Today in the 80's

1982

Poltergeist is released

They're here.

And I am out. I hate this movie. I hate the chairs stacked in the kitchen, the face peeling, the meat exploding, the tree attacking, the tv, and of course the freaking clown. Why did it have to be a freaking clown?

The hands which pull the flesh off the investigator's face in the bathroom mirror are Steven Spielberg's.

As an homage to his friend George Lucas, Spielberg populated the children's bedroom with Star Wars toys. He did the same in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.

During the scene where Robbie (Oliver Robins) is being strangled, the clown's arms became extremely tight and Robbins started to choke. When he screamed out, "I can't breathe!" Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper thought that the boy was ad-libbing and just instructed him to look at the camera. When Spielberg saw Robbins's face turning purple, he ran over and removed the clown's arms from Robbins's neck.

The sound effect for the beast that attacks the house at the end of the movie is the source for the current MGM lion roar.

The skeletons that emerge from the swimming pool while Diane searches for help are actual skeletons. JoBeth Williams didn't know this until after the scene was shot.

Both of the terrors that plague Robbie came from Steven Spielberg's own fears as a child, a fear of clowns and a tree outside his window.