Review of Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) by Patrick E — 03 May 2010

Poltergeist 2 is the sequel to the excellent 1982 original which was directed by horror legend Tobe Hooper and produced by Steven Spielberg. The first thing going against this sequel is that neither of these men are involved, although the entire original cast all return. The second thing is that it tries to offer the all of the elements that made the original so good but in a much larger scale, sadly this is the films downfall as it loses much of the suspense and wonder that permeated throughout the original.

The plot follows the same family, and in particular little girl, that were haunted by a poltergeist in the original. However it turns out that it wasnâ??t the house that was haunted but in fact itâ??s the little girl that the poltergeist wants to bring to his dimension. An Indian witch doctor takes the place of the tiny spirit medium from the original and he acts as the helper to the family. In all honesty itâ??s very much the same plot as the first film, bar the fact that the poltergeist can somehow now manage to take on the human form of an old man.

What made the first so good was the fact that we had no idea what was going on within the familiesâ?? house at the start of the film. There was plenty of suspense and tension as various eerie happenings continued to happen until of course the little girl was taken. The sequel loses most of that suspense because we already know what is going on. There are still plenty of great effects and the poltergeistsâ?? human form is suitably strange but there is very little horror to be found and a large proportion of the opening half hour is simple filler scenes to lengthen the running time. Sadly the filmsâ?? climax is a huge letdown compared to the iconic ending of the first which just compounds the disappointment.

In all fairness the sequel was never going to live up to the high standards of the original and it is an entertaining film with plenty of great effects, especially the creature effects near the end, but you canâ??t help but feel a little disappointed with the final film.