Poltergeist
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: May 22, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
3
Mixed:
18
Negative:
6
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweMay 19, 2015
While Hooper favored shock value and jump scares, Kenan and cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe construct far more fluid sequences as the camera glides and hovers over its subjects, reserving the most impactful shots for the climactic scenes, particularly a concluding sequence that’s particularly thrilling. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyClark CollisMay 22, 2015
The only really frightening thing about the 2015 version of Poltergeist is how haunted it is by the original. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle SmithMay 22, 2015
This serviceable remake sticks fairly closely and smartly to the same plot, with the same scary objects and even the line, “They’re here.” Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenMay 22, 2015
The new Poltergeist is a pleasant enough diversion, better as a low-simmer suspense story than a full-blown effects extravaganza. Read full review
60
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerMay 22, 2015
All in all there’s not much to complain about here, except that — as with a lot of revisited classics — the story’s not as revolutionary as you remember it. For veterans of the 1982 Poltergeist, it’s more like scary but pleasant nostalgia. Read full review
60
The GuardianPhil HoadMay 22, 2015
It’s a shame Kenan can’t muster his own bit of gothic shorthand for post-credit crunch America, but the film still has a fluid, 3D-orientated immediacy. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsEddie GoldbergerMay 22, 2015
It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but Poltergeist is a solid, surprisingly effective chiller. Read full review
60
The TelegraphMike McCahillMay 21, 2015
Mostly it’s a scare machine, and in this respect Kenan’s is the more efficient telling, its VFX lubricating all that now creaks about the original. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonMay 19, 2015
Poltergeist, while entertaining, has more in common with slick, audience-goosing spookers like "Insidious" and "Sinister" than with the imaginative original. Read full review
60
Total FilmMatt GlasbyMay 19, 2015
Very tame, but saved from the remake scrapheap by Sam Rockwell's surprisingly touching performance and a final reel that – briefly – takes the material somewhere new. Read full review
60
VarietyAndrew BarkerMay 19, 2015
Less a steadily escalating thriller than a guided tour through a county-fair-style haunted house, Poltergeist offers some quality jump scares, and Kenan has a knack for staging solid individual setpieces. But he proves weirdly incapable of modulation or mood setting here. Read full review
58
HitfixDrew McWeenyMay 22, 2015
Poltergeist is professional and slick and entirely fine. It's also unnecessary in every way. Read full review
58
The PlaylistKate ErblandMay 22, 2015
There are some chills to be had here, but they taper out exactly when the action should really be ratcheting up, and the film’s tension burns out so quickly that it might as well have been sucked into an inter-dimensional portal of its own. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerMay 22, 2015
The most retro thing about the remake is its specific, outdated utility: If anyone still patronizes video stores with hard copies, and if those stores don’t happen to have the original Poltergeist (or Insidious) in stock on a Friday night, this version might do the trick. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleWilliam GossMay 27, 2015
Makes largely cosmetic changes to the material without offering much in the way of distinctive frights. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMay 26, 2015
There's something missing and it becomes apparent early on. The movie isn't scary - not even a little bit. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlMay 22, 2015
The remake grows less interesting as it goes, with final scares dipping into surprising lameness. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMay 22, 2015
If you’re going to remake Poltergeist without the whole TV angle, "Insidious" already kind of did that. To be fair, this new Poltergeist isn’t anything special, either. But it’s not a travesty, and that feels like cause for brief celebration. Read full review
50
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganMay 19, 2015
A good cast including Sam Rockwell and Jared Harris wander around sincerely in what feels, at times, almost a shot-by-shot remake, and at others, an obstinately wrong-footed exercise in dabbling with the narrative. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaMay 22, 2015
Ultimately, the whole affair is forgettable. The original film was promoted with the tagline "It knows what scares you." If there was a truth-in-advertising law regarding films, this movie's ad copy would read: "Poltergeist: Meh." Read full review
40
EmpireNick de SemlyenMay 19, 2015
A disappointingly tame and unimaginative effort, which throws away much of what was best-loved about the original and fails to find worthy replacements. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 22, 2015
Blase actors rob this of any prayer of being scary. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoMay 22, 2015
There are a few decent performances, a nice riff on the technology fears that drove the original movie, and a centerpiece of horror that works, but never once do you get the feeling that the people behind this remake are here because of artistic passion or creative drive. Read full review
35
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeMay 19, 2015
Poltergeist ultimately plays like the most perfunctory of remakes, one born of rights ownership and title marketability rather than a burning desire on anyone’s part to do something interesting or provocative with a classic. The 1982 original remains unassailable, all the more so when stood side by side with its pipsqueak descendant. Read full review
30
The DissolveCharles BramescoMay 22, 2015
Though the memory of Hooper’s picture haunts every frame of nü-Poltergeist, Kenan’s will fade unseen into the great beyond first. Read full review
25
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanMay 22, 2015
To call Poltergeist laughable is not the same thing as saying it’s bad (although it is that, too.) It’s just that it seems less interested in scaring you than in making you chuckle. At least on that score it succeeds. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineClayton DillardMay 22, 2015
It's the cinematic equivalent of a pat on the back accompanied by a slap in the face. Read full review
More From This Movie

47 Critic Reviews

3.6 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL