I just tried to watch the 2 featurettes on Poltergeist with English subtitles but they don't seem to work. However, the Chinese and Portuguese subtitles do work. Can anyone confirm if their copy does the same thing? I just want to make sure my copy is defective before going back to the store. Explaining these things to whoever helps me is always a nightmare.

For a Special Edition, the extras seem pretty slim; 30 years later, people still won't talk about all of the controversy on the set, evidently.

Looks pretty good. Was hoping the HD DVD version was still coming out...guess not.
The house used in the movie is actually in my town. I'm gonna have to drive by later and check it out again. Always freaks me out.

That's my belief as well. They may have tried to create some features that dealt with this in as diplomatic a manner as possible, but couldn't come up with anything that would pass muster. Disappointing to be sure, but for the upgraded PQ I'm very glad to have it.

Hey that's cool!

I live about 10 minutes drive from the Amityville horror house. I stop by to look at it once in a blue moon. Subsequent owners have changed the address and even parts of the exterior to try to disguise it, but everybody knows where it is and the info is available online so the gawkers still show up now and then.

With Halloween approaching, there will probably be more traffic than usual along the sidewalk...

I used to live somewhat near the Home Alone house... :sarcasm:

Yeah, I got nothin' on you guys. :D I did visit the Exorcist house and stairs a few years ago. House looked completely different... stairs looked exactly the same.

The POLTERGEIST HOUSE is located at:

4267 Roxbury St. · Simi Valley, CA

Modern view of the house:
http://www.bigwaste.com/photos/ca/poltergeist/

Satellite ariel view of the Poltergeist house (and yes, there is a swimming pool in the backyard -. It appears they chopped down Robbie's tree, though).

http://www.globexplorer.com/ImageAtl...2&zoom_level=1

Thats it. Its a bit different now, the current owner changed a few things to 'disguise' it. I may be down in that area in the next few days so I'll snap a newer picture of it.

Considering what happened to it at the end of the film, I'm surprised he was able to restore it at all! :rimshot:

Warners dropped the ball BIGTIME on Poltergeist. Picture quality on a large 1080p projector looks grainy. Although it is an improvement over the MGM disc, it should look spectacular, but the film quality is mediocre at best. For a 25th Anniversary edition, the extras are LAME. I could care less about what a bunch of "paranormal experts" have to say.How about featurettes on the Poltergeist curse? Behind the scenes; making of documentaries;bloopers; deleted scenes; a Tobe Hoper/cast commentary . . . perhaps A THEATRICAL TRAILER?
If you have a previous edition, avoid this "Anniversary" disc.

Well, one thing that I'll say, in the interviews which I have read, Spielberg has at least been a gentleman about it and has been polite and courteous to Hooper. Insults weren't flying left, right and center like so many discussion about director/producer/studio relationship. But I get the feeling that Spielberg isn't telling the whole truth; a an ego clash like his and Hooper's is bound to have had a lot more to it than we're heard in vague, unsubantiated rumors. Still, in cinema, it's an intriguing fusion of the worldviews of two very different directors, kind of like the personality clash between the Hollywood money machine, the Caroll/Glier/Hill producers, writer Joss Whedon, and director Jean-Pierre Jeunt on Alien Resurrection (What executive who wanted a blow'em-up action movie thought that it would be a good idea to hire a French surrealist filmmaker?). Or David Lynch's Dune. I bet that the real behind-the-scenes story is more interesting than the actual film :p. For a Hollywood film, it's a unique hybrid.

LOL!!!!
I heard the Northridge quake did some damage to the house. How's the neighborhood? Is it as family oriented as in the movie? Growing up in Reno made me wish I could live in a neighborhood like in E.T. or Poltergeist.

You wanted to live in a neighborhood built over a cemetary?

It would certainly be interesting.

Cemetary? No worries! But an Indian burial ground.....

All of these would have been a step UP from my old 'hood.

Just got my copy and I say that picture was good but not impressive. The special features are a disappointment. At least it's only 9 bucks.

Mikelowry: I noticed something on my set. The only subtitles that work during the featurettes are Chinese and Portuguese. Can you let me know if yours is the same? I'm wondering if mine is defective.

This really isn't a good special edition at all!!!! I am disapointed in it..the artwork is probalby the only good thing about it oh and the movie too of course

My english subtitles are working. I guess there's something wrong with your copy. Bought mine from amazon.

i just can't believe that there is no High Def version....

Well, my subtitles work fine with the movie. What I meant is that only the Chinese and Portuguese subtitles work with the documentaries.

Yes, most definitely.

The Steven Spielberg font title is back to its original form. They altered it for the original disc. Go back and watch it again, you will notice that "A STEVEN SPIELBERG PRODUCTION" doesn't match the rest of the credits.

The same goes for the end title sequence. After Steven wheels the TV outside and slams the hotel door, the film is visually sped up artificially, and the credits placed earlier. This is further proof to myself that the print used for the original DVD was in fact the same unrestored and altered widescreen print used for some TV broadcasts in which speeding up the end credits is normal procedure.

Hasn't anybody ever wondered why the audio is still playing, even after the credits have ended?... Well now you know.

This has now been corrected for the new DVD. The end titles now appear later, as they did originally. The end title sequence now runs at the correct speed (as shot), and the "A STEVEN SPIELBERG PRODUCTION" appears in its original form. It's no longer going from left to right, which it was in the altered version.

I actually remember the first time I got the original DVD, and I noticed everything I've pointed out. The most frustrating for me being that the end titles had been sped up.

The excessive blue tint present during the strobing TV sequences on the original disc has finally been corrected back to the original white/blue tint for the new DVD. Poltergeist was never that blue on these scenes. I have absolutely tons of TV recordings using different prints of the film (a majority of those being digital) and VHS editions. My father also has the NTSC Laserdisc. I checked everything with correct color balance and overly saturated also.

I am very pleased with the film finally being available without the alterations made to the previous widescreen transfer.

There's 2 scenes I remember being different. When Robby is up in the tree, he says, "There's a storm coming" not "Can we dig up the bones?" Also, there was alot more to the kitchen scene where Carol Anne slides across the floor. Do any of your old copies have any of this footage?

The storm coming line is in the film, it was never said by Robbie in the tree. He says it to his mother when she comes to tuck him in. The longer kitchen sequence was only ever available on early theatrical prints of the film distributed in 1982, before Pizza Hut intervened.