Steve Freeling moves his family into a new housing development and they begin to settle in. But strange things soon start happening and it appears that the Freelings are not alone in their home. At first, the spectral presence appears benign, simply moving objects around the house - then the hauntings start to intensify and Carol Anne, the family's youngest member, vanishes through a mysterious portal.

Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hooper and produced and written by Steven Spielberg, is likely remembered first and foremost as the quintessential 1980s haunted-house movie, the tale of a modern middle-class family swept up in supernatural horror that represents a meeting of two unlikely filmmaking sensibilities, both of them emotionally merciless in their own ways. It’s less acknowledged for creating such finely etched characters before letting them loose in a strobe-addled fun house. - Michael Koreseky