Poltergeist has some good and bad things going for it (imho). First the good: the creepy clown is awesome. Just about anyone can relate to that. The scene with the Dad telling his son about "counting between the lightning and thunder" is also spot-on. That is what a parent does. The scary tree and and the shadows it casts are excellent.

Now for the bad: the parents are still smoking pot? Grow up. The over-abundance of lights and sound really assault the senses. Of course, this was never intended as an "eerie, stately" ghost story, so I understand why it's in the movie. And I agree with an earlier poster about the Mom putting the little girl on the kitchen floor and watching her slide. I would've gotten my kids and been gone.

I've always felt Poltergeist is two movies, with both sides struggling for dominance. The quiet, eerie, "life at home" scenes competing with the lights and sound scenes. I thought both sequels were really weak with the exception of the incredibly CREEPY preacher in part II.

Strangenstein