Poltergeist

Ghosts invade suburbia in this 1982 horror film from director Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and producer Steven Spielberg. Life in the Freeling family's tract home is comfortably bland, but frisky poltergeists soon put a little excitement into their daily routine - moving furniture and communicating with their youngest daughter, Carol Anne, through the television set. Unfortunately, harmless pranks quickly turn nasty and the previously friendly ghosts kidnap Carol Anne, trapping her in the spirit world. To win the child back, the family calls in a team of parapsychologists and a psychic who conducts an elaborate exorcism. The apocalyptic finale is deliciously macabre, and pushed the limits of the PG rating. Speculation still remains on whether Spielberg - who wrote the story and storyboarded the action - essentially ghost directed the film.