Poltergeist SE (1 Viewer)

[WillG]

Still, even a great documentary cannot take the place of a great commentary (and vice versa) even though commentaries and docs often tend to repeat information, there are thing you get out of commentaries that you can't get out of docs and vice versa. Somehow I'm not believing that Spielberg would be bad at commentary.

James Cameron was resistant (and still is to some extent) on recording commentaries. But, all the ones he has done so far have been stellar.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I really doubt it, since he's not as introverted as Burton. And Burton's gotten better at his commentaries over the years...

 

[Mark Hawley]

I think Burton's been prompted by an unheard interviewer on recent DVDs. If you listen to his Sleepy Hollow commentary from 1999, he hardly says anything.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Yeah, I agree - and in the case of Big Fish, the interviewer isn't unheard at all...

 

[Christian Preischl]

Okay, here we go: The Poltergeist SE has been announced in Germany for October. Given that German Warner SEs are usually identical to their R1 counterparts, you can expect the following extras (titles translated into English by yours truly):

* Documentaries: They're Here: The True World of Poltergeist Part 1 (The Science of Ghosts) and Part 2 (Communicating with the Dead)
* Making Of (probably the original featurette)
* Theatrical Trailer

And that's it.

Source: http://www.cinefacts.de/news/news.php?newsid=7864

 

[Patrick H.]

Damn, nobody involved wants to talk about this movie even after 25 years, eh? Looks like you could learn more about its production from the E! True Hollywood Story episode on it...

 

[WillG]

And the E! True Hollywood story did have several people involved in the production talking about the film.

I really find it hard to believe that with a film with a such a distinct history the above is the best they could do. Those docs don't sound like they really have much to do with the film at all. Any chance that site has incomplete specs?

 

[JeremySt]

Glad I still have the E! doc recorded.

 

[Patrick H.]

So...is this new edition really happening or not? It seems like all of Warners other October/Halloween titles have press releases, cover art, and pre-order pages at this point, but I haven't seen anything for 'Poltergeist' aside from a tentative date.

 

[Powell&Pressburger]

I am becoming impatient for this release but sounds like maybe Warners stood back after coming up w/ bonus features they may have thought hmmm nothing special here .... I heard that they were doing interviews with real shost experts types etc which I am sorry but that is the LAMEST excuse for a special feature since Disney started doing those games as a special feature on their DVDs.

Furthermore WB should be able to issue at least 2 theatrical trailers for the film I ahve the OLD LD set which featured the old making of which was short but I liked what on set footage they featured plus one trailer that was made up as if real life ghost hunters were being interviewed it was odd though lol ... and there have to be a few decent TV spots out there for the film. Everyone should have been interviewed and instead of sweeping the whole Who directed and made the film under the rug they should come to terms it has been 25 yrs anyhow and have Tobe saying what he wants and Steven to do the same the audience can take it from there. There should be plenty that can be issued on a decent release for this film including prob special effects tests etc., Come on WARNER BROS. What gives wasting money interviewing so called ghost trackers is a waste pay Tobe for some materiel even if it is controversial we want stuff regarding the making of the film and publicty not doc on ghost trackings lol

Jack

 

[Michael Elliott]

It's doubtful Warner, Hooper or Spielberg want anything to do with the controversy surrounding the film.

 

[WillG]

I never expected the "Who really directed the film" controversy to be touched upon. But there are several other interesting subjects that can be, and have been officially talked about. I find it hard to believe that if the certainty of Spielberg not doing a commentary and the possible passing of Hooper, they couldn't get a cast or writers commentary (parties that have previously discussed the film)

Deleted scenes? I know for a fact that there was an alternate "face ripping" scene that was used for television broadcasts in the 80s.

The least they could do would be to throw together a featurette about Heather O'Rourke. What about Jerry Goldsmith? Poltergeist would have been nothing without that distinctive score.

I just cannot believe that the specs posted above could be it for such an important film so rich with history and for a DVD release that has been in the pipeline for 2+ years. Hell, they were able to pull together an interesting commentary and 35+ minutes of deleted scenes for freakin' Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

 

[MielR]

Is that the same short that runs on TCM occasionally?

Not including stuff like that on new DVD releases is really very irritating...

Unfortunately, leaving pertinent extras off DVDs seems to be happening more often lately.

 

[Michael Elliott]

There's someone at another board who has interviewed Spielberg a couple times and apparently he never wants to talk about this film or TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE. Who knows what really happened but as you said, this is a VERY big movie and probably deserves a better SE. Perhaps Spielberg just didn't want anything talked about in regards to the film? I'm sure Warner could have gotten the E! documentary but if Spielberg said no then I doubt Warner would.

Plus, for arguments sake, lets say they get Hooper to do a commentary and he "tells the truth" and calls Spielberg a jerk who wouldn't let him film the movie he wanted. I'm sure the legal department would have something to say about this and I'm sure Spielberg would get to listen to it and I doubt he'd want it out there. There's no way any studio is going to go against Spielberg.

 

[WillG]

It seems to me that people are way too fixated on the "Who really directed the film thing" Certainly that's a big part of the legend but it's far from the only thing of interest on this film. Hell even if Hooper did nothing but hang around the set, he could certainy provide intersting commentary. There have been commentaries that got by on less. And regarding Spielberg, it seems that he has never prevented people on films he produced from participating in commentaries/special features. Spielberg has gone on record saying that Hooper directed the film.

 

[Mike_Richardson]

Seems like this now an annual rite of summer's end that we expect an announcement for POLTERGEIST and, for whatever reason, it doesn't happen :frowning:

 

[Patrick H.]

Regarding the extras, I was never really expecting "full disclosure" regarding the directorial situation, nor was I anticipating that Spielberg would even be a presence on this release. Michael is right...I've never heard or read of him discussing this film or 'Twilight Zone', and I can understand why. He has no problem talking about films of his that he feels were unsuccessful for one reason or another, but things went seriously awry from a production standpoint on these two...reputations were damaged and cast members died tragically either during or not long after shooting...and I can see why he probably feels rehashing all of that wouldn't be flattering or respectful.

The problem with 'Poltergeist', though, is that just about every facet of its production is affected by the "who really directed it" debate. You can't interview the cast without that coming up, and even elements like the editing, scoring, and visual effects can't get around it because it's been documented Spielberg alone was in charge of post-production. An effects featurette MIGHT be possible, but it'd still be hard for the ILM people to discuss their work without saying where the ideas were ultimately coming from.

At the end of the day, I'd love to see what Spielberg and Hooper have to say about this film (particularly jointly), but it's not going to happen if they don't want it to. The level of transparency on, say, the 'Superman' DVD only came about due to the participants wanting their side of the story to be told. If Spielberg doesn't want that, then the list of extras floating around doesn't surprise me.

However, I still haven't seen anything official that this is actually even coming out...

 

[Michael Elliott]

Hooper's career is washed up as he's working in "Z" level horror films so he has nothing to lose and could get his "name back in the news" by spilling the beans yet he has still kept his mouth shut over the years.

With this film, there's just no way to discuss it without talking about the deaths that happened around it so perhaps the producer just doesn't want that being talked about.

 

[TravisR]

But then he'd be saying that he didn't actually direct the biggest hit of his career. Why would he admit to that?

 

[WillG]

I would say that applies much more to the Twilight Zone than Poltergeist. Aside from the who directed the film controversy, I don't recall hearing much about things going seriously awry on the production on the film. At least not much more than problems that can potentially plague any other film. I guess there was an incident of the actor playing Robbie almost getting strangled while filming the doll attack scene. I guess some of the cast members recall stange, supernatural like things happening to them. But incidents happen on any film. I know that Dominique Dunne was murdered, and as sad as that is, it was not related to the film.

The way I see it is that after 25 years, you'd think the principles could talk about the film and touch on some of the controversy. Spielberg and Hooper surely can't have that acromonious of feeling for each other as they've worked together after "Poltergeist" Bad feelings about this controversy shouldn't even exist as Spielberg has gone on record saying that it was Hooper who was the director. The cast have asserted that as well. Maybe it's not really the truth, but it is the record. So what could be so hard about them saying that collaborated artistically after all this time. But that's just me. This is not a movie that should be ignored by the people who made it. And if this film is not given the attention it deserves this time around, it probably never will be.