The following is one of Rabid Doll’s Top 13 horror films of all times picks. We highly recommend this flick for excellent Halloween viewing. What happens when Steven Spielberg (he of more awe-inspiring movies than nearly anyone dead or alive) crosses paths with Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)? The kind of movie that traumatizes your kids for life because the charming family movie you brought them to see had coffins rising out of the ground as the skeletons inside them flung themselves at everyone and the audience. In the 1982 film, "Poltergeist," we are introduced to the Freelings, a nice, normal, middle-class family that moves into a new house. They soon learn that their home appears to also be inhabited by benign and playful spirits. At first, the paranormal phenomena seem fun. Chairs appear to arrange and rearrange themselves. Coffee pots move on their own. In no time, though, things become increasingly menacing and then downright terrifying. The spirits begin to communicate with 5-year-old Carol Anne via the static on their television.  They use the TV as their path into the house itself and as an old, giant tree tries to eat her brother Robbie, they kidnap Carol Anne. The movie makes the most of every kid's fears, complete with a much-parodied killer clown puppet under the bed and a monster in the closet. The kids' toys eventually fly around the room, each posing their own unique menacing threat. In their efforts to keep Carol Anne from going "into the light," the Freelings bring in a team of parapsychologists to investigate the activity in the house, and find ways to purge it of the spirits. They do succeed in getting the girl back, but that leads to an onslaught of the poltergeist, led by a demon known as The Beast that destroys the Freeling's home. It turns out the entire housing development was built on top of a cemetery, made possible by the real estate agency for which the father, Steven Freeling, works.  The family learns the hard way that the headstones were moved, but the buried bodies were not. Skeletons pop up in their coffins everywhere, through the floor, in the pool, outside in their yard. Eventually the whole house is swallowed up by whatever hole was punched into the realm between worlds as the family escapes with skeletons hurling onto their car. The family finally finds refuge in a motel room, but not before Steven Freeling puts the TV out of the room. Untimely deaths of two of the film's young stars have also led to the urban legend that the "Poltergeist" movie franchise is cursed. Dominique Dunne, who played the Freelings' oldest daughter, was murdered by her ex-boyfriend at the age of 23, five months after the film was released. Heather O'Rourke, who played Carol Anne, died at the age of 12 from an intestinal obstruction. "Poltergeist" was written by Steven Spielberg with the screenplay co-written by Michael Grais, and Mark Victor, and was directed by Tobe Hooper. It was followed up by two murky sequels, neither of which retained the involvement of Spielberg or Hooper. As a result, they had none of the charm and wit of the original. Plans are in the works for a remake of the movie to be released in 2010. To learn more about Rabid Doll's Top 13 horror movies, click here. Express yourself and be part of the news! Leave a comment below or join our rabid discussions on the SyBoards.