EP. 42 Poltergeist / Thirteen Ghosts

About this episode

This episode explores the contrasting visions of haunted homes in 'Poltergeist' and 'Thir13en Ghosts'.

In this episode, we explore two very different but intimately related visions of haunted homes: the suburban nightmare of Poltergeist, and the bizarre, labyrinthine nightmare of Thir13en Ghosts. We begin with the now-classic 1982 film Poltergeist, directed by Tobe Hooper (with heavy involvement by Steven Spielberg), where the typical American family’s home becomes the nexus of malevolent, other-worldly activity. We’ll unpack the mythic wife, mother, daughter, and the youngest child Carol Anne who is drawn into a spectral portal—and how the film taps into suburban anxieties, grief, and the invasion of domestic space. Then we shift to the 2001 remake/modern re-imagining Thir13en Ghosts, directed by Steve Beck, where a widower and his children inherit an eccentric uncle’s mansion—only to discover it’s a glass-paneled machine, a trap filled with twelve (actually thirteen) vengeful spirits. We’ll examine how the film transforms the haunted house into a literal machine of horror, how it uses spectacle, design, and mythic structure of ghosts.

People in this episode

Host: Borderlnd

Topics covered

• haunted homes
• suburban nightmares
• ghosts
• film analysis
• horror genre

Keywords

• Poltergeist
• Thir13en Ghosts
• haunted house
• horror films
• Tobe Hooper
• Steven Spielberg
• Steve Beck
• ghost stories

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Poltergeist, Thir13en Ghosts

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