I wasn’t aware that Tobe Hooper had directed this one and not Spielberg, although the latter appears to have played a significant role in the production through other roles. I also didn’t know that the film originally received an R rating in the States that got pushed down to a PG thanks to appeals from both individuals. Tobe Hooper didn’t manage to get that same leniency when it came to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, funnily enough, but Spielberg’s star power probably helped a decent bit here.
Anyhoo, seeing the dog appear early on gave me the shakes. Not because the dog was particularly scary or anything, but more because I don’t want the pooch to die. It’s a horror film, so there’s a decent chance that one or a few of the characters are going to die, but not the pooch. Surely not the pooch. So that lad (or lass) was my main concern for the first bit. The son gave big Danny Torrence vibes from the off with the disturbed, wide-eyed stare as he looks at the clown toy, but the extreme close-up on the clown figure didn’t do much in terms of terror. That clown on the door back in nursery caused me a lot of terror, but hey, I was about three at that point. Those dudes don’t have the same effect now. Maybe the film would’ve scared me more when I was younger.
Moments of silence where the camera slowly pans towards the camera and the daughter slowly walks downstairs are more effective, but the attempted jump scare with the hand coming out of the television was kind of lame. Speaking of lame ‘jump scares’, the neatly arranged chairs around the table suddenly changing to a pile of stacked chairs on the table didn’t quite do it for me. I appreciate that special effects weren’t what they are today, but the spooky effect doesn’t come through the way it was probably intended. Sometimes the effects are so dumb that they’re kind of amusing, though. When that possessed tree yeeted itself through the window and attempted to eat the son, the whole hyperbole of the situation made for some decent entertainment.
The repeated focuses on the son’s facial expressions again seemed to be going overboard in terms of the Danny Torrence references, assuming that Kubrick’s production was a conscious reference at the time. It also doesn’t really build to anything either. We can see that the son’s traumatised by the supernatural events, but no ‘shining’ abilities or unnatural mind power is ever explained. It’s hard to feel much empathy for characters that aren’t fully fleshed out. Speaking of fully fleshed, that body horror moment with the dream sequence? Yikes. That’s probably what initially got it an R-rating in the States; on balance, it’s probably not much worse than the face-melting scene in Indiana Jones, but still, it ain’t pleasant to look at. The editing in places is also laughably bad, switching from situations of supernatural horror to scenes of domestic bliss in a moment, as if nothing’s happened the night before.
Certainly worth a watch to observe the 80s special effects and occasional intriguing musical choices, but otherwise not particularly spectacular. I ain’t afraid of no ghosts, and this joint hasn’t changed my opinion on the matter.