Before Poltergeist came out, kids in my elementary school would shut out the lights in the bathroom and turn around three times in front of the mirror droning, "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary." After the movie Poltergeist scared their pee out, kids ditched that silly tart and started shouting "Poltergeist! Poltergeist! Poltergeist!" to pretty much the same effect. Thanks to parents who didn’t want to give me nightmares about maggots, ripping my face off or drowning in a pool filled with dead Indians, I didn’t get a chance to see the movie until I was in my teens, and by then my cynical mind didn’t connect with the terror (despite the creepy little girl feeling up the TV image) that made believers out of everyone else.
25 years later, Poltergeist is still resonating with those growed up kids and many are clamoring for more despite being teased out on rumor bust after rumor bust. This time, they may just get something for reals. Poltergeistiii.com (people liked that movie?) recently spoke with MGMs Senior Vice Presidente Charles Coen and was told the studio is indeed working on something Poltergeist. The site quotes Cohen as saying, "We are working on a Poltergeist idea, and hope to have some news to announce shortly. Stay tuned." Will do, Charles!
Actually, Poltergeist rumors have been floating around off and on for some time and the statement doesn’t exactly give an indicator of whether the "idea" will lend itself to a sequel along the lines of II and III, a prequel or resurrect the original idea for the Poltergeist: The Series TV show that really did drown in an Indian corpse-ridden swimming pool (A loosely adapted spin-off TV show was realized on Showtime and died 4 seasons later on Sci-Fi).
What is clear is that it’s pretty safe to assume the "idea" won’t be a remake of the original, since Warner Brothers (not MGM) owns the Spielberg Poltergeist rights, a fact that can be easily confirmed by the shame of their damned cardboard pop-box DVD.