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Todd Erwin

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The 1982 horror classic Poltergeist finally arrives on 4K UHD Blu-ray in a transfer that finally looks like some care was taken to present the film with some respect.



Poltergeist (1982)



Released: 04 Jun 1982
Rated: PG
Runtime: 114 min




Director: Tobe Hooper
Genre: Horror, Thriller



Cast: JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Craig T. Nelson
Writer(s): Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais, Mark Victor



Plot: A family's home is haunted by a host of demonic ghosts.



IMDB rating: 7.3
MetaScore: 79





Disc Information



Studio: MGM
Distributed By: Warner Brothers
Video Resolution: 1080P/AVC



Aspect Ratio: 2.39.1
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HDMA, English 5.1 DTS-HDMA, Spanish 2.0 DD...

Continue reading...
 
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Noel Aguirre

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Just returned from the TCM theatrical special showing of Poltergeist. This time I noticed how wonderful Jerry Goldsmith’s music is as are the pre-CGI special effects. Jobeth Williams gives an outstanding performance as does Beatrice Straight. It’s like going to a spook house at any amusement park. Scary yet fun! A one of a kind great film!
 

Malcolm R

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The amazing thing about this movie, for me, is that I knew everything that happened in it long before I actually saw it, and then seeing it for the first time at a crowded midnight showing (as an adult, no less) still scared the crap out of me.
I think any well-constructed movie can do that on repeat viewing. I noted a couple weeks back that while I've seen Jaws countless times over the years, I saw it for the first time on a big screen in a theater for the recent 3D release. I almost jumped out of my seat when Ben Gardner's head floated into view. I knew it was coming. I told myself it was coming. But I still jumped. :eek:
 

Josh Steinberg

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I jumped there too.

Horror movies usually don’t scare me. I usually just find them either unpleasant (if it’s very violent/gory) or dull (the way many people feel about art house films), but this one, man.. I only saw it that one time and I’m glad I went out to see it in a theater instead of renting the disc. That’s one of those screenings that’ll stick with me. I mean, that must’ve been 12 years ago and I still remember walking out of the theater feeling exhilarated to be alive.
 

Walter P. Thatcher

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Thankyou for the review, but just an editorial request. Mr. Karen was the spokesman for the Pathmark Supermarkets chain:
 

Todd Erwin

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Lord Dalek

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If the "remastered" 5.1 is anything like the version on HBO Max, its just the original 4.1 with some modest bleed and steering.
 

Kaskade1309

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Okay. This is concerning me now, because it seems to be happening regularly with UHD/4K Blu-rays on my Panasonic DP-UB9000...and I hope it's not the player, because this thing cost us $1K before tax (we're actually still paying it off).

Has anyone else who bought the Poltergeist UHD Blu-ray experienced issues like sound dropouts or random "freeze jumps" in the picture? First, my Bad Boys for Life 4K Blu exhibited these weird color "pixelation patches" in the image (even after cleaning my player's lens with a Maxell brushless laser lens cleaner) before leading to audio dropouts, and now last night, Poltergeist exhibited these brief freezes in the picture, around the time the family is having breakfast and Steve goes off to work -- at one point the audio dropped out but then came back (my player had just had its laser cleaned via the aforementioned Maxell disc a few nights ago).

Also -- the player seems to be making groaning operational noises (mainly with UHD Blu-rays) when a disc is inserted and loading, sometimes going right through to when the feature starts. At first, it only seemed to happen with two titles in my collection, Joker (Warner Bros.) and Evil Dead 2 (Lionsgate), but since then, at least one 1080p Blu-ray (Evil Dead 2013, Sony) has made this nasty vibration/cogging in the unit upon loading (one copy of this disc was so bad we had to return it, as it was causing the whole player to vibrate and whine even during the film; the replacement disc STILL causes the player to make a noise, but it's only when it first loads), but now, last night, the Poltergeist 4K disc caused the unit to moan and vibrate as it loaded. It was particularly bad when the setup menu popped up, as you could clearly hear the noise from the player over the music accompanying the menu. It eventually calmed down and stopped a few seconds into the film.

Here's what's super-weird: I was told over at AVS that the last firmware update for the Panasonic UHD players caused some titles to now exhibit noise in the units, and Joker and Evil Dead 2 were on that list -- but what is now going on with titles like Poltergeist and Bad Boys for Life? Why are these causing the player to moan, vibrate and throw a fit?

Has anyone else who may have purchased Poltergeist experienced any issues with the disc yet?
 

Kaskade1309

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Sounds like you have a poltergeist. :drum: **rimshot**

(Sorry, I know it's a serious issue and question, but couldn't resist. ;) )
Seems like this is an issue with some other owners, as I've read the threads here since posting...

I am going to have to watch the disc again and see if it occurs -- I will then have to get a replacement from Best Buy, if I can, being that I didn't get the steelbook.
 

Lord Dalek

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Some heavy reframing seems to have occurred as quite a lot was lost on the left side from the 2009 transfer.






Also the resolution isn't THAT much of an improvement but then again this was shot in the generally godawful J-D-C Scope so that's pretty much expected.
 

JimJasper

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Some heavy reframing seems to have occurred as quite a lot was lost on the left side from the 2009 transfer.






Also the resolution isn't THAT much of an improvement but then again this was shot in the generally godawful J-D-C Scope so that's pretty much expected.
Can these pictures get fixed here?
 

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