Poltergeist

 If we're talking horror, 1982 is the year of The Thing - no contest. Poltergeist comes in a remarkably close second, though; One hell of an achievement, considering that a) The Thing is one of the best movies ever made, and also that b) Poltergeist is a (mostly) kid-friendly horror/comedy hybrid.

 It's the best type of comedy horror, though; Not just in that it's really funny, but all of the humour comes organically from the characters and the situations.

 A lot of that comes from an excellent script by Steven Spielberg, Michael Grais and Mark Victor (Spielberg wanted to get Stephen King to work on it with him, but that proved impossible). The Freelings are, unusually for Spielberg, a happy family: Dad (Craig T. Nelson), Mom (JoBeth Williams) and three cute kids... most notably 5-year old Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke). Their idyllic suburban life is beautifully established in a series of 'day in the life' vignettes, which effortlessly weave in gags and setup for future scares in equal measure.

 The horror itself arrives in an eerie scene where the ghosts establish a connection with little Carol Anne through the static of their TV set. Her pitch-perfect delivery of "they're here" as she's bathed by the TV's unearthly glow gets me every single time I watch this movie.

 From there the supernatural manifestations get more and more overt. You know how in movies about haunted houses the script has to contort itself to find reasons to stop its protagonists from just leaving? Poltergeist has one of my favorites instances of this: The hauntees (mom, at least - dad's a bit more wary), are basically fascinated. Beetlejuice would evolve that concept to hilarious ends, but... Poltergeist was there first, and the scene where mom presents her husband with her amateur supernatural investigation findings is just as funny as it is relatable. She's having fun!

 Poltergeist doesn't really skimp on the horror - even if it, as so many 80s horror movies, were  closer to a thrill ride than something gruelling. So this honeymoon phase doesn't last; The spirits soon abduct Carol Ann, and the movie starts focusing on the parents' attempt to recover her from wherever the spirits have sequestered the girl in the spiritual plane, along with the help of a team of parapsychologists (led by Beatrice Straight) and later a medium played by Zelda Rubinstein.

 Director Tobe Hooper provides a mix of silliness, his own take on Spielbergian awe-inspiring shots (this time with a supernatural bent) and more traditional -if over-the-top- horror shenanigans, all deftly managed. It doesn't always hang together seamlessly, but it's definitely effective... especially among its younger audience. The times I've talked to other people about the overtly gory face-tearing scene*...

 Always in that same conversation: a toy who gets used by the evil presence (its reality-bending powers allow it to use your fears against you) to terrify one of the kids. It doesn't really do much for me these days, but I still think of the toy as that fucking clown, and get a little of an echo of the fear it provoked in me as a kid whenever I rewatch the movie. 

 The other elephant in the room when discussing this movie, at least with more cinephile fans, is the nasty rumour that Spielberg stealth-directed it while giving Hooper credit (because he was making ET at the time, and couldn't have his name associated as a director.)
 That's always felt like bullshit to me, and an insult to the guy who made the Texas fucking Chainsaw Massacre. I mean, I'm sure Spielberg had some influence - Hooper would have to be crazy to not pay attention to advise from the creator of the modern blockbuster, at the very least. But this is of a piece with Hooper's later films (Invaders From Mars and the wonderfully batshit Lifeforce), so... I don't buy it. At all.

 Effects are handled by ILM, and up to their usual high standard - a wonderful mix of practical effects, illumination tricks, and analog-era visual effects. The performances are great, even from the child actors; Everyone really gets into the (restless) spirit of the thing. The only bum note (for me) is Jerry Goldsmith's score which, while objectively pretty good and memorable, leans a little too far into whimsical territory - enough to take the edge off some of the horror.

 And the script is really, really good, even by early Spielberg standards. Here's a detail I don't think I'd ever noticed before: Carol Ann insists on the closet lights early on, foreshadowing the lightshow that will take her away. And at the end, that famous (and widely parodied) scene where the house slowly collapses into a supernatural singularity? Its being sucked into the portal within the same closet, suspended on the second floor. How cool is that?

 Warning: the preceding paragraph contains spoilers.

*: Two fun facts: This scene is widely credited with the creation of the PG-13 rating, because holy shit is it going to be uncomfortable watching that with your eight-year-old. Also: the hands tearing the flesh from the face are Spielberg's.