Poltergeist (1982)

Poltergeist is a 1982 horror film, directed by Tobe Hooper and produced by Steven Spielberg, and is the first and most successful film of the Poltergeist film trilogy. Set in a California suburb, the plot focuses on a family whose home is invaded by malevolent ghosts that abduct the family's youngest daughter.

It starts with a happy family -- dad (Craig T. Nelson), mom (JoBeth Williams) and three kids, including cute-as-a-button 5-year-old Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke) -- who all live in a nice suburban neighborhood. One day, however, some pesky ghosties lead by a malevolent spirit invade their lovely home and kidnap poor Carol Anne. Now their only hope of getting her back rests on a diminutive, baby-voiced medium, who has successfully "cleaned" many houses of such evil.

Carol Anne being sucked into a vortex in her closet right after her brother is attacked by a hungry tree; a ghost hunter picking his face apart in the bathroom, and dozens of rotting corpses popping out of the ground in their coffins as the family tries to escape.

The film was ranked as #80 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments and the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 20th scariest film ever made. The film also appeared as #84 on American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Thrills, a list of America's most heart-pounding movies. Poltergeist was also nominated for three Academy Awards.