Poltergeist

Poltergeist is an effective horror film (at one point I was jumping about on the sofa) about a nuclear family in a nice suburb whose house is suddenly haunted by not particularly friendly spirits. The family's youngest, Carol Anne, is sucked into the TV, and a similar fate is about to befall the boy Robbie. He and his teenage sister Dana leave home while their parents Steve and Diane try to free Carol Anne from the spirit world. They get help from experts on the paranormal, and by hook or by crook they get Carol Anne back to the world of the living. In the meantime Steve has found out that the house is built on top of a cemetery where only the gravestones, not the bodies, were moved, but after Carol Anne's return the medium Tangina claims that the house is clean, though since this is a horror film, that is of course not the case!

Poltergeist is deft at building up the creepiness at the beginning while we get to know the little family, whose life seems quite believable. The story is pretty silly if you think about it, but it works well, and the effects are impressive. I have listed Steven Spielberg as co-director, even though it is not stated in the official credits, but he is said to have pitched in on that front too. He is, after all, already the film's screenwriter and producer.