Even the dead can’t be left in peace in Hollywood. Poltergeist, the TV show (sorry, “series interpretation”) was announced around Halloween last year. Now Amazon owns MGM, that back catalog is going to be dug up like an ancient Indian burial ground for a new housing development.
Now they have signed up some showrunners. Proving that you can always fail at least sideways in Hollywood, the first is Kalinda Vazquez fresh from Star Trek: Discovery. The second is Robbie Thompson of Supernatural… erm, fame.
They will be showrunners, writers, and executive producers on the project which is being made under Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television banner.
Spielberg produced the original and co-wrote the screenplay. Depending on who you listen to, there was famously a suggestion he was heavily involved in directing, too. Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey are attached as executive producers.
The original film was a famous chiller which has not, let us be honest, aged very well. The first act still has the power to creep you out but from the middle section, it starts to resemble the haunted Goonies on a special Halloween adventure with the Ark ghosts from Indiana Jones.
In the original Poltergeist movie, the Freeling family moves into their new home. Parents Steve (Craig T. Nelson) and Diane (JoBeth Williams); teenage daughter Dana (Dominique Dunne); eight-year-old Robbie (Oliver Robins); and five-year-old Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) live on Cuesta Verde, a California housing development.
It soon becomes clear that all is not well with their new home. The apparitions, under the control of a demon known as the “Beast”, communicate through the family’s television set and can only be heard by Carol Anne.
Attracted to her life force and believing she will help lead them into the “Light”, the ghosts abduct Carol Anne through her bedroom closet, which acts as a portal to their dimension.
Much of the film involves the family’s efforts to rescue their daughter, aided by a group of parapsychologists (Beatrice Straight, Martin Casella, Richard Lawson) and spiritual medium Tangina Barrons (Zelda Rubinstein).
The movie was a massive success, making $121 million worldwide against a $10.7 million budget. Sequels and reboots followed.
How you spin the core story of Poltergeist out over several seasons is a question they will need to answer quickly. Stranger Things is responsible for this kind of thing, no doubt.