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Poltergeist 2: The Other Side (1986)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
February 14th, 2009
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'Poltergeist II' informs us that Carol Ann (Heather O'Rourke) is clairvoyant, and can communicate telepathically with her grandmother, Jess (Geraldine Fitzgerald). The sole purpose of this sequel was to cash in on the success of the original (the same can be said of all sequels) , but it does do a reasonably good job of logically continuing the story, even clarifying some things that remained unclear at the end of the first movie, namely as to why these spirits are so interested in Carol Ann, and it has to do with her youth and innocence, but then, so many other children have precisely these same qualities, and I wonder why poor Carol Ann is pursued so relentlessly, when the ghosts could perhaps find someone else to "lead them into the light", someone who is not so difficult to capture.
The problem with Carol Ann is that her parents, Steve and Diane (Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams) love her so much, and it is the power of love and the bonds of family that can undermine the forces of evil. Yeah, that is more than a little cliched, but this film hammers that message home repeatedly; this is the advice given to the Freelings by their old friend Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein), who shows up once again to help them rescue Carol Ann, but she is really playing second fiddle to Taylor (Will Sampson), the Indian shaman who watches over the Freelings' new home; they are living with Jess, who dies early on in the picture, just so the Freelings can be left alone to endure the same horrors they have dealt with previously.
Taylor sets up a tent (or teepee) out in the yard, performs a few strange rituals, and prepares the Freelings for their eventual standoff with Kane (Julian Beck), who looks like a cross between the Tall Man from Phantasm and the guy on Quaker Oats canisters. Kane, or Reverend Henry Kane to identify him fully, is (or was) a cult leader, who managed to persuade a bunch of people to follow him down into a cavern, where they were to await Armageddon. It never arrives, but Kane refuses to let anybody leave, and they all die there, presumably of starvation, or perhaps they were sealed in by an earthquake or something. Kane appears in human form, and repeatedly attempts to make contact with Carol Ann, who is understandably disturbed by his presence. Meanwhile, Steve is skeptical of Taylor's methods, until reassured by Tangina.
You may notice that the Freelings are missing a child; this is Dana, their oldest daughter, played by Dominique Dunne, who died in 1985. There should have at least been some way of explaining her character's absence; maybe she went off to college, or perished in a car accident, there should be some mention of her. Adding to the 'Poltergeist' curse mythology, both Sampson and Beck passed away, Beck while working on this movie, and Sampson about a year after it was released, in 1987. Sampson, the physically imposing Native American actor best-known for his role in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, gives a terrific performance here. O'Rourke was still cute and appealing, and Beck is extremely creepy.
The Oscar-nominated visual effects are spectacular, and are much more frequent, especially in the finale, but also in the rather brilliant scene where Kane possesses Steve (who has swallowed a worm-like creature floating in the bottom of his alcoholic substance), and then Steve resists the possession, vomiting up a repulsive slimy monster that gets bigger and bigger, until it looks like it stumbled off the set of Hellraiser. Yes, it has some scary and intense moments, with stellar music from Jerry Goldsmith, a worthy sequel, but not quite on par with its predecessor.
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