Poltergeist (1982)
The Tragedy of Tobe Hooper (Part 5)
In this episode, we're going to explore the film that really gave this series its name. In the early 1980s, Tobe Hooper was given the chance of a lifetime — he was invited by Stephen Spielberg, the biggest director in the world at the time, to direct a movie for Universal Pictures.
The resulting film was POLTERGEIST, and it ended up being the most successful film of Hooper's career, but also the most controversial.
No discussion about POLTERGEIST is complete without discussing that controversy, one that questioned whether Hooper actually directed the film, or whether it was actually helmed by Spielberg himself.
This week, we'll discuss how the film came about, where the controversy came from, and how it affected Hooper's career going forward (spoiler alert: not in great ways!). And we'll give our own opinions on who we think really directed POLTERGEIST.
Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.
This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne, Justin Bishop, and Todd A. Davis.