Classic 80s Movie Review-Poltergeist

I am currently reading a really good contemporary poetry collection, 'Sister' by Nickole Brown. Many of the poems within this collection seem to be inspired by the speaker's abusive childhood and one poem, entitled 'Poltergeist' makes reference to the classic 80s movie of the same name. This poem offers a somewhat different take on the content of the movie, describing the little girl with her long blond hair and white nightgown, kneeling in front of the TV, and then going on to state:

"...I wanted to be her, my hands

pressed against the tinny pings
of ghosts beating themselves like moths
against the screen...

...I wanted to go
but mostly I wanted

a mother to notice I was gone, to call and call
after me, to follow the unknown path
snatching me back from the beast, to land
jellied red in her arms, our faces
exhausted, hieroglyphed
with a pulp of flesh that read
one word-born."

This poem is powerful and evocative in its own right, but I don't think too many of us would have longed to be Carole Ann, the strangely creepy, blond-haired, white-nightgowned little girl from 'Poltergeist', the movie. Remember the eerie ring of her announcement, 'They're Here'? Remember the drained underground swimming pool become a bobbing pit of dead bodies? Remember the ectoplasm and the psychic's creepy baby voice?

'Poltergeist' the movie succeeded as an unsettling exploration of psychological suspense and the strange horror of the paranormal, especially if you were a little kid with an overactive and slightly dark imagination, as I was when I first saw the film in the 80s. I enjoyed it, but it also haunted me.

It was rife with creepy imagery, but the scenes that seemed most chilling to me by far were those starring the sinister-looking clown doll. Every time I saw that doll, I just knew that it was soon to play an evil role in the scary story and I felt almost paralyzed with fear of the upcoming moment when its evil potential would come alive. I guess there's just something inherently fear-inducing about the possibility of inanimate objects coming to life and turning against their owners, especially if those inanimate objects have humanoid features, but are not supposed to be able to move.

Although I'd never suffered from a clown phobia per se, as a child I'd experienced a recurring fear associated with the large Raggedy Ann doll that occupied a child-sized rocking chair in my bedroom. By day, this doll seemed innocent enough that I would forget my fear and by night, it would be too late. I'd already be in bed with the lights out when I'd suddenly recall my dreadful fear and feel as if I was in the grip of a creepy slow motion fever dream, which sometimes even seemed to be accompanied with horror movie music.

I'd slowly turn my head towards the rocking chair and see the doll slowly starting to move from her seat, as if about to creep towards my bed. I would want to leap out of that bed and run for my parents room or at least cry out for them, but a strange paralysis had taken control of my limbs and vocal cords; I could not move and when I tried to scream, only a feeble hiss emitted from my throat.

The slow-motion movement of my rag doll was all very unnatural-seeming, which just added to the creep factor of the whole seamy affair. It's unnatural for a rag doll to attack. It's unnatural for a little girl's head to rotate 360 degrees. And in the case of Poltergeist, it was most certainly unnatural for a demonically possessed clown doll to be seemingly navigating a bed that is suddenly levitating off the floor of a bedroom.

I know I'm not the only one who suffered from some kind of post-traumatic stress catalyzed by the Poltergeist clown doll. At least my fear didn't mutate into a full-fledged clown phobia-or a clown fetish! By the way, I haven't even delved into the fact that Carole Ann also happens to be my mother's name!

I will be posting an original poem inspired by my childhood fear of the Raggedy Ann doll soon.

In the meantime, relive your own childhood (or adulthood) horror by purchasing Poltergeist via one of the following websites:

http://www.amazon.com

http://www.cduniverse.com

http://movies.half.ebay.com

http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com

http://shopping.yahoo.com