| | | | Poltergeist II: The Other Side
(1986) |
hey're Back ...And still after cute little Carol Anne Freeling.
Poltergeist II was released May 23, 1986 receiving mixed reviews from the critics and great box-office success taking in $40,000,000 in it's opening weekend in the US. The sequel was written & Produced by Mark Victor & Michael Grais who co-wrote the original with Steven Spielberg and follows the doomed Freeling family Four years after the original classic left off...
The Freeling family are now living with Diane's mother following the aftermath of Carol Anne's abduction by the Beast years previously. But the Beast has finally found her and is not about to be put off so easily and appears in a ghostly apparition as the Reverend Kane (Julian Beck), a religeous zealot responsible for the deaths of his many followers.
His goal is simple... he wants the angelic Carol Anne, but with the love of her family, the return of psychic Tangina along with an elderly native American known as Taylor, They are prepared to fight for her life before Kane finally possesses her spirit and takes her to the other side.
I have always regarded this Movie as a decent follow up with its flaws (which it is) and can still not understand how this movie made its way from a running time close to "131 minutes" down to a mere "87".
I think it's down to MGM rushing the movie's production and ordering savage cuts. Some of this movie's editing is really poor and it's a shame because the movie is actually pretty good and only really falls apart at the end when you can see how bad a hack job this movie really received regarding the ending battle with Kane which lasts about "2 minutes".
Maybe the franchise should have been sold to UNIVERSAL (The company Steven Spielberg first approached about the original). They may have given this movie the justice it deserved. As for the third movie "I really don't care" nothing could have saved the third movie from being bad". Regardless of the problem's in Poltergeist II, I still loved the characters in the movie, especially Carol Anne & Kane, the plot was an interesting way for the story to go, and the special effects held up.
Wrapping everything up this movie is a decent sequel and had the advantage of retaining most of the original cast from the first movie (minus Dominique Dunne sadly, Beatrice Straight who was ill and not willing to shoot at the time and Richard Lawson who's schedule did not work with MGM's, he was already filming a 'poor' TV movie called "Under the Influence" when he was approached for this movie) also there were some really good classic moments in this sequel, one being... "The Vomit Creature!"
...check your Tequila for strange worms swimming around in it next time!
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Decent follow up to "Poltergeist" which provides an interesting back-story to the first movie and marks a welcomed return for the 'Freeling' family.
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The chainsaw scene near the end of the movie was a nod to Tobe Hooper who directed the original Poltergeist and also directed the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  -Thanks to Geoffrey Robe
After Will Sampson's (Taylor in Poltergeist 2) death, Craig T. Nelson went to visit the gravesite on a reservation where he was buried. The sounds of the cicadas were overwhelming as Nelson remembers. As soon as he said the words, "Will, it's Craig.", the entire field went silent. -Thanks to Kristin Troxel
The haunting Julian Beck (who plays Kane) co-founded the famous "Living Theatre" with his wife Judith Malina in New York in 1946. Best known for its modern "avant-garde" drama which included involving the audience in improvisational interactive situations, as well as for its political activism in the 50's and 60's. Beck's Living Theater influenced many modern artists, including Jim Morrison who was well known for using its confrontational approach to the audience in his concerts.
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A couple of actual skulls were used as props in the cave scenes at the end of the movie. They were having a lot of difficulty in filming the last scenes of the movie until this was found out and the man that played the Indian Shayman in the movie, actually performed an exorcism on the set and there were no problems after. -Thanks to Jason
H. R. Giger, the famous Swiss Surrealist artist, perhaps best known in the U.S. for his designs for the film "Alien," was hired to do the creature designs for the film (the tequilla worm-demon Kane and the limbo-world demon Kane). Some books on his art report that Giger was "very unhappy" with how his designs were translated to film in Poltergeist II. -Thanks to Philip Berry
In the scene when Robbie's braces are attacking him, Steve's hand is grabbed by the braces, so when Diane is holding Steven, his shirt is all ripped off; when he yells "the plug", his shirt is normal. -Thanks to Jorge Suarez
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|  |  |  | | Poltergeist II: The Other Side
Locations |
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Chinle, Arizona was used including the Canyon de Chelly National Monument. Red Rock Canyon State Park, Cantil, California was also used. [Thanks to Gregory Anderson]
Chatsworth, California. They had used one block in a neighborhood off Canoga Ave., north of Chatsworth St. They also put up a facade of the front of the house the family lived in at the end of that block. [Thanks to joanna]
Can you help? Do you know any of the Chinle, Arizona filming locations used for Poltergeist II: The Other Side? [Please send them in]
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With the score for Poltergeist II Jerry Goldsmith approached the music from a totally different point of view than the first Poltergeist score. The original was fully orchestral with “otherworldly” choral passages at key moments and fiercely aggressive action music was a highlight. This sequel score is far richer and smoother in terms of orchestration. The chorus is more Omen-like in design with large quotes of “God Is In His Holy Temple” describing the forces of evil at work. But far more noticeable in this score is Goldsmith’s use of electronics that lend the score a mystical and mysterious feel greatly adding to the more magical elements of the story.
‘Carol Anne’s Theme’ is again the main theme for the film. This time, however, a rousing and powerful Indian motif for French horns opens the score and is just as predominant. The aggressor is a wonderfully haunting theme for Kane.
This is the third release of this score. In 1986 Varèse and Intrada released a five track thirty minute album at the time of the film’s release (Intrada had secured the USA distribution rights so Varèse released the album in the rest of the world). Many fans were disappointed with this release, which did not include any of the choral work. Intrada rectified this and released a fifty-four minute limited edition album in the early 1990s. Now Varèse have added one more cue, ‘The Visitor’, to make the album a near-complete representation of the score. I am sure if you only own the original release that you will want to get your hands on this excellent deluxe edition. If you own the Intrada special release you may not want to splash out for one extra cue. The improved sound and the deluxe packing, as always from Varèse Sarabande, are top notch.
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