Yo…
Poltergeist is a bizarre horror movie.
As terrifying as it is…it’s a horror movie where nobody dies.
How is there a horror movie with no body count?!
Yet what adds to the movie’s menace is the numerous urban legends.
Was it directed by Tobe Hooper or by Steven Spielberg? Or both?
The curse, of course. Four cast members died during and soon after the filming of the Poltergeist movies.
Worse? At one point, the mom (played by JoBeth Williams) gets dragged into her family’s swimming pool, even though the contractors had only just started digging into the ground.
And as you know the Poltergeist house was built on an Indian burial ground. So when the mom falls into the pool slash muddy hole in the ground…real life skeletons surface. Were the skeletons used in this scene real…or fake?
And yet after all that…the Poltergeist house…a real house in Simi Valley was put up for sale about a year ago. It sold for $1.28 million.
That’s not bad for a four-bedroom, 2,373-square-foot home.
If you were a nice family and it was within your budget…would you purchase the Poltergeist house?
Could you even…buy the Poltergeist house and live…I dunno all ordinary?
Ghosts aside; I’m talking about fans. Terrifically fans are ghosts…we often haunt famous film and TV locations.
Ever been to Philadelphia? If you go—and I’ve been there twice—you got an obligation to run your chunky butt up the "Rocky Steps."
(It’s the Philadelphia Museum of Art Steps. First time I did it, no worries. Like Rocky I overcame the intimidating odds and swiftly made it to the top. Second time I tried to do it, I got winded and struggled. I was not in fighting form that day. Clubber Lang would have destroyed me in the ring.)
It’s an absurd pop culture tradition we don’t really discuss.
Philadelphia is an excellent city with a subpar NBA team (accurate shots fired!). There are many things to do and to eat in Philly. (Philadelphia is a massive outdoor art gallery: wander the streets and take in all the numerous murals, sculptures and installations.)
And yet so many of us when we visit…we opt to…run up 72 steps and when we get to the top to sky punch.
It’s a tradition.
It’s a ritual.
It’s…magic:
Many Harry Potter fans visit London’s King’s Cross station. That’s the magical platform to the Hogwarts Express. London is a vibrant metropolis brimming with delightful tea, cozy pubs, grand cathedrals and much more. Yet, one of its top attractions is the magical Platform 9¾. (King’s Cross Station actually marked the platform between platforms 9 and 10. Potter fans now regularly stop there for photoshoots.).
It’s an odd experience. Grant: in London I eagerly visited 221B Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes’ address.
Sherlock Holmes isn’t real yet his address is real.
Hogwarts isn’t real yet London’s King’s Cross station is real.
That’s the appeal of pop culture. It’s an open ended invitation to visit locations that don’t exist but are real.
Cue: The House From…
Can you picture the Home Alone house?
The big empty house where poor Kevin was left all alone to battle hapless criminals.
For some I’ll bet your memory of the Home Alone house is stronger than even your own childhood home.
Now what if the Home Alone house really was your childhood home?
Fame is fascinating.
In popular culture, typically we elevate actors, writers and bands. All manner of creative individuals. They’re so well known based on their work that they become famous. And fame is not limited to humans.
We elevate pop culture objects. I’ve met the Knight Rider car. I’ve met the ‘66 Batmobile and The General Lee from Dukes of Hazzard.
All three celebrity car happenings were thrilling.
When I show people the photo of me and KITT the people that know that stuff love that stuff. They’re like whoa. It is a notable celebrity encounter.
I once spotted the A-Team Van on a Toronto highway; the 401. I completely lost my cool.
I was so nervous...I wanted to inch closer to see who was driving. I hated the scenes where anybody other B.A. was driving The Van.
Also...does that mean somebody in Toronto has a problem where no one can help? And they found The A-Team?!
It’s all no different from meeting famous houses like the Home Alone house. Which, yeah is a real house.
Right outside Chicago: 671 Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka, Illinois. (Like the Poltergeist house, it’s for sale. Behold the Zillow listing.)
Here’s the bizarre thing.
A real family actually lives in the Home Alone house. To us all of us that is just the Home Alone house.
Yet to the family that lives there that is a…home. They have birthdays and they grieve when relatives or close people pass away. They have to remember to take out the recycling on Wednesday. They do their homework on the dining room table. They host Thanksgiving dinner and sleepovers for the kids. It is a home. They have built a life out of that home. However you define home.
Home for that family…is the Home Alone house.
And yet every Christmas fans come and they stop and they stare at the Home Alone house.
They block sidewalks, snap photos and they slap their cheeks like Kevin because it’s the Home Alone house.
Those twin experiences run through the documentary The House From… directed by Tommy Avallone.
The House From… focuses on memorable homes from movies and TV shows and includes interviews with residents of such properties who share the unique and weird experience of living there while dealing with fan attention.
The documentary includes homes from Full House, The Golden Girls, Breaking Bad, Twilight, Home Alone, Friday, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Old School, The Outsiders, The Silence of the Lambs, Family Matters, The Goonies, A Christmas Story, Mrs. Doubtfire and Halloween (the John Carpenter classic from 1978).
And while that’s an impressive list…I’m curious about the houses that got away. What’s an iconic house Tommy would have enjoyed exploring. (I wish he spent more time with the Wonder Years house…another famous house with a Kevin.)
Which Famous Pop Culture House Do You Wanna Visit?
Do not visit the Breaking Bad house in New Mexico: that home owner notoriously hates the fans.
While The Outsiders House Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma is owned and operated by Danny Boy O’Connor…yes: from House of Pain. Remember Jump Around? Their follow up hit was Shamrocks and Shenanigans; Danny raps the second verse.
(Here’s some strange pop culture connections for you: The Outsiders a 1967 novel by S. E. Hinton was adapted by Francis Ford Coppola into a 1983 movie starring Tom Cruise and Patrick Swayze which left such an impression on House of Pain’s Danny Boy O’Connor that he purchased the Curtis Brothers’ House in 2016 and turned it into an Outsiders Museum. Impress people at Christmas parties by freely saying did you know Tom Cruise and House of Pain are connected? Strangers will be impressed and ladies will believe you are cool.)
During my conversation with Tommy I mentioned that recently somebody bought the Poltergeist house. I’m curious if there’s a difference between owning and living in The Golden Girls house vs a horror house, you know? Those famous yet creepy homes connected to Halloween or Poltergeist.
And we also get into Tommy’s previous doc: a 2022 Barney doc called I Love You, You Hate Me; streaming on Peacock. Wild. A documentary that reveals the harsh and occasionally violent backlash to Barney the dinosaur.
The Barney documentary explores we hate things. While, The House From… is a documentary about why adore things.
(Tommy is an active documentary filmmaker. He executive produced Butterfly In The Sky the Reading Rainbow documentary. I invited the Butterfly directors to My Summer Lair. Here’s my conversation with directors Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb talking about Butterfly in the Sky, the ‘80s and Reading Rainbow.)
The House From… is a fascinating perspective to view fame and celebrity…you know these houses. You’ve spent time in these houses, especially if it was a TV sitcom.
Jason Lee from My Name Is Earl narrates the documentary and Ryan Reynolds is the executive producer.
Here’s my charming conversation with Tommy talking about The House From… it all starts with IT: Chapter One and Degrassi and goes through most of your childhood.
House Broken…Most of the time…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.
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