Holy shit I love this movie. It had been a long time since I had watched it all the way through, probably at least 10 years, so revisiting it was doubly great. Watching it this time, I was struck by just how much of an assault on America’s perceived safety and place in the world it is. It’s like a cruise missile aimed at the heart of Reagan’s city on a hill. All of those middle class trappings set up in the film’s opening – “The Star-Spangled Banner” and television, planned communities with families biking and playing in the streets, beer and football, annoying neighbors and hidden habits…hell, Craig T. Nelson reading a Reagan biography in bed – all of them are swept away by the malevolent forces unleashed through greed, disrespect, and ignorance. It’s impossible to tell exactly how much Stephen Speilberg filmed vs. Tobe Hooper, but both of their hands are all over this in the best way possible. Speilberg lends a sense of wonder and grounded family dynamics, while Hooper shades in the edges with creeping dread, the existential helplessness Carol Anne’s parents feel, and some good old-fashioned spookhouse scares. Everything’s clicking here. Nothing is scarier than suburbia.
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