The Sequel Nobody Asked For
The first Poltergeist was a haunted-house rollercoaster—Spielberg behind the curtain, Tobe Hooper waving his hands, and JoBeth Williams diving into a swimming pool full of skeletons that were uncomfortably real. The sequel? Well, imagine the same rollercoaster, except the track ends halfway through and they just push the car down a hill while yelling “Boo!”
That’s Poltergeist II. It’s less “Other Side” and more “Other Hour-and-a-Half I’ll Never Get Back.”
The Freelings, Relocated and Still Screwed
The poor Freeling family, after surviving a TV that tried to babysit their daughter with demons, now moves to Phoenix, Arizona—a fate worse than death by poltergeist. They live with Grandma Jess, who conveniently drops some exposition about psychic powers before dying of natural causes, the film’s first true mercy killing.
Of course, little Carol Anne is still the world’s smallest ghost magnet, which makes sense because nothing says “horror” like a pigtailed child who talks to thin air and stares at phones like they’re portals to hell.
Reverend Kane: Spooky Preacher or Malnourished Tourist?
Julian Beck as Reverend Kane is both the film’s best and most confusing element. He looks like Skeletor auditioning for The Music Man. He shows up at the door in broad daylight, politely asks to be let in, and then proceeds to haunt the family anyway. This is horror at its most terrifying: stranger danger with the manners of a door-to-door salesman.
His backstory—an apocalyptic cult leader who locked his followers in a cave—is pretty chilling. Unfortunately, the script treats it like a paragraph they copy-pasted from a Wikipedia stub.
The Mezcal Worm Incident (Yes, Really)
Just when you think the movie couldn’t get more absurd, Craig T. Nelson’s Steve Freeling accidentally swallows a possessed Mezcal worm. This worm allows Kane to possess him, leading to a scene where Steve tries to assault his wife while under worm-control. Then he vomits up the worm, which grows into a giant tentacle monster that looks like it escaped from a seafood restaurant dumpster.
This is the film’s big horror set piece, and it plays less like terror and more like “Don’t Drink the Water in Mexico: The Movie.”
H. R. Giger, You Tried
They brought in H. R. Giger to design the creatures, hoping the man who birthed Alien could add some nightmare fuel. Instead, his surreal designs are drowned in low-budget effects and bad lighting. It’s like buying a Ferrari and using it as a lawn ornament.
The result? Instead of cosmic horror, we get what looks like rejected puppets from a Ghostbusters II audition.
Taylor the Shaman, Magical Plot Device
Enter Taylor, a Native American shaman whose job is to tell the family “be brave” and hand Craig T. Nelson a smoke spirit that functions like holy Febreze. It’s the kind of representation that makes you wish the ghosts would unionize and demand a better script.
The Climax That Climaxes Nowhere
Eventually, the Freelings decide to confront Kane on “The Other Side,” which looks like a set left over from Tron after a yard sale. Kane transforms into his monster form, everyone yells, and Grandma Jess’s ghost shows up to guide Carol Anne home, proving once again that dead grandmothers are more reliable than living fathers who swallow worms.
The Ending Joke (Literally)
In the final scene, Craig T. Nelson gives away the family car to Taylor as thanks. Then the Freelings realize they have no ride home and literally run after him, shouting. It’s supposed to be charming. Instead, it feels like the writers gave up and ended the movie on a dad joke.
Final Verdict
Poltergeist II: The Other Side is the cinematic equivalent of reheated leftovers—technically still food, but you question your life choices afterward. It wastes the returning cast, squanders Giger’s designs, and reduces true horror to a possessed tequila worm.
