adonis98-743-186503 The Freeling family move in with Diane's mother in an effort to escape the trauma and aftermath of Carol Anne's abduction by the Beast. But the Beast is not to be put off so easily and appears in a ghostly apparition as the Reverend Kane, a religeous zealot responsible for the deaths of his many followers. Poltergeist II: The Other Side is thankfully better from most horror sequels plus the acting once again was good and old creepy dude was scary for sure. The special effects were also excellent for the time being, definitely a worthy sequel in my opinion. (7/10)

Leofwine_draca This disappointing follow-up to the classic POLTERGEIST ('82) rehashes a boring plot which in this case substitutes humour and sentimentalising in place of thrills and chills. Although the high budget means that there are lots of special effects (most of them tacky by today's standards), once again little thought is gone into the story itself, so in the end it's just one "shock" or "scare" after another. This does not a good film make.The film was made four years after the original, but bizarrely is set just one year after the events of that film. Thus, we are expected to believe that the son has grown amazingly from a ten year old to a fourteen year old in that time - I think not. What makes this film so bad is the bad acting of the cast members, most of whom return from the first (aside from the teenage daughter). Most of them were passable in the first film, but they go way over the top here. JoBeth Williams has a ridiculous '80s hairstyle and is totally forgettable in her whinging, irritating role. Craig T. Nelson, on the other hand, goes totally over the top and crazy at regular points, which is pretty funny actually. Oliver Robins has one major scene and that's it, while Heather O'Rourke's cuteness and creepiness had almost totally worn off by now.Zelda Rubinstein also returns but is relegated to a cameo, "stand back and watch" type role. Also turning up are Will Sampson as a useless Native American "advisor" and Geraldine Fitzgerald as an impossibly friendly grandmother. However, the film's biggest coup is in the casting of Julian Beck (who looks like an old version of Christopher Walken) as the evil preacher, who manages to make his evil role really creepy and scary and is by far the best thing in this film. It's just a shame that he died halfway through production and thus vanishes from the proceedings towards the end.Although this film fails as a whole, there are a smattering of fun scenes which stop it from being totally worthless. A couple of slimy monsters turn up (one comes out of Nelson's mouth, the other just appears as a huge, slithering tentacled mess like something out of Lovecraft's worst nightmares) and are good value for money. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice a few connected names in the crew; firstly effects man Steve Johnson (one of the big SFX guys in the '80s) who made the creatures, secondly H.R. Giger being credited for the "designs" of the monsters, and who probably included the Lovecraftian element, and thirdly Screaming Mad George as a hired hand. These factors combine to make the monsters quite cool, although sadly they are seen only briefly.Another good scare has a chainsaw levitating into the air before attacking the family (sheltering inside a car). This has some great special effects which make it a moment to remember. Sadly, another scene in which Robins' brace comes to life and tries to smother him is laughably bad, but original, it has to be said. This time around, a plastic pink toy telephone acts as Carol Anne's "link" to the other side, but not much is made of this plot device. The rotted corpses from the first film also pop up occasionally (out of cupboards, the ground, etc.) but don't make a lot of impact.Probably the worst bit of this film is the ending, which rips off an effective scene in the first film but ruins it by showing everything. Thus we get to watch the family members float around an animated world in scenes which look incredibly fake and cheesy. The low point occurs when we see Carol Anne floating around, symbolised as an angel, or when she gets rescued by the ghost of her grandmother - a moment so bursting with sugary sentiment that I was very close to being physically sick. In the end, nobody dies either, not even the dog! These things make POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE a film which is just too family-orientated, and is in desperate need of more of the nastiness of the first film.

gwnightscream JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Heather O'Rourke, Oliver Robbins, Will Sampson, Julian Beck and Zelda Rubinstein star in this 1986 horror sequel. In this entry, the Freelings, Diane (Williams), Steven (Nelson), Carol Anne (O'Rourke) and Robbie (Robbins) are once again terrorized by dark, supernatural forces. The late, Beck plays Reverend, Henry Kane, an evil spirit who is the cause of it all and is determined to have Carol Anne lead him into the light with his minions. The late, Sampson plays Taylor, a Native American, medicine man who helps the Freelings fight against him and Rubinstein also reprises her role as psychic, Tangina who is Taylor's friend. This is a good supernatural sequel with a good cast, neat effects & great score by Jerry Goldsmith as usual. I recommend this.

callanvass The Freeling family has survived the intense ordeal of the supernatural from the first movie. They move into Grandma-Jesshouse, hoping to wipe the slate clean with everything and start fresh. When Grandma-Jess abruptly passes away, things begin to go downhill. Carol's abductor from the first movie shows up as a ghostly apparition (Reverend Kane) He's a religious nut that is responsible for many deaths. With the help of a mysterious Indian Shaman named Taylor (Will Sampson) The Freeling's are forced to battle evil once more. I saw this years ago and remember being thoroughly underwhelmed by it. It turns out that this was the case on my second viewing as well. The first movie wasn't perfect, but it was an extremely well crafted film that knew how to entertain. Steven Spielberg's presence is sorely lacking in this one and everybody just seems to go through the motions. With all due respect to director Brian Gibson, he doesn't have the flare or vision of Spielberg. Like a lot of sequels that are here to make cash, it feels awfully contrived. The emotion I felt from the family is nowhere to be found in this movie. One of the reasons the first movie worked so well is the cohesiveness of the family. It felt genuine and I believed them. The cast tries their hardest in this movie to make it feel real, but I wasn't buying into it this time. Spielberg is fantastic with family drama in his movies and Gibson isn't able to pull that off. We get some lame boo scares that pale in comparison to the first and there is no tension to be found. It lacks humor, something the original did very well as well. I know those that are reading this may be getting annoyed at me comparing this sequel to the original with so many things, but I can't help it. Any praise for this film? A few things. I did like the continuity from the first movie. The effects certainly hold up well. I won't spoil it, but wait until you see the braces moment involving Robbie, and the tequila worm. The acting is great, definitely not their fault. JoBeth Williams is solid as the mother, putting her all into the part. Craig Nelson is excellent, too. I didn't like how his character shrugged everything off for a while. He was in no position to disbelieve things after the first movie, didn't make much sense. I also felt they didn't go far enough with his possession storyline. That was really dark and had the ability to be something memorable. It's too bad it was so half-assed. Heather O'Rourke is one of the best child actors I've ever seen. She came through like a champ for her age. Zelda Rubenstein's presence wasn't needed in this movie. She gets on my nerves to begin with and her small part felt inconsequential. Julian Beck is one of the scariest horror villains in history. If this movie wasn't so disappointing, I truly believe Julian would get the credit he deserves. You won't find many things creepier than Reverend Kane. Will Sampson is OK. Geraldine Fitzgerald has a mere cameo, but added class to it. The storytelling is very jumbled at the end and left me feeling very confused at some of the events that transpired. This movie isn't horrible, but it lacks the spectacle of the original. I haven't seen Poltergeist III in many years, but I remember it being worse than this movie. This is worth a look if you've seen the first movie, but you're better off sticking with the original. This movie had potential, but failed to capitalize on it in a big way5.2/10