Even if Tobe Hooper directed every scene of “Poltergeist,” the legendary director of “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” was still, according to producer Frank Marshall, serving the carefully storyboarded vision of Steven Spielberg. 

Everything about “Poltergeist,” from its perpetual magic-hour 1980s suburbia to its slow-cranked horror set pieces, is vintage Spielberg. The least Spielbergian element about it is that the family unit is happily functioning. Dad’s alright, mom’s alright, and the kids are adorably screwy. The storm of divorce is nowhere on the horizon or in the rearview. As for those set pieces, they’re pure nightmare machines. Manufacturers of clown dolls must’ve been hit hard, while kids were left wondering if their backyard swimming pool was one bad storm away from becoming a swamp of displaced corpses. Even the great big tree outside your window couldn’t be trusted. 

Spielberg did a number on a lot of childhoods with that movie, and he should be immensely proud.