Is Poltergeist scary?

Not particularly — Poltergeist's appeal is atmospheric or thematic rather than overtly scary. As a supernatural film, it scored 3.0/10 for fear, 7.0/10 for atmosphere, and 7.8/10 overall on Watch Darkly's curator scale across 1 rating.

How many jump scares are in Poltergeist?

Poltergeist has 9 jump scares, based on Watch Darkly's per-film jump-scare count.

What are some films like Poltergeist?

Poltergeist is tagged as supernatural, family, haunted house on Watch Darkly. The film's page lists similar horror films selected by curated scoring across fear, gore, atmosphere, and overall quality.

Metadata and artwork from TMDB. Not endorsed or certified by TMDB.

haunted-house

Poltergeist

1982 · PG · 1h 54m

They're here.

The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.

Plot summary via TMDB

Curator Score

7.8

Overall

Based on 1 curator rating

Strongest on atmosphere, light on gore.

Jump scares

Poltergeist has 9 jump scares. Compare counts

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7.8Overall

Fear3.0

Gore2.0

Atmosphere7.0

Intensity3.6

Genres

horrorthriller

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Details

Budget$10.7M

Box office$121.7M

Directed by

Tobe Hooper

Written by

Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais, Mark Victor

Cinematography

Matthew F. Leonetti

Music

Jerry Goldsmith

Starring

JoBeth Williams as Diane Freeling · Craig T. Nelson as Steve Freeling · Beatrice Straight as Dr. Lesh · Dominique Dunne as Dana Freeling · Heather O'Rourke as Carol Anne Freeling · Oliver Robins as Robbie Freeling · Zelda Rubinstein as Tangina Barrons · Richard Lawson as Ryan

Production

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, SLM Production Group

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