What a beautiful movie!

People are voting emotionally.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The Freeling family move in with Diane's mother in an effort to escape the trauma and aftermath of Carol Anne's abduction by the Beast. But the Beast is not to be put off so easily and appears in a ghostly apparition as the Reverend Kane, a religeous zealot responsible for the deaths of his many followers. Poltergeist II: The Other Side is thankfully better from most horror sequels plus the acting once again was good and old creepy dude was scary for sure. The special effects were also excellent for the time being, definitely a worthy sequel in my opinion. (7/10)

For sequel month, it only fits we'd get a sequel that's pretty pointless. This film became somewhat notorious because of the absence of the elder sister character whose actress Dominique Dunne, was strangled in real life by her boyfriend. The most entertaining bit is probably how this new villain Kane looks a lot like Fred Phelps. Fred Phelps didn't even look like that at the time the movie was made. We actually do get some pretty creative sequences. It's still just mediocre, particularly with how the pacing isn't good.None of the actors and actresses are really bad. It does expand a little on the mythology of the series, but it doesn't really amount to much. I really do praise Heather O'Rourke for her role in this. It's hard to find really good child actresses. The visual effects are quite good, given the year it came out. It still reprises too much stuff, but can be watchable. **1/2

This disappointing follow-up to the classic POLTERGEIST ('82) rehashes a boring plot which in this case substitutes humour and sentimentalising in place of thrills and chills. Although the high budget means that there are lots of special effects (most of them tacky by today's standards), once again little thought is gone into the story itself, so in the end it's just one "shock" or "scare" after another. This does not a good film make.The film was made four years after the original, but bizarrely is set just one year after the events of that film. Thus, we are expected to believe that the son has grown amazingly from a ten year old to a fourteen year old in that time - I think not. What makes this film so bad is the bad acting of the cast members, most of whom return from the first (aside from the teenage daughter). Most of them were passable in the first film, but they go way over the top here. JoBeth Williams has a ridiculous '80s hairstyle and is totally forgettable in her whinging, irritating role. Craig T. Nelson, on the other hand, goes totally over the top and crazy at regular points, which is pretty funny actually. Oliver Robins has one major scene and that's it, while Heather O'Rourke's cuteness and creepiness had almost totally worn off by now.Zelda Rubinstein also returns but is relegated to a cameo, "stand back and watch" type role. Also turning up are Will Sampson as a useless Native American "advisor" and Geraldine Fitzgerald as an impossibly friendly grandmother. However, the film's biggest coup is in the casting of Julian Beck (who looks like an old version of Christopher Walken) as the evil preacher, who manages to make his evil role really creepy and scary and is by far the best thing in this film. It's just a shame that he died halfway through production and thus vanishes from the proceedings towards the end.Although this film fails as a whole, there are a smattering of fun scenes which stop it from being totally worthless. A couple of slimy monsters turn up (one comes out of Nelson's mouth, the other just appears as a huge, slithering tentacled mess like something out of Lovecraft's worst nightmares) and are good value for money. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice a few connected names in the crew; firstly effects man Steve Johnson (one of the big SFX guys in the '80s) who made the creatures, secondly H.R. Giger being credited for the "designs" of the monsters, and who probably included the Lovecraftian element, and thirdly Screaming Mad George as a hired hand. These factors combine to make the monsters quite cool, although sadly they are seen only briefly.Another good scare has a chainsaw levitating into the air before attacking the family (sheltering inside a car). This has some great special effects which make it a moment to remember. Sadly, another scene in which Robins' brace comes to life and tries to smother him is laughably bad, but original, it has to be said. This time around, a plastic pink toy telephone acts as Carol Anne's "link" to the other side, but not much is made of this plot device. The rotted corpses from the first film also pop up occasionally (out of cupboards, the ground, etc.) but don't make a lot of impact.Probably the worst bit of this film is the ending, which rips off an effective scene in the first film but ruins it by showing everything. Thus we get to watch the family members float around an animated world in scenes which look incredibly fake and cheesy. The low point occurs when we see Carol Anne floating around, symbolised as an angel, or when she gets rescued by the ghost of her grandmother - a moment so bursting with sugary sentiment that I was very close to being physically sick. In the end, nobody dies either, not even the dog! These things make POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE a film which is just too family-orientated, and is in desperate need of more of the nastiness of the first film.

The house is gone. Tangina Barrons is digging at the site and finds the Indian burial grounds. She is joined by Native American shaman Taylor. The Freelings have moved in with Diane's mother Jess in Phoenix (without the older daughter). It's been a year and their insurance claim is in limbo. Steve is struggling selling vacuum cleaners. The evil spirit of Rev. Henry Kane is after Carol Anne. Jess dies after telling Diane of Carol Anne's abilities. Tangina sends Taylor to help the family.The death of Dominique Dunne needs to be acknowledged. Her character vanishes as if she never existed. It leaves a big hole especially since her scream is such an iconic scene. This sequel is essentially setting up for a repeat with Taylor as the new outside help. I don't like Taylor and he's not really necessary. Kane has a nice creepy look but he would be more effective at night. I don't understand why his scenes happen in the daylight. It also rewrites the cause of the original. I really don't like the retcon. The original's idea of the cementary is far superior putting the cause down to greed. On the other hand, the best has to be the limb-less creature coming out of Steve. It's a very memorable creature design. Overall, this could have been a functional stand alone movie. The retcon is problematic. As a sequel, the sense of inferiority is never far.