Good thrills, too cheese. — 1 year ago
The two principle auters at work in this film are Steven Spielberg, who wrote the script, and Tobe Hooper, who served as director. You could almost view the film as a battle between their two styles and sets of values. Tobe Hooper’s crafty, paranoid, sinister camera work and pacing give the movie its most striking moments. However, Spielberg’s voice is strong here too, and the movie is heavy in suburban slapstick, “the inseperable bond of familes,” the perfectly conclusive denoument, and so forth. Neither one really wins, and it feels difficult to really be chilled by the film what with Stevie S. spraying cheese everywhere, but there are indeed a couple of genuinely spooky moments here.
One interesting thing is the theme of invasiveness that goes on through the whole movie, particularly at the beginning, what with the workers being around, whistling at the teenage girl, drinking the wife’s coffee, etc. Something to pay attention to, maybe.