OVP: Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

Film: Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

Stars: JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Heather O'Rourke, Zelda Rubinstein, Will Sampson, Julian Beck

Director: Brian Gibson

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Visual Effects)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

All October long, The Many Rantings of John is running a marathon dedicated to the Horror classics of the 1960's-00's that I'm seeing for the first time this month.  If you want to take a look at past titles from previous horror marathons (both this and other seasons) check out the links at the bottom of this article.

If you look below, when you get past all of the Universal Monster pictures (which I've seen every single one of), we have not done any sequels in these write-ups.  That's on purpose.  While I have seen horror movie sequels (I am an ardent fan of the Scream movies at this point, for example, even taking off work to watch the sixth one so I didn't get it spoiled), I wanted this series to be about newness, and it felt a little cheap to just fill it up with franchises rather than lots of new ideas.  We are making the only exception to that this month with Poltergeist II, and we're doing this because the film was nominated for an Oscar, which has been an undercurrent of this year's theme of highlighting the rare horror films to be cited for Academy Awards.  The movie was nominated for Best Visual Effects, back when films like this could get cited for Best Visual Effects, though it (correctly) lost to Aliens.  The movie itself, though, never really justifies existing after the gemlike first picture in the series so surprisingly became American shorthand for 1980's horror.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie takes place a year after the events of the first movie, and honestly part of it starts out promising.  We see the Freelings, including parents Diane (Williams) and Steve (Nelson) both dealing with the stress of the events, both practical (they can't get their insurance company to pay for their downed house) and psychological (they both are struggling with what to do next...basically PTSD abounds).  Psychic Tangina Barrons (Rubinstein) is back, now looking at their old home, and discovers that the spirit of an insane preacher named Henry Kane (Beck) is on the loose, and in this case, once again trying to get young Carol Anne (O'Rourke), pulling her to the Other Side.  A fight between the family, aided by Tangina and their new friend Taylor (Sampson), over whether or not Carol Anne will be brought to the Other Side once-and-for-all, or whether or not they can finally defeat it (until, of course, the third film in the series comes about).

I will not be seeing the third film, though.  Freed of the Oscar Viewing Project (the third film received no Academy Award nominations), I would only watch it if I'd liked the second one, and I decidedly did not.  The first movie, guided by producer Steven Spielberg, was an indictment of the Reagan Era, a spooky look at how consumerism and the pursuit of the white picket fence & life in the suburbs covers up the darker sides of the American Experiment, how it was built on the backs of other people's dreams.  It was littered with strong performances, and a wonderfully-tight script.

This film, on the other hand, is just a mess.  Gone is any sense of purpose-we get consumerism, but also fractured marital relations, an expanding (and nonsensical) mythology, and the same story we got in the first one with Carol Anne's soul being in the balance once again.  The movie wastes much of its cast.  Williams is front-and-center, but not given enough to do like in the first movie, and the distinctive Rubinstein just stays in the background for much of the movie, only being trotted out to read a line or two with high-pitched severity.  The visual effects, the main reason I watched this, aren't bad, but they also don't have the groundbreaking nature of the first film, and are more showy than actually aiding the film or making it pretty (or scary).

1920's: The Golem, The Phantom of the Opera

1930's: The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Dracula's Daughter, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Invisible Man, Mad Love, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, The Raven, Son of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London

1940's: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Cat People, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Dracula, The House of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man Returns, The Invisible Man's Revenge, The Invisible Woman, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Invisible Agent, The Mummy's Curse, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, Phantom of the Opera, She-Wolf of London, Son of Dracula, The Uninvited, The Wolf Man

1950's: Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy, Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, The Blob, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Creature Walks Among Us, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, It Came from Outer Space, Revenge of the Creature

1960's: The Devil Rides Out, The Innocents, The Masque of the Red Death, Night of the Living Dead,Village of the Damned

1970's: The Amityville Horror, Black Christmas, Carrie, Dawn of the Dead, Don't Look Now, Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes, The Omen, Phantom of the Paradise, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, When a Stranger Calls, The Wicker Man

1980's: Altered States, An American Werewolf in London, The Changeling, Child's Play, The Evil Dead, The Fly, The Fog, Friday the 13th, Gremlins, Hellraiser, The House on Sorority Row, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, Sleepaway Camp, The Thing

1990's-Present: Arachnophobia, The Blair Witch Project, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Candyman, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Paranormal Activity, Scary Movie, Scream