Poltergeist II: The Other Side

Poltergiest II: The Other Side (1986)

The Plot: Fleeing from the events of the Original movie, The Freelig family are followed and  once again terrorized by ghosts

  Poltergeist II: The Other Side suffers as a movie simply because it follows the great first movie and has the same plot. Sure there are some differences as they enlist the help of a Native American shaman instead of a gypsy medium. Although,  Tangina does show up briefly. It also ratchets up the possessed household objects where we get to see attacks from a chainsaw, electric wire, even Robbie's braces.
They're baaaaack!

  At first you think it may go a different route when it looks like the super creepy Reverend Kane would be the antagonist, but that turns out not to be the case. Kane is only in a handful of scenes before it's off to the ghosts.  He is really criminally underused here. If the plt of your movie has a golden opportunity to feature an old timey, creepy reverend, then you go full tilt! Not just a few scenes here and there.
If you have access to a creepy old timey Reverand....you use him!


  That's no to say this movie is bad. It really isn't. The cast is great again. from Craig T. Nelson (Poltergeist), to JoBeth Williams (Poltergeist) and Zelda Rubenstein (Poltergeist), everyone shines. No, the problem here is that we saw all of this before in Poltergeist. 
Thank You Grandma Ghost!


  One saving grace is that this movie has the most bonkers ending of almost any movie I've ever seen. <SPOILER ALERT!>. The movie ends when the Native American shaman has a ceremony where he opens the portal to the dimension where the poltergeists live where the entire Freeling family jump in and then are forced to fight with a spear to defeat the demon while Carol Ann is saved by her grandmother who lives here as an angel. Got that? Good!

  I give Poltergeist II: The Other Side 6 Grandmother Ghosts 

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