Poltergeist II – Die andere Seite (1986)

Poltergeist II – Die andere Seite: Directed by Brian Gibson. With JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Heather O’Rourke, Oliver Robins. The Freeling family have a new house, but their troubles with supernatural forces don’t seem to be over.

“In this follow-up to Poltergeist, the Freeling family call on the big Native American fella from One Flew Over the Cuckoou0026#39;s Nest to help them once again defeat evil malevolent spirits that seem to not like them very much.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs with virtually all sequels this one is inferior to the original. However, the first film wasnu0026#39;t all that great and this one isnu0026#39;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 Ou0026#39;Rourke is fab as the little girl. The other daughter is completely written out of this film with no explanation. Although itu0026#39;s a well documented fact that the actress who played her, Dominique Dunne, was murdered shortly after the first film was released, I still donu0026#39;t think it would have trashed her memory to have explained her absence; quite the opposite in fact.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe 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 80u0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall, thereu0026#39;s good stuff in this sequel but itu0026#39;s ultimately squandered on a rubbish ending.”