Poltergeist

One of the underrated elements of the horror community is how many of them have the opportunity to meet their heroes. When famous actors and filmmakers die, they tend to be remembered at a distance on the quality of their work; when horror icons like George Romero or Wes Craven pass, however, people have first-hand accounts of meeting them at festivals and conventions. So as word spreads today about the death of legendary Texas Chainsaw Massacre director Tobe Hooper, you’ll hear more than a few first-hand accounts of what it was like to talk about the genre with Hooper. That’s the power of the horror community.

In what has now become something of a bi-annual tradition in Hollywood, yet another person has come forward with yet another claim that Steven Spielberg was the real director of Poltergeist. This time around it’s John Leonetti, the filmmaker behind the new horror film Wish Upon, who outs himself as a Poltergeist truther with his not-entirely-shocking assertion about who actually directed Tobe Hooper’s spooky 1982 classic.

Tomorrowland may have taken the top spot at the box office in its debut weekend, but things still look awfully grim for the George Clooney sci-fi vehicle. Not only did the film open far below expectations, it faced serious competition in Pitch Perfect 2, which continued to kick aca-butt in its second weekend. And it wasn’t the only new release to under-perform, with the Poltergeist remake also falling short of early predictions. If you were a new release this weekend, things were awfully rough.

OK, when I heard that there was a remake being filmed for "Poltergeist". I was skeptical, to say the least. OK, I was downright annoyed. There are some movies you probably shouldn't try to remake.