Though Rockwell and DeWitt give the material their own likable spin, most of the story mechanics will be familiar to anyone who has seen the original Poltergeist.

| Original Score: C+ | Sep 14, 2018

'Poltergeist' assembles a very gifted group of people to go through another movie's paces, a cover band you wish would just play their own songs.

| May 28, 2016

Director Gil Kenan ruins the pacing with too many half-baked, awkwardly staged horror set pieces, but the cast acquit themselves well enough.

| May 28, 2015

Remaking the 1982 horror film Poltergeist wasn't necessarily a bad idea, but this new version feels like too little, too late.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 28, 2015

...makes largely cosmetic changes to the material without offering much in the way of distinctive frights.

| May 27, 2015

The remake has been engineered in broadly the right carnival spirit. It should shift a lot of popcorn, if nothing else.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 27, 2015

Almost all the scares that connect have been imported from the original.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | May 26, 2015

Monster House director Gil Kenan doesn't desecrate the grave of the original, but nor does he offer any convincing reason to raise it from the dead.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 24, 2015

A cautionary tale about the necessity of disclosures when purchasing an older home, Gil Kenan's "Poltergeist" borrows liberally from the classic film to revisit the story of a family, a house, and the portal that upends their lives, with limited results.

| Original Score: C+ | May 23, 2015

It's not exactly a scary film, but it does provide an enjoyable ride. It's good fun. But it left me befuddled. A little sad. And a little angry.

| May 22, 2015

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."

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 22, 2015

The new "Poltergeist" might well be the scariest movie 13-or-unders have yet seen, just as the original was for their parents back in 1982.

| May 22, 2015

Poltergeist does benefit from briskness-it's actually 20 minutes shorter than Hooper's film-and there is a nice, Evil Dead 2-esque sequence involving a power drill.

| Original Score: B- | May 22, 2015

Poltergeist 2015 is to Poltergeist '82 what today's shipped-frozen-to-the-store Pizza Hut dough is to the kneaded-on-site pies the chain's stoned cooks tossed in the Reagan era.

| May 22, 2015

This new Poltergeist isn't anything special ... But it's not a travesty, and that feels like cause for brief celebration.

| May 22, 2015

Rarely has a remake felt more contractually obligated than the 2015 version of "Poltergeist."

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 22, 2015

It's the cinematic equivalent of a pat on the back accompanied by a slap in the face.

| Original Score: 1/4 | May 22, 2015

If viewers can look past the sheer audacity of attempting another Poltergeist, they'll find a solid modernization.

| Original Score: 6/10 | May 22, 2015

It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but Poltergeist is a solid, surprisingly effective chiller that's respectful towards its 1982 predecessor while acquitting itself as a proficient update.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 22, 2015

Just as the original was one of the scariest PG movies ever, the reboot has about as much gruesomeness as you can possibly stuff into a PG-13.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 22, 2015