Poltergeist II: The Other Side

Tough shit Carol Anne you're sleeping outside. The last 5 minutes of this are the missing scenes from Xanadu. Taylor pulls a long con to get the family's station wagon. This is as disjointed as this mess of a "review". Craig T Nelson kills a ghost worm thing by burping magic on it and we buy it.

More of a straight horror than the original, the attempt to expand the mythology is fine on paper, as the Reverend Kane story held promise, and Beck is chilling as Kane, using his skeletal appearance to foreboding effect. But the narrative gets too sidetracked and bogged down in pseudo-mystical junk that it loses clarity, diffusing tension, and it is too reliant on special effects to deliver scares, which is ironic given that Beck is creepier than any of the actual creatures.

A reasonably entertaining, if somewhat disappointing, sequel. I really liked Will Sampson as the helpful/crafty shaman-type, and Julian Beck was very effective as the creepy preacher; his visit to the house was memorable. The rest of the cast hold their own. Some of the effects are good, others less so. It felt that there was a lot of exposition towards the end, and the tone of the film was unsteady - it was probably funnier than it should be in the wrong places, and perhaps not scary enough.

it wasn't until after i watched it that i realized it was not meant to be as hilarious as i found it. there's so much clearly intentional humor that i didn't realize some parts weren't being played up for laughs. still, watching it as a comedy instead of as a horror, i found it brilliant and had a blast.

Julian Beck is awesome in this but it's too bad that the film is an enormous hokey pile of crap. Will Sampson is also entertaining if not stereotypical.

So, were the ghosts in the 1st film (Natives angry about being dumped in an unmarked grave) sharing Carol Ann w/ the ghosts in this film - who were buried underneath the Natives? I have no idea, but the 1st hour of this is dull. The ONLY thing that works is the preacher who's plenty creepy, but family life isn't funny or compelling. Fortunately, at least the last 30 minutes aren't boring w/ explanations of WHY (which the parents would've asked earlier), ghost fighting, Tequila worm & Jesus Gran

Flat and inert sequel gives off “EXORCIST II” vibes in its clumsy attempts to expand the mythos – this spends so much time explaining what is happening that it forgets to be scary, while stranding an Oscar worthy portrait of sinister malevolence from Beck with nowhere to go and nothing to play against. Williams and Nelson can do little here but do a lot of screaming and rolling their eyes, to hopelessly little effect.

If Poltergeist II was the first film in the franchise it would probably be held in higher standing. The problem is that we've seen it before, and the recycled material isn't turned up to 11; on the contrary, it's slightly tamer. One thing it does have in its favour is the addition of some predatory Night of the Hunter vibes, courtesy of a creepy demon preacher man. The madness such a fella visits on this family somewhat makes up for the fact that very little makes sense.

Julian Beck is a creepy fucker in this.

Very good acting (especially Craig T.Nelson) but not much more. Boring, repetitive, without any suspense. Decent watch, but might bore you.

The whole tequila worm sequence was fantastic and always it's nice to see Julian Beck, but otherwise it's as bad as it is unnecessary.

Poltergeist II is to Poltergeist as Jaws 2 is to Jaws.

Not as good as the first and not scary at all but a fun horror/fantasy with a creepy ass villain and some good acting from Craig T. Nelson.

Lacking any real story cohesion, tone or style, this film pales in comparison to its predecessor in almost every way imaginable. The only thing I liked were some of the creature effects, which were somewhat creative. Definitely not one to rush out and rent.

Modest, somewhat unnecessary sequel. Hurt by forced humor and a ridiculous ending (in which things best kept off-screen in the original are ludicrously visualized), but sincere acting and a gruesome scene involving the aptly named "Vomit Monster" make it fair fun.

Not nearly what the original was in niether creativity or fear factor. Extremely forgettable.

Hmmm...I didn't think they could improve on the first one, and they didn't. Poltergeist, in and of itself, is a great film; this film, but moreso the third installment, just mock the premise. Given all that, in the context of reviewing this film as a stand alone filmmaking effort, it has some merit worth raising the score considerably.

It's like they tried to take up what made the first one good, but ended up actually focussing on all the wrong things. They just kept going back to using the power of love for example, and it's just tedious and makes a mockery of the beauty of the family dynamics in the first one. It's like, imagine a Tom Cruise movie in which he runs, and in the sequel they'd be going "well actually Tom Cruise develops superspeed now". Yeah, the running was nice but it was never about the running...

This is a pointless sequel. The script does not come up with a suitable story for the characters from the first movie. The special effects are good but wasted. Overall watch the first one again instead of watching this film.

This movie should have leaned more into the comedy elements. Still has it's moments but a far cry from the awesome first movie.

The story is all over the place end the ending makes little sense, but it has some really nice scenes that will stick with you.

Rating based on distant memory.

A pretty good Poltergeist sequel with a completely horrid third act. Ruins the entire movie. Yet the special effects are superior to the original and the story is decent enough as long as not compared. I wouldn't recommend this on this ending act alone. It's so bad.

As with the original, it has its moments (Julian Beck is great and by far the best thing about the entire series) but it's just too stupid to take seriously.

45.875

The effects are much better in this sequel but the story is much much worse.

This was actually the first Poltergeist movie that I watched. I seen it when I was young and that creepy minister gave me nightmares. Now, many years later... he's still way creepy.

Another pointless sequel made palatable by some jolting state-of-the-art special effects and a still-very-likable family. Be warned that an actor receives billing as The Vomit Creature.

Not so good sequel

A not-so good second part.

Silly. A guy in black suit was impressive but tunred out to be not that good at all.

Great special effects, not much else. A pale imitation of the original.

The old dude is as creepy as, but that's ALL this film's got going forit

Okay, not great.

Stupid and lame

Passes the time.