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Am I the only one that gets all teary over this one? The opening flutes make me break down. Even when I was a teen when it first came out, it always had that effect on me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvEuEyFHqi0

Can't think of any other movie theme songs that do that to me.

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I really liked the film back when I first saw it in theaters back in the day.  It was pretty scary for it's time as I remember although nothing like "Friday The 13th" was a few years earlier.  I always thought that Dominique Dunne would've had a nice career for herself if her life wasn't cut down by that obsessive individual she was dating and eventually murdered her.  Somewhat sad looking back on it now and thinking what could've been.  The loss of Heather O'Rourke was sad as well.

Yeah, the lalala's aren't great (though I "get" why they needed to be there). This version here is the theme they play at the end of the movie. The version at the beginning of the movie does not have a flute and instead is *all* "lalalala's" and I'm not fond of that version. Obviously it's supposed to sound creepy and innocent at the same time. I think he did a good job, though.

But it's the flute that gets me. I just find it to be a sad and beautiful melody.

The first couple times I saw the movie it was kinda scary. But I've seen it so many times now the effect has worn off. I think you also need to take into account this was a Spielberg movie. Horror flicks weren't his "thing," so it's no surprise it's not your typical scary movie. As much as the horror aspect of it, the other main theme of the movie is the parent's dedication to their child, which is a very Spielberg-esque thing. His movie "AI" is somewhat similar in that regard, even though the contexts of the 2 movies are entirely different.

This one does it for me, especially at 1:52-1:53: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf1Vt6r-sj8

I've always found this particularly moving (and at the beginning there's a slight resemblance to the Poltergeist theme):

http://youtu.be/2s0-wbXC3pQ

Also this...

http://youtu.be/qMgTCtSxOHE

...they don't call him "Il Maestro" for nothing.

All of those are nice, but don't have the emotional impact to me that Poltergeist does. I jeffcdo's 2nd one best, however.

Obviously different music effects different people in different ways.

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It was scary when I saw it.  I'm not sure of your age but I was a teenager at the time and it's certainly a hallmark of my youth at least during that period of my youth.  It was one of those films where word got around pretty quickly and I think a lot of people at my school at least went to see it on word of mouth alone.  It was sort of the movie that everyone went to see because someone else had an adverse reaction to it.  I don't know if that makes much sense but I know it was certainly something that was talked about a lot when it did come out and I have vivid memories of going to see "Friday The 13th" at one of those old movie houses that had two theaters and used to have only two showings of each film per day.  Later on in the decade they did add onto that particular theater and it expanded I think to where it could run five movies which was a lot at the time as I recall.  But eventually it shut down all together and is now some kind of supply/storage facility.

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