Tobe Hooper
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“They’re here.” – the obvious but direct reference certainly plays into the Poltergeist vibes of the season.
It opens with a terrifying Demogorgon attack that evokes one of the most memorable scenes in Poltergeist and immediately puts three long-time characters in mortal jeopardy.
This season draws heavily from Poltergeist and Mad Max Thunderdome, while getting back to the spirit of adventure.
Clearly, there are touches of “Poltergeist” and “The Goonies” baked into the idea, as well as “The Fury,” Brian De Palma’s 1978 psychic thriller.
It’s a bit that visually and emotionally pulls you toward the familiar—Poltergeist, the final scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind—but at the same time is so distinctly its own thing.
Luckily, for those seeking the kind of action/horror adventure Poltergeist provided, Stranger Things generally delivers in sufficiently large amounts. Whether it’s family friendly is something parents must decide, but for guidance, sex and violence are more often hinted at than shown, gore is minimal, and the nightmare-inducement level is probably right around that Poltergeist mark.
There’s been a good bit of criticism that Insidious is too like Poltergeist (1982).
What used to be so beautifully easy in The Haunting or House on Haunted Hill or The Innocents became a little bit tougher in The Amityville Horror and Poltergeist — and nowadays you have to break out the video camera if you want to dazzle a young audience with your Paranormal Activity and your Grudge-inspired phantoms.
Whannell’s script ties together a number of tropes that will be familiar to anyone who has seen The Exorcist (1973), Don’t Look Now (1973), The Amityville Horror (1979), and Poltergeist (1982), but let’s be honest: We don’t go to horror movies for originality.
His 2007 thrillers “Death Sentence” and “Dead Silence” failed to impress, so he rejoined “Saw” writer/actor Leigh Whannell in this formulaic, clichéd venture into the spiritual world that evokes memories of the far-better “Poltergeist” (1982).
Insidious isn’t a particularly original film; the fingerprints of other movies are all over it, especially Poltergeist (it doesn’t just ‘homage’ movies.
A fairly well-done, old-fashioned child-imperilment/haunted-house movie until it falls completely off the rails and starts playing like Phantasm II (but not in a good way), James Wan's jump-scare-athon Insidious is chiefly influenced, for what it's worth, by Poltergeist , though it also references that "Twilight Zone" episode where a girl falls into a parallel universe.
The Orphanage is a languid supernatural thriller in which spotting the influences—a little Poltergeist here, a little Sixth Sense there—is more involving than the story itself.
As the camera looks down on this short figure (evoking Don’t Look Now as much as The Omen or Poltergeist—it assumes her limited perspective, and you realize (again) that you’re locked into a troubled, probably untruthful view.
There are passages obviously borrowed from "Poltergeist," from David Lynch, and a compressed flashback that's more than a nod to M. Night Shyamalan.
Contrary to its title, The Orphanage is a movie with many forebears, starting with Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, The Innocents, The Others and the whole cycle of possessed child movies from the seventies and eighties, including from The Exorcist, The Omen and Poltergeist.
Guillermo del Toro has taught us this, first by directing the chilling "Devil's Backbone" and now by producing something simply called "The Orphanage," which is as tingly and creepy a ghost story as you could wish for, recalling classics like "Poltergeist," "The Sixth Sense," and "The Others."
There's a piece of The Others here, a touch of The Sixth Sense there, a pinch of Poltergeist, a smidgen of Friday The 13th, and even a streak of Pan's Labyrinth (which shouldn't be too much of a surprise, since Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro produced The Orphanage).
X (2022)
Directed by Ti West
influenced by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Eaten Alive (1976)
Plot Themes
Here he goes solo to pay homage to “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” – the 1974 original, not the slack update available now on Netflix.
Ti West has done something unique here – although the plot is similar to the entertainingly original and fun 2011 feature BreadCrumbs – yet the inspiration from classics like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is abundantly clear.
West also clearly has a fondness for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , Tobe Hooper's revolutionary 1974 landmark, a film that X , set only five years later, explicitly echoes to an uncanny degree — and also revises.
“X” has a few nods to 1970s horror classics, such as 1974’s “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and 1978’s “Halloween.”
West percolates these ideas under the surface of his latest and, thus far, greatest film, an inspired blend of Boogie Nights (1997) and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) that feels designed to trap its audience.
That said, if any of them had seen The Texas Chain Saw Massacre , which hit theaters in the fall of 1974, they’d be at least a little leery about piling into a van and heading to a remote farmhouse in an economically depressed swatch of rural Texas.
The End of Oak Street (2026)
Directed by David Robert Mitchell
influenced by Poltergeist (1982)
Visuals Themes
The trailers paint a Spielbergian neighborhood tapping into Poltergeist-like foreshadowing…
Something akin to “Poltergeist” or “Gremlins” where another filmmaker gets to be darker and crueler than the director usually is while also investigating the suburban family and Americana through a dark genre lens.
The kids feel descended from the adolescents of “E.T.” and “Stand by Me.” There’s “Poltergeist,” “Jaws,” and obviously “Jurassic Park” all over the place.
…while echoes of E.T., Poltergeist, Gremlins, and The Goonies reverberate through its suburban setting and family dynamics.
…as well as set decoration soaked in the pop-culture of the era (which recalls Tobe Hooper's "Poltergeist")…
His return is a commercial genre period piece set, not accidentally, in 1982, prime time for Amblin and Spielbergian movies like E.T. and Poltergeist…
Think here of "Poltergeist" but without any of the fun.
H The desert subdivision setting is the only interesting aspect of this wan riff on "Poltergeist" and "Paranormal Activity," minus the former's Spielbergian spectacle and the latter's "found footage" conceit.
But it's not tense--especially when Lincoln does a dog reaction shot and then a few long takes of the type that work in movies by Beat Takeshi and, okay, Ozu, but don't really do shit in a Poltergeist rip-off sans children or Spielberg's sense of suburbia on the ropes.
Todd Lincoln's tepid feature debut borrows from some horror standouts of the last 15 years, such as The Blair Witch Project, The Ring, The Grudge, and Paranormal Activity, and some earlier classics, like Poltergeist and The Amityville Horror, but doesn't offer anything new, let alone entertaining.
Like the Paranormal Activity films and their cinematic ancestor Poltergeist, The Apparition takes place in what may be the least naturally atmospheric setting out there — suburban California.
Nods to better films (Poltergeist, Flatliners) and borderline better films (the Paranormal Activity franchise and its crapshoot offspring) do little to burnish Lincoln's horror credentials.
Shots of a TV set’s glare illuminating children’s toys recall images from Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist, while mysterious POV shots bring to mind practically every slasher movie ever made.
Ball cites Chantal Akerman as one of his inspirations so imagine if she decided to deconstruct and reassemble “Poltergeist” (1982), “The Blair Witch Project” (1999) and Mark Z Danielewski’s first novel, “House of Leaves” without any adults or explanations.
Halloween (2018)
Directed by David Gordon Green
influenced by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Themes
With original director John Carpenter's blessing, Green manages something that is both a tribute to and an evolution of the 1978 classic, with moments designed to create resonances that are not just re-enactment but part of his bigger theme of trauma-causing scars (there are also, in a nod to his days as an Austin resident, a couple of subtle visual nods to the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre).
Starting with George Romero’s 1968 Night of the Living Dead , Simon unpicked the rebellious socio-political threads of films such as Last House on the Left , The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Shivers before arriving at the more conservative inflections of Carpenter’s ruthlessly efficient modern morality tale.
Mandy (2018)
Directed by Panos Cosmatos
influenced by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Visuals Themes
Cosmatos goes for a direct reference, likely to two gnarly ’80s horror flicks: Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm II .
Mandy (Grade: B) is a midnight-movie festival onto itself; over two gonzo hours, it combines giallo, Clive Barker, Death Wish , prog rock, heavy metal, Heavy Metal, Guy Maddin, Mad Max, the dueling-chainsaw climax of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 , Nicolas Roeg, and Nicolas Cage at his most bugging-out unhinged.
Both of his films to date ( Beyond The Black Rainbow , the new Mandy) have been exercises in psychotronic drag-ass, best appreciated by a certain kind of movie freak—the devotees of the church of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Heavy Metal, in Mandy’s case.
The cult itself is even more grotesque, with leader Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache) a clear satire of Charles Manson, and the other members recalling both the famous murderer’s ‘family’ and that from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Nope (2022)
Directed by Jordan Peele
influenced by Poltergeist (1982), Lifeforce (1985), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Plot Visuals Themes
Once the assumed nature of the object in the sky terrorizing them is revealed, Peele’s film plays like an homage to Jaws (1975), sprinkled with 80’s references, like Poltergeist (1982) and a creepy use of Corey Hart’s “Sunglasses At Night.”
Peele even includes a (bloody) visual nod to the finger scene in "E.T." and riffs on the catchphrase of the Spielberg-produced "Poltergeist."
Its final 30 minutes are a masterclass of energetically kinetic moxie reminiscent of Spielberg’s Jaws , Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce , or John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness .
X (2022; rentable): If you like horror movies that meditate on Hollywood history and take place in wide open rural spaces, don't miss the latest period piece from Ti West, a riff on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Psycho (1960)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
influenced The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Themes Plot
Loosely based on the story of serial killer Ed Gein (who would also inspire 1960's " Psycho "), the film takes the viewer into the mouth of unquenchable insanity and madness and refuses to loosen its grip until the final power tool is silenced by the end credits.
If Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” was the premiere slasher movie, Hooper’s film followed that film’s thread to its logical arc of exploitation.
Time has not dimmed the shock value of this seminal classic from director Tobe Hooper that's based on the same real-life case that inspired Psycho.
Typically, Hitchcock's Psycho is referred to as the film that sliced horror history in half along socio-political lines, but for all its subversions of the rules of horror, the film still faithfully presents mainstream American society (as represented by Vera Miles) as the norm.
A band of charmless youngsters ignore all the warnings and stumble across a psychopathic family (closer to Charles Addams than Psycho) in remote farmland.
The Evil Dead (1983)
Directed by Sam Raimi
influenced by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Visuals Themes
The filmmakers admit to deriving a large degree of inspiration from Tobe Hooper's 1974 ripsnorter, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre .
Indeed, much like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from 1974, one of the few American horror movies that is genuinely greater in its artistry and bleaker in its brutality, the most important point about The Evil Dead is that its superficially dubious screenplay matters nothing at all, compared to the extraordinary filmmaking prowess on display: even if we allow that The Evil Dead is poorly-written (and I'm not so sure that's the case), it works because of Raimi's incredibly bright directing, which still doesn't feel stale after three decades of copycats have sucked all the freshness out of cinematic tricks that were, in 1981, hugely radical.
It ranks more closely with the 1970s classics The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween than it does with the sillier strain of more modern horror films.
"The Evil Dead", is a first film that easily surpasses other notorious horror debuts such " The Last House on the Left " or "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre".
Spielberg himself might have been able to weave this into something coherent (indeed, strong elements of Close Enounters�, The Goonies, Jurassic Park, E.T., Jaws, and Poltergeist can be detected here), but the combination never gels.
"Super 8" is set in the working-class community of Lillian, Ohio, the kind of average but still quaintly picturesque suburban location where one imagines the Freeling family might have lived in 1982's "Poltergeist" had they been one salary bracket lower on the annual wage scale.
Better to trot out the movie's obvious influences, which include about every decent thing Spielberg himself presided over in the '70s and '80s — "E.T.," "Close Encounters," even "Poltergeist" and "Goonies."
Alas, it's in Super 8's meticulous attempts to recreate that magic (think E.T. + Close Encounters x Poltergeist) that it ultimately comes up short, fizzling at the moment is should detonate and instead revealing a Frankenstein soul grafted together from predecessors to the point of overdependence, rather than finding its own, one organic to the proceedings at hand.
In the late 70s and early 80s, with movies like "Jaws", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "Poltergeist" (which he co-produced) and "E.T."…
Spielberg, another movie-reared child, made his name with fare comparable with Super 8 ( Close Encounters , ET , Poltergeist , for instance) before moving on to Schindler's List and more serious SF activities such as AI and Minority Report .
A remake of the Steven Spielberg-penned 1982 horror film “Poltergeist.”
Poltergeist is an update of the 1982 horror of the same name and remains faithful to its story: spirits terrorise a suburban family and make a beeline for the youngest of their three children (Kennedi Clements, whose post-Poltergeist life you fervently hope will be sunnier than that of her predecessor, Heather O’Rourke, who died of a heart attack at 12).
One other thing this Poltergeist has in common with its predecessor: It's not directed by Steven Spielberg.
Generally entertaining yet fundamentally unnecessary, "Poltergeist" is a tribute-band take on one of the horror genre’s greatest hits.
The remake of Poltergeist is faithful enough, but to what end?
Paramount Pictures referenced Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist in the trailer (a line that's not in final product), which is fitting considering the filmmakers capture a lot of the essence of the Steven Spielberg-produced haunter, only with a fraction of the budget.
After all, think of many of the greatest and most effective ones -- such as "The Exorcist," "Poltergeist," "The Shining," and "The Omen" -- and they all involve children who end up threatened by one sort or another of supernatural entities.
A bit of " Rosemary's Baby " here, " The Shining " there, " Poltergeist " there, not to mention some Japanese stuff, and, of course, "Blair Witch" itself, particularly at the end.
The Black Phone (2022)
Directed by Scott Derrickson
influenced by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Visuals Dialogue
All of this combined gives the film a nostalgic feel, reminiscent of vintage photographs and the era of striped baby tees, flared jeans, and “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” playing in theaters.
Finney and Robin talk about the 1974 horror movie “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” which Finney says his strict father would never allow him to see because he’s underage.
More important than this, the dialogue evokes films of the era, pointedly referencing The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) – which gives a solid idea where the filmmakers heads were at and what they were trying to achieve (down to the casting of Thames, whose appearance is eerily reminiscent of actors from that time that it felt as if we recognized him from one of those films).
That authentic 70s vibe extends to the rest of the production, including characteristically fluffy hair, conversations about Happy Days and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , with copies of Starlog magazine prominently displayed in a grocery store.
Of course, the classic haunted house flick (or most probably its 1999 remake) is only one of the movies director Keenen Ivory Wayans and his seven writers (!) poke fun at: "What Lies Beneath", "Hannibal", "Charlie's Angels", "Titanic", "M:I-2", "Twister" and "Poltergeist" are some of the movie's other targets.
The likes of House on Haunted Hill, The Haunting and Poltergeist are given the Wayans treatment, and it says a lot that any one of the original movies spoofed here contains more genuine laughs than this lacklustre effort.
Direct movie spoofs make up the majority of the picture's running time, whether it be "Poltergeist," "The Haunting," "Hollow Man," "Charlie's Angels," "Hannibal," "Dude, Where's My Car?," or "Save the Last Dance."
They gleefully take broad stabs at thrillers ranging from "Poltergeist" (1982) to "What Lies Beneath" (2000) to "Hannibal" (2001), while at the same time making references to action films such as "Mission Impossible 2" (2000), "Charlie's Angels" (2000), and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000), just to mention a few.
Wrong Turn (2003)
Directed by Rob Schmidt
influenced by Eaten Alive (1976), Poltergeist (1982)
Themes
…does suffer from a kind of cinematic inbreeding, taking a major inspiration from a bizarre genre of 1970’s shockers like John Boorman’s Deliverance, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Eaten Alive, as well as Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes and it’s sequel.
Steven Spielberg has been quoted as saying that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the best movies ever made (and he indeed hired director Tobe Hooper to make Poltergeist for him), and what I think he was responding to was the willingness of a filmmaker to just let go.
House of 1000 Corpses (2003)
Directed by Rob Zombie
influenced by Eaten Alive (1976), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Plot Visuals
Mr. Z. may love the old movies, but he's mostly remonkeyed some hybrid of a trio of Tobe Hooper movies (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) with weird echoes of Dan Aykroyd's misbegotten sole directing effort, Nothing But Trouble.
Mr. Z. may love the old movies, but he's mostly remonkeyed some hybrid of a trio of Tobe Hooper movies (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) with weird echoes of Dan Aykroyd's misbegotten sole directing effort, Nothing But Trouble.
More Richard Donner's The Goonies than Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, House of 1000 Corpses is a shoestring series of hyperactive camera movements and disjointed images culled from what seems too many films to count, from Bloodsucking Freaks to Near Dark to Maniac to The Serpent and the Rainbow to Halloween to Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 and so on, with no reason except to demonstrate how many horror movies Zombie has seen.
This wretched film is clearly meant to evoke the spirit of '70s shock flicks like Last House on the Left and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but Zombie doesn't seem to know a thing about ambience or tension; he revels in excess.
Insidious: The Red Door (2023)
Directed by Patrick Wilson
influenced by Poltergeist (1982)
Visuals Themes
The whole film reminded me of “Poltergeist”, with it’s trips into the astral world, not helped by the fact that Patrick Wilson bears an uncanny resemblence in my eyes to Craig T. Nelson who played the father in that film.
Si bien Wilson pretende contentar a los fans introduciendo cameos de personajes queridos como la psíquica Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) y el dúo de investigadores paranormales, Specs (Whannell) y Tucker (Angus Sampson), lo cierto es que la saga nunca pudo salir del marco ya agotado del acoso fantasmal familiar de Poltergeist (1982), de Tobe Hooper, el padre en proceso de enajenación de El Resplandor ( The Shining , 1980), opus de Stanley Kubrick, las posesiones diabólicas símil El Exorcista ( The Exorcist , 1973), de William Friedkin, y algo de aquella extraordinaria parafernalia asociada a la Trilogía de las Puertas del Infierno de Lucio Fulci, nos referimos por supuesto a Miedo en la Ciudad de los Muertos Vivientes ( Paura nella Città dei Morti Viventi , 1980), El Más Allá ( E tu Vivrai nel Terrore!