Poltergeist (2015)

Poltergeist (2015)
Directed by	Gil Kenan
Produced by	Sam Raimi
Written by	David Lindsay-Abaire
Starring	Sam Rockwell; Jared Harris; Rosemarie DeWitt; Saxon Sharbino; Kyle Catlett; Kennedi Clements; Jane Adams
Music by	Marc Streitenfeld
Cinematography	Javier Aguirresarobe
Editing by	Jeff Betancourt
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release	July 24, 2015
Running time	93 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35 million
Gross revenue	$95.6 million

Poltergeist is a 2015 American supernatural adventure horror film directed by Gil Kenan, written by David Lindsay-Abaire and produced by Sam Raimi. A reboot of the 1982 film of the same name, the film stars Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Jared Harris, and Jane Adams. It was released on May 22, 2015, by 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film grossed over $95 million worldwide.

Plot[]

Eric (Sam Rockwell) and Amy Bowen (Rosemarie DeWitt) are a couple looking to buy a house for themselves and their three children: 16 year old eldest daughter, Kendra (Saxon Sharbino); their 9 year old son, Griffin (Kyle Catlett); and 6 years old youngest daughter, Madison (Kennedi Clements). Eric was recently laid off, but they are shown a house that has recently come on the market that fits their price range, so they purchase it and move in.

The first night, they hear strange noises in the walls, and Griffin finds a box of clown dolls that were left at the house. In the middle of the night, lights and electronic devices start turning on and off, as some unseen force appears to move through the home. The commotion wakes Griffin, and he goes downstairs and finds Madison talking to an unknown presence inside the television. She tells Griffin someone is coming, and he attempts to unplug the TV, causing the lights to go out of control. Madison then tells the family they are here.

The following evening, Eric and Amy go to dinner with their friends, leaving the three children at home. They learn that their house was built on an old cemetery, but the bodies were moved to a better neighborhood.

At the house, Kendra's phone begins emitting strange sounds, and as she traces the noise and enters one of the rooms, the floor cracks and corpses' hands emerge and begin pulling at her foot. Griffin notices the clown dolls seem to be moving by themselves. One clown doll attacks him, but he destroys it and escapes from his bedroom. He finds Madison in her room, scared, crouching at a corner, and tells her to stay while he goes to find Kendra. Madison is then lured into her closet and becomes lost in an unending void. As she sees her bedroom drifting away further, she is dragged into the darkness by ghosts. Griffin, while running around the house, is grabbed by the branches of the old tree outside their house, which pulls him out to be hanging on the tree. Amy and Eric arrive home to see Griffin being tossed around in the tree branches, which releases its grip when they come close, while Kendra tells them she can't find Madison.

The family hears Madison's voice emanating from the television. Amy and Griffin visit the Paranormal Research department for help. The staff sets up equipment in the house, and install GPS locators on everyone in the house. While trying to contact Madison, Eric is ambushed in the closet by a ghost resembling her. Angered, he breaks down the closet wall, throwing a chair into the darkness inside the closet, and as the chair falls back into the living room of the house, it reveals a possible portal Madison can escape through. The investigators realize that this haunting is a poltergeist. The lead investigator Dr. Brooke Powell (Jane Adams) decides to call occult specialist and television personality Carrigan Burke (Jared Harris).

Carrigan explains that Madison is a possible psychic, able to communicate with spirits. He reveals that the poltergeists are trapped and are angry because only the headstones were moved to the new cemetery, but the bodies remained, and plan on using Madison to free them from their purgatory. Carrigan comes up with a plan to get Madison back. He anchors a rope in Madison's room and tosses it into the vortex. They attempt to use Griffin's toy drone to guide Madison out, but it's destroyed by the poltergeists when inside the portal. Griffin, ridden with guilt over leaving Madison alone in the first place, goes through the portal himself. When he finds Madison, the poltergeists attempt to destroy the rope to trap them, but they both escape.

The family get in their car and begin to take their leave from the house, but the poltergeists drag them back into the house and attempt to abduct Madison again. The family saves her from being sucked into the portal, and Carrigan decides that as the only other psychic, he must go into the vortex and lead the spirits into the light. The Bowens flee as the house is torn apart by a giant light. The investigative team run to their equipment, looking for a sign that Carrigan managed to get back.

As the Bowens look for a new house, the realtor shows them a house with lots of closet space and an old tree in the backyard; the Bowens drive away laughing. During the end credits, it's revealed that Carrigan survived the incident and is back filming his ghost program, now hosting the show with Dr. Powell.

Cast[]

Sam Rockwell as Eric Bowen
Rosemarie DeWitt as Amy Bowen
Jared Harris as Carrigan Burke
Jane Adams as Dr. Brooke Powell
Saxon Sharbino as Kendra Bowen
Kyle Catlett as Griffin Bowen
Kennedi Clements as Madison Bowen
Nicholas Braun as Boyd
Susan Heyward as Sophie
Soma Bhatia as Lauren

Shooting[]

In early September 2013, the crew shot the interior scenes for the film in an old residence in Toronto. Exterior shots were filmed on the West Mountain of Hamilton.