Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

The Freeling family have a new house, but their troubles with supernatural forces don't seem to be over.

Director:

Brian Gibson

Writers:

Mark Victor, Michael Grais

Stars:

JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Heather O'Rourke

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
JoBeth Williams	...	Diane Freeling (as Jobeth Williams)
Craig T. Nelson	...	Steve Freeling
Heather O'Rourke	...	Carol Anne Freeling
Oliver Robins	...	Robbie Freeling
Zelda Rubinstein	...	Tangina Barrons
Will Sampson	...	Taylor
Julian Beck	...	Kane
Geraldine Fitzgerald	...	Gramma-Jess
John P. Whitecloud	...	Old Indian
Noble Craig	...	Vomit Creature
Susan Peretz	...	Daughter
Helen Boll	...	Mother
Kelly Jean Peters	...	Young Jess
Jaclyn Bernstein	...	Young Diane
Robert Lesser	...	Kane's People

Storyline

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. His goal is simple - he wants the angelic Carol Anne; but the love of her family and the power of psychic Tangina once again unite, along with an elderly native American, to fight for her life.

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Plot Keywords:

supernatural horror | native american | alternate dimension | haunting | shamanism | 

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Taglines:

"They're back". All the members of the wonderful Freeling family who won your hearts before. "They're back". All the strange forces that terrified the Freelings - and enthralled you. "They're back". The thrills, the chills, the laughs, the gasps, the excitement and the wonder of one of the greatest movie stories of our time.

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 May 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Poltergeist II

Filming Locations:

Spider Rock, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$19,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,357,190, 26 May 1986

Gross USA:

$40,996,665

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$40,996,665

Company Credits

Production Co:

Freddie Fields Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 130 min (original cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

(at around 34 mins) Steve (Craig T. Nelson) comments on Taylor (Will Sampson) perhaps being an escapee from an asylum. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Sampson played an asylum inmate who escapes.

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Goofs

(at around 22 mins) JoBeth Williams' character's mother in the film is played by Geraldine Fitzgerald, who is of Irish descent. This is shown in early scenes of the film when she speaks with young Heather O'Rourke, as her accent can be heard. However when Diane (Williams) has a flashback to her youth the mother in the scene, not Fitzgerald, clearly does not have an accent.

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Quotes

Taylor: [after breathing an enchanted smoke into Steve's mouth] Smoke, make him one with power and knowledge.

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Crazy Credits

In the credits, the words "Cavern and Mountaintop set materials by Foam-Tec" do not match with the rest of the closing credits. They seem to have been added on later.

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Alternate Versions

During post production, at least 15 minutes were cut from the film during the final editing stages, and some of the remaining scenes were re-arranged chronologically. Scenes rumored to be cut included: 1. A line mentioning "Dana," (the eldest daughter from the original film) being away at college. 2. A scene involving JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson and a floating toaster oven in their kitchen. 3. A scene in which the "Rev. Kane" appears at the house again and is confronted by "Tangina" right before she is about to leave after visiting "Diane" (Zelda Rubinstein was said to be very upset that this sequence was cut, as she felt it was one of her best scenes). 4. A longer "other side" sequence at the end featuring the family's battle with the Beast. 5. Longer versions of existing scenes featuring additional dialogue. Publicity stills from some of these scenes can be seen at: the fan site: http://www.poltergeistii.poltergeistiii.com/deleted.html

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Connections

Referenced in Scary Movie 2 (2001)

User Reviews

Mixed bag of a sequel

In this follow-up to Poltergeist, the Freeling family call on the big Native American fella from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to help them once again defeat evil malevolent spirits that seem to not like them very much.

As with virtually all sequels this one is inferior to the original. However, the first film wasn't all that great and this one isn't a complete washout either. The story is modified somewhat from the first episode so that now the source of the poltergeist unrest is attributed to the dead followers of a cult leader, as opposed to the dead disturbed by unscrupulous property developers. The change has really only been made so that they can have a sequel to be perfectly honest, however, it does mean that the series is able to introduce the evil Reverend Kane. Kane is probably the best character in the series and his scene where he confronts the Freeling family on their front porch is the scariest and most well-crafted moment in any of the films. Julien Beck is excellent and unforgettable as the skeletal preacher. The rest of the cast play it strictly by numbers, although once again Heather O'Rourke is fab as the little girl. The other daughter is completely written out of this film with no explanation. Although it's a well documented fact that the actress who played her, Dominique Dunne, was murdered shortly after the first film was released, I still don't think it would have trashed her memory to have explained her absence; quite the opposite in fact.

The Poltergeist series was perhaps most famous at the time for its spectacular visual effects and this film is no exception. The demon Kane is a well rendered creation, and there are a number of cool 80's effects throughout. Unfortunately, though, it all ends in a somewhat underwhelming finale where the family enter some vortex or something. I think it would have been better if they had cut back on the special-effects here and simply re-introduced Reverend Kane, as he was much scarier. But I guess having a big effects-laden ending is one of the in-built rules of the Poltergeist movies sadly.

Overall, there's good stuff in this sequel but it's ultimately squandered on a rubbish ending.