So Villaintechnicians, Halloween is right around the corner. What have you done to get into the spooky mood? Some of you have probably spent time picking out costumes, others buying bulk candy and creepy decorations for your lawns. Me? I’ve been watching scary movies.

I love them. And, from time to time, I enjoy revisiting the scary films that I haven’t seen in a while, just to judge if they withstand the test of time. Poltergeist, the movie that helped spark my irrational fear of clowns, definitely lives up to the hype that it has received as one of the scariest movies of all-time.

The film tells the story of a suburban family who occupy one of the father’s (played by a hilarious Craig T. Nelson) pre-fabricated homes that he sells. It is located in a neighborhood that is comprised of many homes that look exactly alike, all built upon a (what they believe to be) relocated cemetery.

Soon, strange occurrences, such as breaking glass and moving furniture, begin to shake up the mother (played by JoBeth Williams). Little Carol Anne disappears, and the film follows the family as they attempt to reclaim their little girl from the spirits who have abducted her.

Sadly, the sequels lacked the scares and perfect timing that made the first one so magically frightening. Everything is just campier and silly, including the possessed tequila worm in Poltergeist II, and the idiotic addition of the “mirror people” in the very sub-par Poltergeist III.

But the truly creepy thing about this trilogy is the chain of mysterious deaths surrounding it. The Poltergeist Curse claimed the lives of several of the films’ actors, including the adorable Heather O’Rourke, the beautiful little girl who portrayed young Carol Anne in all three films.

I enjoyed re-watching the trilogy, but the first film is undeniably superior. For your viewing pleasure, here are my top five favorite scary moments from the original Poltergeist:

5.) The Chairs
4.) Carol Anne’s Rescue
3.) Crawling Steak/Peeling Flesh
2.) The Clown (I know a certain reader will agree with me on this one.)

And the number one moment that creeped me out, the one that sends chills down my spine every time I watch it, despite its low-key nature, is…

1.) Tangina’s Monologue

Nice work EA games! This game measures up to what real current gen consoles should be doing. The GPS overlay is HOT! I remember complaining about sometimes not knowing where to go in a level. Problem solved! I hope other studios take note of this. The coolest thing about the GPS overlay is just that, you don’t have to switch screens to figure out where you’re going. In fact, you can keep right on killin’ fools while you have it on. Very nice!

This game, to me, has kind of a hybrid feel of Gears of War and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. It’s definitely its own game though. Stellar graphics, innovative gameplay, and the integrated co-op is a sweet new addition to the genre. You really do need your buddy to get through the missions, so pay attention in the tutorial, or you’ll regret it later.

One of the things I did not like about the game was when an enemy gets too close to you, the camera angles can get all screwed up, and there’s no knifing available. You can get stuck waiting to see if you die while someone gets to close to you and has a few seconds to knock you down and shoot at you; this can be pretty frustrating at times. (Tip: kill enemies or run away before they get close to you, hah!) The other thing about this game, that although in essence is very minor, is the sheer length of time it takes to get back to your in-progress game after turning the console off and back on. Seriously, it’ll take you a few minutes. I would think that such an elegant game would just let you get back to what you were doing in 2 or three steps, not 12. But these two things don’t ultimately affect the superbly crafted gameplay in this title. I also thought the auto-save points were almost perfect, where once you got through a tough section; you almost always started right after it if you died soon after.

I was able to play this game through in about 8 hours. It’s deceiving because there are only 6 levels, but the last level is loooong! it took me over two hours to play it through. I also only played it on the recruit (easiest) level, and it does get somewhat challenging at the end. I’m sure that in order to unlock all the weapons, that playing through the game on professional is no picnic. (Good luck with that). Though I have not tried it yet, I’m sure coop mode with your friends is probably sweet, if it’s anything like the regular single player experience.

All in all, this is an awesome game, totally worth the money to buy, especially if you’re going to play it through on all levels and online as well. Enjoy Or you can just view the Escapists: Zero Punctuation view of it. Rather hilarious I might add.