The Freeling family have a new house, but their troubles with supernatural forces don’t seem to be over.
4 years after the huge success of “Poltergeist” we got a much wanted sequel.
A-lot of fans didn’t have high expectations, not a-lot of people do when a sequel is released to a highly rated film, but personally I’m glad to see the studio took their time and tried to deliver a worthy feature to the original. Now the film does split opinion amongst fans but the one thing you can’t deny is that the creep factor is very high.
Talking of the creep factor, the stand out character of the film is ‘Kane’, the guy who played him, Julian Beck , did an absolutely amazing job and frightened me for many years later. Even now when I re-watch the film he still manages to creep me out and makes me feel so uncomfortable.
Unfortunately Beck died of stomach cancer during filming, so the latter scenes with the “vomit monster” had to be added to replace his remaining scenes (the reason it resembles Beck). His telling the Freelings they’re going to die has been interpreted as Beck anticipating his oncoming death. Many of Beck’s lines were looped in post-production by noted voice actor Corey Burton.
I’ve always really enjoyed this sequel, despite what people say about it I fully enjoyed it’s darker tone and felt it was a great step forward from it’s predecessor. It definitely kept to the blueprint as-well and still managed to keep the scares going.
“Poltergeist II – The Other Side” is definitely a worthy sequel in my eyes and most definitely worth your time.
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
Unbeknownst to most of the cast and crew several of the cadavers were real skeletons. Upon learning of this, the crew demanded an exorcism be held on the set to ease the rising tensions, which happened soon after. The exorcism was performed by Will Sampson, who was a real-life shaman for “several different groups” before his death in 1987. Studio security was instructed to leave the set unlocked and unguarded so Sampson could return in the middle of the night to perform the exorcism.
A poster of the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) can be seen in Carol Anne’s bedroom. Drew Barrymore had auditioned for the role of Carol Anne in Poltergeist (1982) before landing the role of Gertie in “E.T.”
Apart from Heather O’Rourke, Zelda Rubinstein was the only cast member to appear in all three films of the Poltergeist trilogy.
‘Craig T Nelson’ didn’t enjoy filming the “vomit monster” scene because it had to be re-shot so many times.
The film had an original running time of 131 minutes before being edited down to 86 minutes. Some have surmised that MGM rushed production and ordered the cuts, e.g the final battle with Kane lasts all of two minutes.
Craig T. Nelson comments on 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.
The only family member absent from the film is Dana, who according to the script is off at university, but a scene explaining away her absence was never filmed. Dominique Dunne was murdered by her boyfriend shortly after Poltergeist (1982) premiered.
The International Extended Play laserdisc features a new scene from the original cut; after Tangina comes to the house and Diane has just had a vision, Kane makes a second attempt at getting into the house. The scene plays out at five minutes, but edited down to a mere eight seconds in the film (Kane is just seen walking past the house but doesn’t go near it ). In the scene, Kane tries to torment Tangina and Diane tells him to leave them alone. Kane says he remembers Diane as the one who took Carol-Anne away from him. He says “You won’t win this time. I’m always watching and I will take Carol-Anne from you and there is nothing you can do about it!” Tangina retorts by saying Taylor knows how to stop him, because he’s more powerful, and he will find a way to banish Kane and his followers forever, in which Kane looks rather worried. All Kane has to say to that is “I will find a way into this house and when I do…I will kill you all!” And with that, he walks off into the distance.
Like the first film, there are no murders depicted, and no violent fatalities.
H.R. Giger provided the special effects designs. Giger created several designs but only two made it into the film, albeit briefly. Some books on his art report that Giger was “very unhappy” with how his designs were translated to the film.
MGM released Poltergeist II on DVD for the very first time on August 26th, 2003, in a double-feature collection along with Poltergeist III (1988). To date, there has been no standalone DVD release of the film in Region 1. On September 13th, 2011 MGM released the film on Blu-ray. MGM has also released the film on DVD in Regions 2 and 4. It was released in the UK on October 23rd, 2000 and in Australia on September 1st, 2006. A double feature pack containing the Poltergeist sequels were released in Region 4 on November 8th, 2010.
There is no spoken English until five minutes into the film, when Taylor talks to Tangina outside the remains of the Freeling house in Cuesta Verde.
Jerry Goldsmith scored the film differently than on the first film; the original was fully orchestral with choral passages at key moments and fiercely aggressive action music. This score is richer and smoother, and similar to Goldsmith’s work on The Omen (1976), with the quote “God is in His Holy Temple” describing the forces of evil at work. He makes more use of electronics that lend a mystical, mysterious feel that add more to the story’s magical elements. “Carol Anne’s Theme” is again a major theme for the movie, but with a rousing and powerful Indian motif for French horns opening it up; the theme that accompanies Kane’s character is more haunting.
The film was at one point to have been filmed in 3D; several scenes such as the appearance of the Beast and the flying chainsaw were filmed to take advantage of the process.
Despite prominent billing, Geraldine Fitzgerald is only in the film for five minutes.
“God is in His Holy Temple” is played on the soundtrack or spoken aloud nine times.
We get to see “the Light” for the first time when Carol-Anne goes into it and Gramma Jess emerges from it.
Beatrice Straight was asked to reprise the role of Dr Lesh from the first film, but she was ill and not willing to work at the time. Richard Lawson was also asked to reprise the role of Ryan, but his schedule clashed with MGM, because he was busy filming Under the Influence (1986).
Reverend Henry Kane was a rare major role for Julian Beck.
Several scenes that appeared in press stills and promotional posters were cut from the film, e.g. one in which Kane tries to get into the house a second time and confronts Tangina (this omission angered Rubinstein as she felt that was one of her best scenes); one in which Steve and Diane see a flying toaster during a breakfast scene, etc.
Because Jerry Goldsmith returned to compose the sequel, ‘Carol-Anne’s Theme’ returns from the first film’s soundtrack, but the score for Poltergeist II consisted of mostly new material blending traditional orchestral elements with new electronic sounds. The soundtrack has been released three times; through Varese Sarabande in 1986, Intrada Records in 1993 and a deluxe edition by Sarabande in 2003.
The worm at the bottom of Steve’s tequila bottle is a Mezcal worm.
Director Brian Gibson’s first and only horror film, and his first and only sequel; he wouldn’t direct another feature film for seven years. He was also the only director of the Poltergeist trilogy who was British.
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