Considering the care Warner Bros. gives box sets and special editions of classic movies in the catalog, one has to wonder why "Poltergeist: 25th Anniversary Edition" (Warner) wasn't afforded a more lavish celebration.

The lack of any enticing new extras, except for a new and less-than-informative documentary, might cause many who own the film on disc to pass it by. That would be a shame, because Poltergeist has been given a digital remastering and 5.1 Surround audio mix that puts the earlier DVD release to shame.

One reason for the boring packaging may be the circumstances surrounding the making of the movie. Producer Steven Spielberg took over the directing responsibilities from Tobe Hooper ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre"), though Hooper remains the credited director. Still, there is little doubt "Poltergeist" is a Spielberg movie — and one of his best.

Like most of his early output, it taps into childhood fears and adult feelings of helplessness in a way few other filmmakers have ever been able to do. It has special effects that were brilliantly conceived and executed in a time before computers made the impossible all too possible. And best of all, it has a simple, smart and evocative screenplay, co-written by Spielberg, that relocated the haunted house to an all-too-ordinary and recognizable American suburb — effectively bringing the ghosts home.

JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson were little known in 1982, making them ideal to portray boomer parents whose daughter (Heather O'Rourke) is abducted by forces unknown after inanimate objects begin to rebel against the home's orderliness. (The teenage sister was played by Dominique Dunne, daughter of columnist Dominick; she was later murdered by a stalker.)

With Mom and Dad unable to control the situation, it is left to a medium with a baby voice (Zelda Rubinstein) to referee and pretty much steal the movie.

What makes "Poltergeist" a horror classic — and a PG-rated one at that — is simply that it is truly, honestly scary: not revolting, not satirical, not grotesque or gory, although still too intense for young kids. It earns every jump and jolt, just as the other fantasy Spielberg released later that year, "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," earned every gasp of wonder it provoked and every tear it tugged.

FAMILY PICK OF THE WEEK

Though the week's theatrical releases include the animated "Surf's Up" (Columbia-TriStar), the Steve Carell comedy "Evan Almighty" and a feature-length "Hannah Montana" episode titled "Life's What You Make It" (Disney), a version of an oldie-but-goodie provides the best family sit-down: the 1978 TV mini series adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" (Koch Vision).

This version isn't as dense as the 1994 theater release, but it may be the most faithful to the novel.