Almost entirely a copy, and with hardly any improvement over the old Poltergeist, this is a film where nothing appears new. Except for the use of 3D and a strategically used camera-mounted drone. The first is pointless, the second ridiculous.

…the original 1982 film was a cult classic. If you’re going for a redo, at least up the game. Scare-wise, there’s nothing here, we haven’t already seen. Effects-wise, it wildly fluctuates between the truly scary and the laugh-out-loud parts. And more so, toward the latter.

…sadly, it has nothing new to contribute to the original film. Haunted houses, creaking doors, strange noises in the middle of the night, and scary looking toys in the attics – all this has been done to death in horror films over the years. Poltergeist gives us more of the same.

The only differentiating factor in the remake is that it veers away from the original in the third act, but by that time the film has already betrayed its audiences. There’s no escaping that you’re watching something you’ve seen a dozen times before. If only there was a dimension of ghosts who terrorize filmmakers who rely on clichés to entertain his audiences.