SlashBack Cinema
Technically a horror podcast. Actually, a time machine. Remember the video store horror section? The sleepover dares? The practical effects that grossed us out? SlashBack Cinema is two Gen X dads going back — humor, nostalgia, trivia, and the scenes, memories, and VHS-era oddities that made them unforgettable
SlashBack Cinema
Poltergeist (1982): Suburban Hell, Real Skeletons, and Peak Gen X Trauma
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This week on SlashBack Cinema, we channel Poltergeist...the suburban nightmare that made every flickering TV feel like a portal to hell.
We dig into the behind-the-scenes madness (yes… those were real skeletons), the Steven Spielberg vs. Tobe Hooper debate, and why this movie still hits decades later, even if some of the effects are hanging on by a thread.
Plus: Gen X trauma unlocked, questionable parenting decisions, and our retro 80’s Trivia focused this week on TV shows from the 1980’s
They’re here… and so are we.
They're here!
Shanny Luft:I'm Shanny and
Ryan Dreimiller:I'm Ryan. Today, we're digging into a movie that made an entire generation terrified of clowns and TV static. We're talking 1982 poltergeist.
Shanny Luft:So stay tuned to the end, because this podcast is clean. All right, let's get into it. I'm so excited about this one because my recollection is, you've never seen this movie. Am I remembering that correctly?
Ryan Dreimiller:I must have watched some pieces of it when it was running on broadcast TV, but I never saw it in the theater, and somehow, like as time went on, I just never went back to this one. But I did watch it with Jen, and she had seen it. I've probably
Shanny Luft:seen poltergeist more than any other horror movie. I haven't actually seen it in like, a decade, so it was really fun to come back and revisit it.
Ryan Dreimiller:So this was like, your piranha, like last week we were talking about piranha and Jeff. That was such a seminal, influential film for him. It sounds like poltergeist was that for you.
Shanny Luft:Why don't we start with a short, little plot overview?
Ryan Dreimiller:Sure. So Steven and Diane Freeling live in a brand new California subdivision with their three young kids, and strange disturbances start to happen. Furniture is moving on its own, and their youngest daughter, Carol Ann, starts communicating with static on the TV. The Activity escalates into violent supernatural chaos, culminating Carol Ann being sucked into the spirit realm through her bedroom closet. And then they call in a parapsychologist team, and then this medium, tangena, and they determine that the House has become a gateway for restless spirits and a darker force, the beast, who are drawn to their daughter. Daughter, Carol Ann,
Shanny Luft:I feel like I bet a lot of listeners have seen this one. I'd love to hear what people thought of it, if people remember it. I don't know if everyone just has as close a relationship to this movie as I do, but God, so much of it sticks in my head and at the same time, when I watched it, there were a couple things that I didn't remember at all that really jumped out at me.
Ryan Dreimiller:Yeah, that's always interesting to have that reframing with years of experience in life stage to have it be a totally different experience than when you saw it when you're 10 or 12. I mean, even if you didn't see it like this was just a cultural juggernaut in terms of the certain scenes and like they're here, and then that image of the young girl in front of the TV with static, it was a huge film. I think what made like almost$80 million yeah.
Shanny Luft:So I watched this with my wife, who had never seen it before. You had the opposite situation where you watched it with Jen, and she was familiar with it. Yes, yep. So Kim was surprised that Spielberg was doing a horror movie, even though he got his big break with JAWS. But then, if you look back at his career, Jurassic Park definitely has some horror stuff in it, the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, exactly, they all have like, kind of horror elements to it. So even in his movies that are not straight up horror films, he definitely has always been interested in horror and in, like, adding horror elements to his movies. So do you want to talk about film lore?
Ryan Dreimiller:Yeah. I mean, this movie's been around so long and so big in terms of like, cultural impact that there's a lot of it. But I don't know the one that I was just like, what, like, I feel like I had heard like inklings of this years ago, and I was like, oh, that's definitely like, I'm gonna just go to Snopes. But it's that the scene towards the final climax of the film, where the mom is trying to save her daughter, like the beast has come back and re entered the house, and she's like, running around, and they've been digging this pool in the backyard. She falls into that that dug out swimming pool. So it's just a pool of mud and water, and skeletons are popping up. And it's, it's, it was generally like, still creepy. But what's even creepier is those were real skeletons. Yeah, what the hell? And they said it was the same cost, but damn.
Shanny Luft:Can you imagine if you die and then find out that your body is then being used for a PG rated horror movie? I might be kind of pissed, yeah, yeah,
Ryan Dreimiller:you're not probably earning any good karma out of pulling a stunt like that.
Shanny Luft:What's what to me about that is the theme of the movie is, don't mess around with dead bodies, because shit could come back to haunt you. I feel like were the people who made this movie even paying attention to the warning of this movie.
Ryan Dreimiller:I'm surprised there wasn't a lawsuit by that actress against Steven Spielberg in the production company. But geez, man,
Movie clip:a massive 80s party!
Shanny Luft:What is there any 80s watch for this movie where there's particular things about the 80s that stood out to you?
Ryan Dreimiller:You know, it's funny, like a lot of times I'll watch is the scenes happening, like the background and kind of like, think about who the prop stylist was, or kind of who who was behind the scenes, like creating the environment. And it did have that very like 80s lived in vibe, in terms in the in the house with the carpeted stairs, and it felt like there's like, kind of shit everywhere in this house, like there was like. Things in every room, like on every surface, on the floor, and then especially the kids room upstairs. It was like toys were just everywhere. And like, I would say, three quarters of them were Star Wars. It was really sad when the portal opened and they started sucking all those I was like the tight swing fighter. And like, you know, all these high quality Star Wars toys getting wrecked. You made me a little sad, but
Shanny Luft:yeah, the boy in the movie was it Robbie? I think his name was behind his bed, was this big Darth Vader head, but you opened it up and that's where you stored your figures. Did you recognize that?
Ryan Dreimiller:Oh, yeah, yeah. It was essentially like the Hot Wheels carrier of Star Wars. Yeah, and I did not have one, but, um, I thought it was cool because, like, people would roll in with their collection with the Darth Vader head, and it was very professional.
Shanny Luft:I think I just kept mine in a shoe box. I didn't have anything cool to keep them in. The other thing about the 80s, to wrap up, our 80s watch is, you see, at one point the dad, Steve, played by Craig T Nelson. He's like reading a book about Ronald. Reagan early in the movie. And then the plot of the movie is really about soulless corporations and how they will screw over anybody if they make a quick buck. The reason the house is haunted is because they this had been a graveyard, and they moved the the corporation promised to, like, move all of the graves to someplace else, because they were building this huge suburban neighborhood. What they actually did was just move the headstones and just leave the bodies in the ground. And that's why this haunting happened, because they had, like, disturbed all these bodies. I thought that was a cool reveal.
Ryan Dreimiller:What did you think? I thought it was great, because when you watch it, like these haunted house movies are always set in these older houses where they're, you know, energy or something terrible happened. This is a brand new house. So, like, How'd this get haunted? And then when they do that reveal, I was like, Well, that's good. So his boss, he takes him up on this hillside, and was like, you know, basically trying to say, Hey, stay with us. We'll build you a brand new house up here. You get this killer view look. And then he turns around and sees that it's like, graveyard right behind them. And he's like, yeah. And the guy's like, his boss is like, oh, it's no problem. We're gonna move it all. It's all good. And then clearly they didn't move all those bodies. So yeah, that's, that's some bad karma, right there?
Movie clip:A massive 80s party!
Shanny Luft:if you remember this movie being super horrifying, it is really eye opening to go back and re watch some of those scenes, because a couple of them do not hold up.
Ryan Dreimiller:I would nominate this. We should bring back the cheese Award, which we come from, two great states with deep roots and cheese culture, Vermont and Wisconsin,
Cheese Man::When I'm slow on the draw, and I need something to show a hanker for a hunk of cheese.
Ryan Dreimiller:The one that stood out to me was towards the final third of the film, when the portal has reopened in Carolyn and her brother's room, you see something happening behind the door. There's all this like crazy stuff happening in the house. You know, the mom's getting knocked down the steps by the demonic forces. And then when the portal opens upstairs, it's like, it sort of looks like a jello mold. You know when, like, jello cakes kind of like explode around the edge. And it's supposed to be this, like mouth vortex thing that's trying to suck them into the this, like mouth esophagus thing. And then it has this one little probe that comes out. It's just like this one little, tiny probe that looks like it's being driven by coat hanger. Just did not it wasn't it wasn't selling it to me like it looked really cheesy that did not hold up.
Shanny Luft:We're gonna pause for a moment for our week sponsor, which is slash back cinema,
Ryan Dreimiller:if you're new to the podcast and dig the vibe, we've got a whole shelf full of VHS tapes for
Shanny Luft:you for another 80s classic of suburban horror. Check out our episode on A Nightmare on Elm Street. We're stoked you're here now.
Ryan Dreimiller:Back to poltergeist. There were moments where, like, the way the mom was reacting to what was happening, I don't know that I would be that psyched to, like, watch my furniture move across the floor. And then when the husband comes home, she's so excited to show him what's happening in the kitchen. And he's like, Oh, God, what is happening?
Shanny Luft:There's something about that that I liked. Because I feel like in the 70s and 80s, being able to commune with the dead or with spirits wasn't necessarily evil. Or, you know, there's lots of movies about like, people with telekinetic power. And so I feel like, before the mom knows that she's in a horror movie, this discovery that if you put something on this one part of the kitchen floor, it'll slide across the floor. And it's kind of fun. Kim did question whether it was good parenting. That it's one thing if you stick a chair in the spot and then the chair slides across the kitchen floor. It's another thing when you take your child and stick them in the spot and be like, tell mommy how this feels.
Ryan Dreimiller:You know, that's excellent observation, but I will say, like, if this was truly 70s 80s, they wouldn't have put a helmet on the daughter, like they did give her a little bit of safety as she gets sucked across the floor and the dad catches hers one thing that it's not necessarily a scene, but it's like a casting thing for this film, this character, and she's like the medium Tangina.
Shanny Luft:Um, I love her, yeah.
Ryan Dreimiller:Like, so things that I remember for the film. I remembered her. I remember her voice. And it was such an interesting choice of casting, like, and I was thinking about it like, I don't know that they would do that today. Like it was kind of unexpected. She was this very diminutive woman who put who's the medium, and her name was Zelda Rubenstein, such an odd choice, but I thought, like, was like, perfect, because it kind of like, throws you off a little bit. That's not who you're expecting. And she shows up and she's got this really strange voice that's, like, kind of unforgettable.
Movie clip:It is only a transition to a different sphere of consciousness. Carol Anne is not like those she's with.
Shanny Luft:Yeah, her line readings were amazing. I loved her. This house is clean. I thought she had a lot of cool moments in this movie. She just came across as, like, this really tiny person with like, a lot of intensity and power. And then there was that
Ryan Dreimiller:funny moment, like they did this test between the portals. One's upstairs, and then one comes through the living room, and the plan is to run this rope through it. They're deciding who's gonna go. And tangenta is like, oh, oh, you've never done this before. In tangent, I was like, yeah, actually, I have been making this shit up.
Shanny Luft:Yes, the movie was funnier than I remember it being, yeah.
Ryan Dreimiller:And it was like, longer, like, it was like, almost runtime, a full two hours long fill, but it was well paced, and I don't know good stuff. So what stood out to you for scenes?
Shanny Luft:the scenes that I just remember, like word for word, beat for beat, is that trick that the dead Craig T Nelson teaches his son that when you see the lightning, you count, and then if the if the numbers get bigger between the lightning and the thunder, it means the storm is going away. I have no idea if that's actually a true thing, but I still do it to this day.
Ryan Dreimiller:Yeah, me too!
Shanny Luft:I do it because of this movie. [both laughing] I wanted to ask you about the doll because we've talked before about the fact that I don't have fear of clowns, I don't even understand what is it people are afraid of when they're afraid of I think clowns are fun.
Ryan Dreimiller:It's chlorophobia. And yes, I think that was on my notes. I wrote clown horrible, just horrible. I think I'm gonna have to actually admit to myself and to you and to the listeners that I have chlorophobia Like I don't, I do not like clowns at all. And this one, I definitely seen parts of that clown thing, like clips of it, and, yeah, that was just awful. Like, had that clown been in my room, I would have, like, I took deep satisfaction when, when the little boy, Robbie starts fighting back, and then he proceeds to start ripping the stuffing out of the doll. I was like, Go, Robbie! Yeah! Kill that f'in gclown!
Shanny Luft:Yes! That's something I had totally forgotten about this movie. It's Robbie, that boy. He has like, a character arc early in the movie, I'd say the first half of the movie, he is constantly terrified. He's terrified of that clown doll, he's terrified of bad weather, terrified of his tree, and so just bad things keep happening to him. But then in that scene with the clown, I had totally forgotten that it's like he's had enough at this point, and he's like, f this clown. I'm tired of this bullshit. And I actually really enjoyed seeing him develop and say, you have to fight the monster. You don't you can't just be scared. I had totally forgotten that that is his character arc. I thought that was great, yeah.
Ryan Dreimiller:And of note, he is the middle child in the film, and they, they're notoriously neglected. So there were scenes where, like, Carol Ann, they're all dealing with Carol Ann, and like, poor Robbie's like, covered in ectoplasm or whatever good, like bawling his eyes out and the parents like, where's Carol Ann?
Shanny Luft:The other thing about this movie that I felt like works 100% is the sound of Carol Ann in the television. Yeah, that's good. Is the eeriest fucking sound you see a light. God, it is like it just sent like an icy chill down my spine, and it holds up 45 years later, like it did when the movie came out. God, damn, this thing scary. It is such a scary sound, and it worked for me as a kid, and it worked for me as a parent, like when you hear your child saying, I'm lost. I'm scared. Where are you? It's terrifying. It's almost it was scarier now to hear what the girl was saying when she was in the spirit realm than it was when I watched it 35 years ago. I wanted to ask you about the parakeet. I don't know. What's your pet situation like now? Do you guys have a dog?
Ryan Dreimiller:We have two dogs and. Cat. And when I grew up, I did have a parakeet for a period of time. Yeah, Polly, your very original name, Polly, the parakeet. Yeah, and similar demise for Polly. One day, came downstairs and Polly was laying sideways in the bottom of the bird cage. And, yeah, we did not flush Polly down the toilet, I think, got a proper burial in the backyard.
Shanny Luft:I had a question about whether or not, I don't know if you should be flushing birds down the toilet.
Ryan Dreimiller:I totally agree. I'm glad there was an intervention by Cary Ann in that scene.
Shanny Luft:Have you had to deal with, like, pets dying and like you, like helping your kids deal with the trauma of...?
Ryan Dreimiller:a yeah, yes. It was dog that was one of the tougher times in this house. I mean, with dogs, like it's just pure love. So like, when they die, it's like the grief hits you differently than a family member, in some ways,
Shanny Luft:We had a guinea pig that died. It died when the kids were at school, so both the kids come home, and we realized we're gonna have to, like, sit them down and tell them. And so it was kind of a summery day. It was nice outside, so I said to the kids, let's go outside and just sit on the trampoline and we'll talk for a second. So we sat on the trampoline. This is like a parenting moment that you wish you could take back, because my kids this story that I've just told you about, we sat on the trampoline, and then I told them their guinea pig had died, and then they went through, like the normal kid, emotions of that, and we talked about it and kind of process together. But my kids, like, hate trampolines. And if, if anything is bad is going on, if I say to them, Oh, your Grandma's not feeling well, my daughter's like, do we have to go sit on the trampoline? Like, no, no, it's not that bad. So I, it's a little warning for if you're listening to this and you don't have kids yet, or you haven't had to talk them through this experience, is they're going to remember some weird thing you do. It's going to embed in them forever. So my kids think of trampolines associated with death now thanks to me. Parenting 101 move there!
Ryan Dreimiller:You know, it's not a bad long game strategy, though, because nothing ever good comes of trampolines anyway. Insurance companies jack up your rates. Somebody breaks their arm or leg like so, you know, that's good fear you instilled in them.
Shanny Luft:So ready from some stabby scores?
Ryan Dreimiller:Yeah, let's do it. Again 1 thorugh 4.
Shanny Luft:One is, do not watch this movie. It's a total waste of your time. Two is, maybe watch a couple of scenes. There's a couple of good scenes, but you can skip the movie. Three is, this is actually pretty good, and it's worth checking out if you like horror movies. And number four is, it's a classic of the genre, 100% A plus rating, a fresh tomato and one of the greats.
Ryan Dreimiller:Had I seen this movie in the 80s, this would have been four stabbing movie, like, hands down. And the only reason I'm not giving it four stabs is I just think some of the special effects, like we just talked about, have not held up over the years. So like, this is the reviewing it now a current times lens. I'm going to knock half stab off. Bring this in at three and a half steps.
Shanny Luft:I think that's pretty fair. So you really liked it.
Ryan Dreimiller:I did! Like, I think it's got great story, get great acting. Yeah, it's, it's awesome. And then, like, the whole, I mean, certain scenes, like, they're, yeah, they're cheesy and dated, but like, at the skeletons and the like, pole and the face ripping off scene, even though it was totally bad, like, had I seen that as a kid? And the freaking clown? Okay, there's some good stuff in here, but yes, how about you?
Shanny Luft:I am giving this a four out of four to me. This is, like, one of the great haunted house movies. I thought every single actor is incredible. Even Carol Ann, she's both is really good at playing a sweet little girl and also really good at playing a creepy little girl. I thought the special effects were cheesy, but if you love 80s horror movies, I feel like I have a lot of affection for the cheesiness of some of the effects. And God, it still really worked. Like I just thought there were so many scenes. I thought were fantastic, bone chillingly scary. I thought that the whole thing just was on rails. I think this is just an incredibly good haunted house movie. So I'm saying must watch.
Ryan Dreimiller:Must Watch. Okay, this is one of our higher rated film tier on Slashback.
Shanny Luft:So yeah, now we have to go and see poltergeist two, because I remember that movie being a pile of dog crap, and then polar guys three being something worse than a pile of dog crap, you'll have to use your imagination. I'm not sure what that would be. Elephant, yeah, you're saying Jen liked poltergeist two better, and so I think we should go back and watch it. So Ryan, I got a quick question for you. What's up? Man? What do you got? My question is, shall we play a game?
Ryan Dreimiller:Oh, yes, yes, we shall what? And I believe we alluded to us.
Shanny Luft:This is some 1982 theme trivia here, yes. So because Carol Ann is interacting with the monsters through her television, I thought, let's see what was happening. On television in 1982 and I'll ask you some specific questions about TV in that era. I'm ready. So let's see how well you remember television from 44 years ago. Question number one, you're gonna get three options?
Ryan Dreimiller:Excellent. Yes.
Shanny Luft:In the pilot episode of Three's Company, how does Jack convince the ropers to let him live with Janet and Chrissy. A, he promises to pay extra rent and do all the cooking. B, he pretends to be married, or C, he pretends to be gay. Ryan, of those three options, he pays extra rent and promises do the cooking. He pretends to be married, or he pretends to be gay. How did Jack convince the ropers to let him live with Janet and Chrissy?
Ryan Dreimiller:Man, yeah, in a little bit of cultural context that, like, only back in the 80s would that have been a problem with two women as a man. But I believe it was because he was convincing Mr. Roper that he was gay,
Shanny Luft:yes, and then that became a constant plot element where he had to, like, fake Cai. I feel like, yikes. None of that holds up very well today, no. But also the fact that your landlord would be like, I must understand what kind of a sexual relationship the three of you were gonna have, I feel like, yikes.
Ryan Dreimiller:Right! And the landlord was always just popping in to like, be like, what's up?
Shanny Luft:Yeah, all right, one out of three. Here we go for number two. Ryan, which 1980s television series opened with the following line? I'm gonna read it to you, and then I'm gonna give you four options of TV shows. You have to tell me which one opened with the line. In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. Ryan, what crack commando unit was sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit? Yeah, give me, give me the options here. Was it a Magnum? Pi? Was it B, the A Team? Was it C, Night Rider, or was it D?
Ryan Dreimiller:Airwolf, boy on this list that you just laid out were some of my favorite shows of all time, just in the answer set that you provided so but however, the correct answer to your question is the A team.
Shanny Luft:the A Team correct, and it turns out they were not the only crack commander unit sent to prison for crime they didn't commit.
Ryan Dreimiller:Yeah, happening, yeah.
Shanny Luft:Every other TV show was a guy who's being arrested for crime he didn't commit.
Movie clip:If no one else can help, and if you can find him, maybe you can hire the A Team.
Ryan Dreimiller:I think the Hulk had issues with his origin story and some crime he didn't commit. And then we had, you know, Airwolf gone rogue, and then you had Duke's was clear they were on the wrong side of the law all the time
Shanny Luft:Yes, they're constantly getting a chase for crimes they didn't commit. All right, so Ryan, I mentioned, I'm knight rider who, by the way, I had to double check this, because he was not sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit. So he commit. So here's my question about Knight Rider, Ryan, which of the following was not one of Kitt's abilities? So I'm gonna list four abilities, three of them. Kit actually could do one of them kit could not do. Are you ready? Yep. A, turbo boost, B, bulletproof shell, C, cloaking device, D, artificial intelligence. Which one of those four? Turbo boost, bulletproof shell, cloaking device, artificial intelligence was not one of kit's abilities.
Ryan Dreimiller:Well, kit was artificial intelligence, I believe, like early, early on. So okay, I feel like it could. There was always turbo boost or jumps happening like, so I'm feeling like that was one, and then ...
Shanny Luft:you're working your way through it. That is correct. So you're down for two.
Ryan Dreimiller:So cloaking, or I gotta feel like he's bulletproof, so I'm going cloaking.
Shanny Luft:Cloaking device is correct, three out of three! Ryan, you've done it again. I was actually surprised. I genuinely had to check this online that he never turned invisible a single time. But you would think in terms of special effects on a TV show, that'd be the easiest one.
Ryan Dreimiller:Just look at Wonder Woman, like with her Invisible Jet!
Shanny Luft:But even with Wonder Woman, you had to, for some reason they had she didn't turn invisible, which how useful is an invisible jet? If you on the inside of the jet, not invisible, can't they just see you flying in the air? What is going on? That's right questions. But in fact, to my surprise, kit did not turn invisible. He had no cloaking, but he did have turbo boost. He was bulletproof, and he was an artificial intelligence. You were, I like how you worked through it and you figured it all out.
Ryan Dreimiller:Thank you, boy. Another strong trivia performance on my part here, so I'm on a roll. So, yeah, absolutely.
Shanny Luft:I would love to hear from other listeners how you did on today's trivia. People like to reach out to us and let us know how they did. So I'm always interested in whether or not people were as successful as you on the trivia today. Those were all TV shows from 1982 that Caroline could have been watching, but she only seemed to watch TV when it was static, so she was missing all these good shows.
Ryan Dreimiller:Yeah, bad parenting, staying up too late, watching the static on TV like parents be warned.
Shanny Luft:That wraps up another trip down memory lane. Hopefully you enjoyed revisiting 1982 poltergeist as much as we did.
Ryan Dreimiller:If you're also a Gen X survivor, rate and review us on Apple and Spotify. It really helps new people find the show. And if you're a super fan. Donate at the link below in our show notes.
Shanny Luft:and we want to hear from you. If you've got a favorite memory from the 70s or 80s or a classic horror movie you'd like us to dissect, drop us a line at slash back cinema.com because your suggestions keep the conversation alive.