Who remembers this classic horror/thriller movie from 1982? For those that do remember, good for you. It's a great flick. For those who've never seen it, I'll give a brief synopsis:
A suburban family has their house taken over by ghosts. They first contact the the youngest daughter of the family, a five year old girl named Carol-Anne. They talk to her through the TV set. It's not long before those same ghosts kidnap that little girl. They come out of her closet and take her to some kind of 'netherworld' where her family can hear her but not see her. So, the family has to hire some paranormal experts to find Carol Anne, bring her back safely, and then deal with the rest of the ghosts.
That's about it in a nutshell. Like I said, if you haven't seen it yet, go seek it out now. You'll be glad you did.
Ok, now that's out of the way, I'll now deliver my promise of showing everyone the Looney Tunes connection.
For starters, Carol Anne's dead bird at the beginning is named Tweety. I know that's not much of a connection right there, but I'm just getting started.
Another connection is the family's last name: Freleng
For proof, I'm embedding a clip from the movie where the family's name is mentioned. It's at around 0:27
See, right there.
As amazing as that coincidence is, the connection does not stop there either. For the full connection, I read the credits.
The key animator of all the special ghostly effects in this movie were done by Art Vitello. "Who's that?" you ask. He was one of Friz Freleng's animators on the Pink Panther cartoons. I have proof of this here too. These are the opening credits for Pink Lemonade.
Yes, I know the Pink Panther cartoons were made at MGM after Warner Bros shut down their animation department. But, he did work under the guidance of Looney Tunes director Friz Freleng, so I'd say the connection is still pretty solid.
I'll end this post with samples of Art Vitello's work, one for Poltergeist and one Pink Panther. Enjoy them both.
