Perelman to Direct Poltergeist Remake

What, you were expecting a picture of Vadim Perelman? 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Vadim Perelman is in talks to direct the remake of Poltergeist. Last week Juliet Snowden and Stiles White were named as the writers who will revamp the 1982 horror favorite (note that I don’t call it horror classic–this is because whenever I’ve asked horror aficionados “Is Poltergeist a classic? Is it even really that great?”  they always rant about how it so isn’t and that it’s just one of those movies that people think is better than it is because they saw it when they were four and were really scared but if they sat down now to watch it they’d be like, oh….is that it? But I’ll call it a horror favorite because even if it’s greatness is really just due to childhood memory, well, then keep your memories and let them make you happy. Are you still there? Did I lose you? I think I might have lost myself in this lengthy explanation of a simple word choice.).

Let’s not get into whether a remake is necessary. Okay, maybe briefly. I don’t love the idea because I think that the time period when it was made was what made the movie stand out in people’s memory as better than really is. To make a new version special, they’ll have to give it something that makes it of this time and place in history, and that’s always harder than it sounds. And no, fancier effects usually aren’t the answer. As you all know, what often makes horror movies of the past really great is what they evoked with limited budgets and technical resources. Throwing money and CGI at a remake of a classic solid movie usually just overburdens it.  

Perelman’s other credits include 2003’s House of Sand and Fog and last year’s The Life Before Her Eyes. House of Sand and Fog is a well-crafted movie with some lovely performances, but damn, it is depressing. I don’t require movies to be cheerleaders for life and enjoy the occasional downbeat movie, but this one was bleak. If that was Perelman’s intent, he’s one heck of a director. I didn’t see The Life Before Her Eyes; I thought it sounded kind of Lifetime-ish, you know? Hopefully my impression was wrong.

You know what’s really interesting about this article in THR, though? At the end of it they note that the rumor of Perelman being up for this gig first appeared in Bloody-Disgusting. There’s been some fairly intense dust ups over the last year about how the trades often will confirm a story that first appeared on a blog and then not credit it. So to see the credit given to BD indicates that maybe they’re finally catching on. Good for you, Bloody-Disgustings.