Poltergeist SE (1 Viewer)

I'm glad to hear about the new transfer, 5.1 mix and the new extra content for the upcoming Poltergeist Special Edition.

I hope that they address an issue that has been bugging me for years: the bizarre jump cut.

If you don't know what I'm referring to, check it out here: http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s20jc4polter.html

Will Spielberg do a director's commentary for it?

I've always wonder why he never does commentaries or even allow others to do ones on his films. Has he said why?

I'm sure it's the 'the magician doesn't give away his secrets' argument.

He always opts for excellent documentaries instead. The lengthy docs on the Jaws, Close Encounters, Indiana Jones, and E.T. (gift set) DVDs are just as valuable as yack tracks.

Yeah, I agree completely but that's part of the reason why I never understood his reluctance to do commentaries. If he's willing to talk about the movie, why not do it during the movie?

You're missing the joke. Spielberg's not the credited director of the film; Tobe Hooper is, but it's said that Spielberg actually wielded the megaphone.

Perhaps he feels (as do I), that a good documentary is better than a good commentary. If the documentary is good, what value is gained by dropping the video and playing the audio back with the movie. That just makes no sense to me.

Ten years of debate over this? This is insane. It's part of the movie. It's how Michael Kahn edited it. Get out of a scene as early as possible and come in to the next one as late as possible. It's called moving the story along. The movie's always been that way so it's never been an issue. Maybe there was more dialogue there originally, but we don't need to see them get up, leave the house, and walk next door.

I can understand Spielberg distancing himself from this film. All I hope is that the special features from the LD (featurette, two trailers, & photo archives) are carried over. They weren't on the original DVD.

Spielberg stated in an interview once that he doesn't do commentaries because he wants you to focus on watching the movie itself instead of listening to someone talk over it. That's why he does seperate documentaries instead. I can understand his point of view on that, but at the same time he contradicted himself on the Lawrence of Arabia DVD when he talked about getting his own personal commentary from David Lean while sitting together in the theater watching the film, and relating that to how cool DVD director commentaries are (even though he refuses to do any himself).

In my opinion, that's a bit of a hypocritical viewpoint. He thinks the general practice of DVD commentaries are cool, but is too stubborn to do some of his own even though lots of fans would love to him hear talk about one of his films for 2 hours. :frowning:


And yes, my original post was a joke poking fun at the urban legend about Spielberg being the real director of Poltergeist.

Actually...I saw this on network television a long time ago (couldn't tell you when or which network), and the scene in question was not in a jump-cut form. But there also wasn't a lot more to the scene, either. After JoBeth Williams tells Craig T. Nelson about what had transpired, I recall Nelson saying something like, "uh-huh," and staring at her for a second or so, and then the next scene started up. The only reason I remember this is that I was so used to the crazy cut on the VHS tape I had that I was shocked to see it. I have no idea why it wasn't fixed on any other versions of the movie on a home format.

Methinks that jump cut has been in there from the very beginning. I actually never paid much attention to it until reading that article!

I'm very curious to see the extra content. Surely there are numerous deleted scenes and this could be a phenomenal release if they don't skimp on the extras.

Of course the trailers and Making Of (where you can see Spielberg directing the actors and Hooper literally sitting on the sideline not doing anything) from the old laserdisc would be most appreciated!

That's kinda harsh. =)
Actually, I have no problem moving the story along. But to end a scene in mid-conversation is jolting and takes the viewer out of the movie.

Even if the scene is winding down, cutting an actor off in mid-... (insert jump cut)

I can't wait to see the clown scene with the 5.1 mix!

Incidentally, these two thoughts contradict each other. =)


Don't get me wrong. This is not a 'dig' on you. I just wanted to use this to illustrate my point. Maybe this movie has been this way for years, perhaps it is like this in every home copy. And maybe that's the way it was shown in the theaters because that's the way Tobe/Steven intended it. And if this is the case, then so be it.

But maybe that's not the way Tobe/Steven intended it. Perhaps the 'jump cut' was a mistake dating back to the first VHS transfers. If that is the case, I would like this 'jump cut' to be corrected to reflect the filmmaker's intentions.

I guess you're replying to me but since I'm a big Tobe Hooper fan and a big Spielberg fan, I got the joke. I was speaking more generally of Spielberg and commentaries.

FWIW, I saw this film when it opened back in '82 (I was about 11 at the time). I have some vivid memories of the experience, like the smart-alec guy who stood up in the audience, hand over heart, for the Star Spangled Banner intro , and a few instances of flying popcorn, m&ms, etc., silhouetted against the screen (having been released from the hands of startled audience members in front of me - lol!) When we got home, I was too scared to climb the stairs to my dark, 2nd storey bedroom. I opted to sleep on the living-room couch for a few hours until my Mom went to bed. That film had a deep effect on my young brain, and it's still the scariest movie I've ever seen (especially the clown doll part..... )

As far as the jump-cut goes, it does seem strange when isolated and out of context, but I think it was that way back in '82. I had a VHS tape of it that I watched over and over again (taped off HBO sometime in the 1980's) but it's long gone.

I've heard that the jump cut in Poltergeist was done to cut out Craig Nelson's character saying "I ****ing hate Pizza Hut".

Just checked my copy, and that cut is there, and it is terrible. I absolutely cannot believe it was always like that and meant to be like that. I have it on VHS, but I believe it was copied from another source, it is not an original pre-recorded VHS, so I can't answer about that.

I would like to alternate face ripping scene that was used for early television broadcasts. The scene starts the same with the first couple of shots where Marty starts to pick at the lesions on his face, but instead of showing him starting to tear off his flesh, he becomes "zombified" with his eyes whited out and brownish muck all over his face. In the chat Warner said they are not always aware of extra/alternate scenes used for television broadcasts. So if they are reading this and there's still time to look into that (if they haven't already) it would be much appreciated.

I think some of the early scripts that are apparently out there (ones that would have clearly gotten the film a "R" rating) would be interesting as well.

Other than that, obviously commentary(ies) Tributes, deleted scenes, original featurettes, new documentary, behind the scenes footage (hoping politics don't get in the way of that)


That's something I never really understood, because nobody is going to use a commentary to replace actually watching the film itself. Also commentary tracks are PURELY OPTIONAL. If he recorded one commentary track and decided it wasn't for him, ok fine. But at least give it a shot. Spielberg will probably go down in history as the greatest filmmaker of all time (and certainly one of my favorites) and it kind of saddens me that he may one day pass on without leaving behind any commentary tracks. I know that many of his films have great documentaries, but they still don't take the place of a great commentary track and vice versa.

This "jump cut" appears in my 35mm theatrical print....

We screened it just last week....

Dugger