Warning! This page contains unmarked spoilers.
American Poltergeist is a 2015 horror/thriller movie directed by Mike Rutkowski and written by Nicole Holland. The plot is as follows: a group of college friends (Taryn, Michael, Niki, Jenna, and Scott) move into a vacation home in Fall River, Massachusetts. As the week progresses, the group begins to notice something off with the house and its owner, Dianna Eastbrook. Little did they know that they were about to experience the most deadly poltergeist in American history. Despite the strangeness of it all, Taryn feels a weird connection to the house..
Not to be confused with any of the Poltergeist movies.
Tropes:
- Arc Words: "They're/You're/I'm home now."
- Creepy Basement: The basement of the house is locked, yet is mysterious unlocked at night. When Taryn goes in the basement, she hallucinates a dead girl and finds Niki standing in a corner holding an axe.
- Distracted by My Own Sexy: Taken to ridiculous levels with Niki. When on a tour of the house, she checks herself out in the reflection of some wine glasses, then the pool, then the mirror in the hallway, and then the mirror in the bathroom.
- Final Girl: Taryn.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Taryn (the older responsible sibling) has second thoughts about the house and is the first to notice something isn't right, while Michael (the foolish younger sibling) insists that it'll be fine and doesn't believe Taryn when weird things eventually do start happening.
- Haunted House: The vacation home that the group moves into. It's later revealed that the house is haunted by the ghost of Lizzie Borden.
- Infodump: A ridiculous amount of info regarding Taryn's past and her relation to Lizzie Borden is dumped on the viewer all at once.
- Taryn: "Lizzie's here. A demon possessed Lizzie in this house on August 4th, 1892, and 100 years later, she returned and possessed my mother, father, and grandparents. Today is August 4th; she's gonna do anything and everything to get to us. She's gonna use you to get to me. I'm the last living Borden and we're in her house. Dianna unknowingly married into the family. Her husband, John Borden, was my father. He abandoned me as an infant and started a life with her...Michael's parents adopted me when I was a baby."
- Monochrome Casting: The movie features an all-white cast.
