Sam Raimi to Reboot ‘Poltergeist’

Rumors of a new ‘Poltergeist‘ project have been circulating for a while now. It appears that this undertaking has gained some steam recently and has brought some heavy hitters on board. Reportedly, it will be a reboot of the 1982 film, but also a sequel. Gil Kenan (‘Monster House‘) is attached to direct. More importantly, Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Roy Lee from the ‘Evil Dead‘ franchise will produce.

The film will start shooting in September in Toronto. David Lindsay Abaire is billed as the top screenwriter. Abaire and Raimi worked together on the recent ‘Oz: The Great and Powerful‘. The story will feature a new family some years after the Freelings were run out of their haunted house by evil spirits. After protagonist Eric Bowen loses his job, he and his family relocate to a new town to start from scratch. When his young daughter Madison disappears, his wife discovers the ability to communicate with the dead. They’re helped by Dr. Brooke Powell, a parapsychologist at a local university.

So, basically, the same thing as the first movie.

Allegedly, we’ll also see some homages to the original, but they don’t sound well thought out. Supposedly, in one scene, the kids find some odd things in the attic, including the Freelings’ possessions such as the ‘Star Wars‘ bed sheets and the famous TV set. But didn’t the Freelings’ house implode in front of them at the end of the first movie? I mean, this just doesn’t make sense.

Also featured will be the scary tree outside the house and that creepy clown doll.

Unfortunately, neither Steven Spielberg nor Tobe Hooper are taking part in this project at the moment. With Raimi on board and with Kenan’s family-oriented background, they might make a decent reboot. Casting is underway right now. All I can hope for is a Craig T. Nelson cameo. And who will replace Zelda Rubenstein? Those will be hard shoes to fill.

[via Screen Rant]

15 comments

  1. I recently rewatched the original Poltergeist. Aside from a little cheesiness (that was probably intentional anyway), it still holds up just fine as an entertaining carnival fun house ride of a movie. I don’t see any need for a remake or reboot, but that’s never exactly stopped Hollywood from trying. The description doesn’t sound too promising.

  2. William Henley

    When I started reading this article, I thought “Poltergeist does not need to be remade, but this has the potential to be great”. Then I read the plot synopsis.

    Sounds like they dusted off the script to a late-80s television-show based on the movie.

    • Seriously, either reboot the movie proper so that you can recreate iconic scares with modern CGI and tech or do something original.

      Why call it a remake if you are going to crap all over the original.

      The movie is a classic piece of 80’s Spielberg produced action horror please don’t turn this into another great possible idea like “The Fog” yet screw it up.

      • William Henley

        Exactly. Sequels or remakes I am fine with, but if you crap over the original…. Sounds a LOT like television shows from the 80s and 90s based on movies – they would try to make a change in the movie just enough to justify an entire spinoff series. Many of those shows didn’t last that long – probably because the people the movies were aimed at, the fans, felt crapped on. I think the only series that payed proper tribute to the source movie was Stargate, and it was very successful.

        Remakes and reboots are fine, but Hollywood needs to understand who they are marketing towards. Why crap over the very people who are most likely to support you? I mean, if you are going to crap over the original, your only hope is to market to people who never saw the original and establish a new fanbase. But with a francise like this, that is hard – many people who are fans of this genera are familer with the classics, and would have seen (and are probably fans) of the original.

        To crap over the original like this, you are REALLY limiting your potential market before you even start shooting. Why bother?

  3. Not to mention the first film spawned TWO DIRECT SEQUELS, how could this possibly be a sequel in any way? Plus what was already said, the house imploded, it shouldnt be there AND the spirit followed the family around, it never stayed in the house…oh that IMPLODED again.

    Good lord Hollywood, THINK!

    Complete waste of space, time, money and the list goes on, Poltergeist still holds up today and thats hard to say about a lot of movies made in the 80s, Poltergeist is like the Terminator 2 of Haunted House/Supernatural films 🙂

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