POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE (1986)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper did not return for seconds when a sequel was announced to the original fright film that became a box-office hit. They must have read the script and puked their own vomit monsters. "Poltergeist II: The Other Side" is an uninspired, flat sequel that will make you choke with unintentional laughter. It is a travesty.
The Freeling Family returns but with no trace of pizazz or humor. Steve Freeling (Craig T. Nelson) has grown his hair long, fancies himself a hippie, sells vacuum cleaners and wants nothing to do with televisions. Diane Freeling (Jobeth Williams) merely exists and points out to Steve that they are broke ever since leaving their haunted domicile. Carol Anne (the late Heather O'Rourke) and Robbie (Oliver Robins) are about the same, though Robbie has braces and Carol Anne talks to mysterious strangers (and how come there is no explanation of Dominique Dunne's Dana character from the original? Never mind that Dunne was tragically murdered shortly after the original's release.) They all live with Diane's mother (Geraldine Fitzgerald, in a wasted role) and before you know it, the poltergeists are back. This time, though, we get lots of smoke and fire, braces with a life of their own, a mysterious preacher named Kane (played by the late Julian Beck) , and an enormously ugly worm creature courtesy of H.R. Giger. Oh, yes, and a Vomit Creature.
"Poltergeist II" is a senseless, witless, numbingly mindless movie with no real sense of terror or purpose. The Freelings do little to provoke any sympathy as they did in the original. There is an Indian shaman (Will Sampson) and the thick-accented, terminally annoying psychic (Zelda Rubinstein) returning from the original, who are both aware that dark forces still prevail in the Freelings's original domicile. All this smacks of desperation and is similarly contrived to most horror sequels (providing an explanation, no less, of why the dark spirits wanted Carol Anne in the first place.) It is a good thing that the sweet, talented Heather O'Rourke went to the other side herself or she would have been stuck making movies like "Poltergeist II."
