The Making of 'Poltergeist' (1982 TV Short) User Reviews

Short 'making of' documentary.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 29 July 2007]

The Making of 'Poltergeist' is a seven minute fifteen seconds long documentary about the making of one of the best haunted house horror films ever, namely Poltergeist (1982).

This actually seems quite random as it is made up entirely of on the set footage, it's interesting to see Spielberg appearing to what looks like direct several scenes, he seems has a BIG say in one particular sequence & we hear him discussing the film while the films credited director Tobe Hooper is only seen once in the background & doesn't contribute anything to the interview footage which was obviously taken on-set between takes. Rumours have persisted that Spielberg actually shot most of Poltergeist & made all the major creative decisions & looking at this brief on the set footage that's definitely the impression that I get & it's hard to argue.

There are some great behind-the-scenes footage of the sets, some of the special effects sequences & the crew working, unfortunately there is next to nothing about the actual psychical making of it, apart from an interview with star Craig T. Nelson about how he was wet all the time no-one else is interviewed beside Spielberg & the producer Frank Marshall who produced & directed this short making of.

The Making of 'Poltergeist' is a very short look at Poltergeist, I'd say watch it for the candid & cool behind-the-scenes footage rather than any actual deep meaningful information on the making of it because there isn't any.

Craig T. Nelson, who played the dad in POLTERGEIST, complains here . . .

[oscaralbert · 7/10 · 1 November 2014]

. . . about getting wet during the filming of that 1982 horror flick. He also says that one of every four Americans has seen a poltergeist or ghost in action, but implies that he himself has not. If I was looking for something to complain about in his shoes, I would have griped about the second circumstance (since having personal experience with the Supernatural would have aided his performance, no doubt). Being damp for a few minutes seems like a lesser handicap. After all, I'm sure that POLTERGEIST producer Steven Spielberg, also interviewed here, sprang for enough towels and space heaters to keep the monitors from the Screen Actors Guild happy. (They're the ones who put the disclaimer at the end of every movie filmed in America, "No actors were harmed in the making of this flick." (That assurance may be a bone of contention for the O'Rourke Clan, as their daughter Heather not only stars here as the little blonde "They're Baaaaaack!" girl, but later reprised her role in two sequels and then dropped dead from a heart attack at the ripe old age of 12!) So maybe the behind-the-scenes footage here is not so benign, after all.

If a Horde of Mohicans invaded Estonia . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 6/10 · 29 January 2019]

. . . and covered all of that enclave's graveyards with tracts of chalets to see who could evoke the bluest-eyed ghost, it would probably mean The Last of the Mohicans, because they'd be stoned by outraged indigenous Estonians. However, the mirror image of such a Racist Incursion forms the plot of POLTERGEIST. "Freeling" is the Anglicized version of Estonia's most common surname, "FRHLYYYG" (which is more common over there than "Smith" or "Jones" are here). But THE MAKING OF POLTERGEIST says nary a word about the Freeling Family wishing to get their jollies by free-loading on Mohican Spirits. (It adds in salt to injury, of course, by stuffing the corpses within this Native American Burial Ground into Western-Style boxes, and desecrating these stalwart skeletons with the remnants of European tailoring and pearl necklaces!) These slights to the First Peoples no doubt unleashed "The Curse of Poltergeist," which has seen virtually the entire cast and crew of this culturally tone deaf flick pass away career wise--or just die, in the literal sense. Just as the Growling Big Cat film studio behind POLTERGEIST commissioned that Mount Rushmore guy to convert Georgia's Stone Mountain Park into a movie poster-like PR stunt featuring cameo carvings of traitors "J. Davis, R. Butler, & Bob Lee" in the butte to promote GWTW 40 years earlier, this "Making of" shows "Uncas'" grave being turned into a cesspool. All involved with POLTERGEIST should have self-deported back to Estonia, where they belonged!

Worth Watching for the Behind the Scenes Footage

[Michael_Elliott · 25 May 2011]

Making of 'Poltergeist', The (1982)

*** (out of 4)

Frank Marshall, producer of the film in question, directs this eight-minute documentary that takes a look at how some of the special effects were created for the Tobe Hooper film. What we basically get is a promo trying to build up interest for the movie and on this level I think the short fails because in all honesty if I had seen this thing it really wouldn't have made me want to go and watch the movie. I'm really not sure who they were aiming this short at but they talk about the special effects but we never really get to see them and the short doesn't sell the "scare" factor of the movie. We all know today that the movie ended up being a massive hit so obviously they didn't even need this thing. The reason this short is worth watching is for the behind the scenes footage, which includes some shots of what appears to be Steven Spielberg directing. The legend and myth about who directed this film is now notorious and it's interesting to see what Spielberg is doing here because it's typically the director doing such a thing. Craig T. Nelson gets a few brief interview clips as does Marshall. Fans of the film will certainly want to check this out as a curio but it's certainly nothing ground-breaking.