Poltergeist II: The Other Side

This film essentially begins one year after the horrors in the previous film with a new malignant force now seeking the young child "Carol Anne Freeling" (Heather O'Rourke) for the exact same reasons as in the previous film. This time, however, the evil spirit has been generated from a 19th century cult leader by the name of "Reverend Henry Kane" (Julian Beck) who led his congregation into the desert in preparation for an end-of-the-world scenario that never materialized. Not wanting to admit to his congregation that he was mistaken, he subsequently lets them all die in an underground cave that has only now been discovered-and it just happens to be located right under the same house owned by the Freeling family in the previous film. To make matters even worse, this evil spirit has more power than the previous one and recognizing this the spiritual medium named "Tangina Barrons" (Zelda Rubinstein) enlists the help of a Native American shaman by the name of "Taylor" (Will Sampson) to combat it. Yet, in spite of all of his knowledge and experience, he soon discovers that Reverend Kane is much more formidable than he realized-and he has no intention of allowing Carol Anne to escape. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I thought this was a pretty good sequel when it first came out and having just watched it recently I remain of that opinion. Admittedly, some of the situations were recycled from the first film and as a result it didn't have the same impact as before. But even so the underlying story was still entertaining enough in its own right. Another interesting facet is that--even though both JoBeth Williams (as "Diane Freeling") and the aforementioned Heather O'Rourke clearly dominated in the previous film--it was the performances of both Julian Beck and Will Sampson who rose to the occasion in this one and gave this movie an added edge. At least, that is how it seemed to me. In any case, for what it's worth I enjoyed this film and have rated it accordingly. Above average.

While not as good as the first one this movie was interesting. It was well made and featured many of the same actors and actresses as well as a few new ones, who all turned out excellent performances.

The story line was solid and thought out. I particularly felt that Julian Beck's character Cane was a nice addition. He was chilling to watch on screen as a antagonist to the family. Will Sampson as Taylor was also an interesting character. R.I.P to both actors and to O'Rouke.

Overall a good film but one that can not possibly hold a candle to the original.

6 out of 10.

"Poltergeist II: The Other Side" is a very interesting movie despite the fact that the plot was rather subpar. My favorite movie of all time is the original "Poltergeist," and this movie is a respectable sequel. I like it because of the character Kane, for one, who gives the movie another ghostly dimension. Julian Beck was wonderful in the film as Kane. Also, the children remained good actors, especially the late Heather O'Rourke, who played Carol Anne. This is another strong performance by the young actress, and would have gone on to be a wonderful adult actress later in life had she lived. All in all, I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

In this follow-up to Poltergeist, the Freeling family call on the big Native American fella from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to help them once again defeat evil malevolent spirits that seem to not like them very much.

As with virtually all sequels this one is inferior to the original. However, the first film wasn't all that great and this one isn't a complete washout either. The story is modified somewhat from the first episode so that now the source of the poltergeist unrest is attributed to the dead followers of a cult leader, as opposed to the dead disturbed by unscrupulous property developers. The change has really only been made so that they can have a sequel to be perfectly honest, however, it does mean that the series is able to introduce the evil Reverend Kane. Kane is probably the best character in the series and his scene where he confronts the Freeling family on their front porch is the scariest and most well-crafted moment in any of the films. Julien Beck is excellent and unforgettable as the skeletal preacher. The rest of the cast play it strictly by numbers, although once again Heather O'Rourke is fab as the little girl. The other daughter is completely written out of this film with no explanation. Although it's a well documented fact that the actress who played her, Dominique Dunne, was murdered shortly after the first film was released, I still don't think it would have trashed her memory to have explained her absence; quite the opposite in fact.

The Poltergeist series was perhaps most famous at the time for its spectacular visual effects and this film is no exception. The demon Kane is a well rendered creation, and there are a number of cool 80's effects throughout. Unfortunately, though, it all ends in a somewhat underwhelming finale where the family enter some vortex or something. I think it would have been better if they had cut back on the special-effects here and simply re-introduced Reverend Kane, as he was much scarier. But I guess having a big effects-laden ending is one of the in-built rules of the Poltergeist movies sadly.

Overall, there's good stuff in this sequel but it's ultimately squandered on a rubbish ending.

This sequel was okay at the theater when I saw it, but it wasn't great. Kind of an average film that adds plot points that really are a bit weak. We find out in this one that it was not necessarily the fact the little community was sitting on an old cemetery that was the problem in the first one, but rather that the house was over some burial ground of a cult. There is also this really old man that is a bit creepy wandering around looking for Carol Anne and the Freeling clan. I just think they wanted to add a more physical enemy, someone you could focus on. The family is now living with grandma, but strange stuff starts happening again. For some reason they want Carol Anne. An Indian guy comes to their aid and gives them advice and there are a series of happenings, but this one just isn't as good as the first one as it is very slow in places. The ending was just plain lame and only makes this one worse than it is. As not good as this is though, the next Poltergeist makes this one look a lot better. Some good scenes here and there, but ultimately this one disappoints. Though there is that memorable scene with the worm.