Poltergeist (1982)
Directed by Tobe Hooper
The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.
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6 films that influenced Poltergeist
What critics say influenced Poltergeist
And this is not the first time that a producer, and not the director, served as the primary creative spirit behind a movie: one needn't look beyond David O. Selznick's Gone with the Wind and Duel in the Sun for two especially clear-cut examples.
It's insoluble (though not quite as much so as the Tobe Hooper/Steven Spielberg film Poltergeist ), but the general consensus is that Nyby was learning by doing on the set of The Thing from Another World, practicing the craft of directing by mimicking Hawks, and constantly checking in with Hawks to make sure he was doing things right, and occasionally handing his producer the reins when things got too difficult.
Of course, Spielberg was riding high at the time, having already made "Jaws" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and he probably would have directed "Poltergeist," too, if he hadn't been working on "E.T." the same year.
It's Jaws and the rolling boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark and the setting and visitation of E.T. and the extreme backlighting of Close Encounters of the Third Kind .
The climaxes are horrific, with effects recalling ''Raiders of the Lost Ark,'' but in a less exotic setting.
It's Jaws and the rolling boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark and the setting and visitation of E.T. and the extreme backlighting of Close Encounters of the Third Kind .
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He covers the doll with his jacket so its ominous stare won't scare him - the back of his jacket, with the Star Wars character Chewbacca, replaces the clown's grin.
Its interpolation of enormously ambitious shot set-ups and effects sequences into the modest domestic setting of a single family home set it out as one of the most unique of the first generation of post- Star Wars effects showcases.
And this is not the first time that a producer, and not the director, served as the primary creative spirit behind a movie: one needn't look beyond David O. Selznick's Gone with the Wind and Duel in the Sun for two especially clear-cut examples.