder into jump-scare mechanics than atmosphere; some find the back half silly rather than scary.

The Conjuring2013

The modern haunted-house film done at the highest studio level — confident camera work, a genuinely creepy house, and a sense of craftsmanship that echoes Poltergeist's own polish.

But More conventionally frightening and less playful; it wants to unsettle you, not thrill you.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Haunting1963

Same premise — a house that's actively malevolent toward the people inside it — but made entirely through suggestion instead of visual effects, showing the other half of what Poltergeist does with spectacle.

Robert Wise's black-and-white classic proves you don't need a single special effect to make a house feel evil — just sound design, angles, and nerve. It's the ancestor Poltergeist owes a debt to.

But No monsters, no gore, no spectacle — if you came for Poltergeist's chaos, this restraint might feel slow.

Paranormal Activity2007

Strips the haunted house down to almost nothing — one house, one camera, dread accumulating in real time. A fascinating contrast to Poltergeist's spectacle.

But Found-footage style feels cheap next to Poltergeist's effects, and the slow build tests patience.

The Sixth Sense1999

Suburban ghosts, a frightened child, and a family trying to understand what's happening to their house and each other — quieter, sadder, but built from the same emotional bones.

But Almost no jump scares or spectacle; it's a mood piece with a twist, not a thrill ride.

The Others2001

A gorgeously atmospheric ghost story about a family isolated in their own house, unsure what's haunting what. Elegant where Poltergeist is loud.

But Deliberately paced and melancholy — if you want practical-effects chaos, this isn't it.

Beetlejuice1988

Same era, same suburban-house-as-portal idea, but flipped into gleeful comic horror. A great palate-swap if you loved Poltergeist's mix of scares and mischief.

But It's a comedy first — if you wanted more horror and less whimsy, this won't scratch that itch.

Hereditary2018

A family besieged by something ancient and hungry, with practical dread instead of jump scares — the modern, much bleaker descendant of the haunted-family movie.

But Genuinely disturbing and grief-soaked; nothing playful or fun about this one.

Sinister2012

A house that swallows children, a family that doesn't realize the danger until too late, and a slow tightening of dread that pays off hard.

But Much darker and more despairing in tone — no comic relief, no happy suburban normalcy to return to.

Ghostwatch1992

Poltergeist's most famous image is a television as a doorway for the dead; Ghostwatch takes that idea literally, turning the broadcast itself into the haunted object reaching into your living room.

A BBC 'live' mockumentary about a haunted council house that caused genuine national panic when it aired — TV itself becomes the haunting, decades before found footage was a genre.

But Very British, very of-its-time in production values, and its format trick loses some punch once you know it's fiction.

Coraline2009

Same engine as Poltergeist — a portal inside an ordinary home, a child taken across it, a family fighting to pull her back — just recast as dark children's fantasy instead of horror-spectacle.

A stop-motion fairy tale about a child pulled through a hidden door in her own house into a seductive, wrong version of her family — gorgeous, genuinely unsettling, and made for kids and adults both.

But Animated and aimed partly at younger viewers, so the horror is stranger and more dreamlike than visceral.