POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE falls apart like a
subpar paper towel on several occasions and yet it somehow sports a
scene so acutely chilling that it leaves most other cinematic depictions
of evil looking hopelessly impotent. That it achieves that transcendent
point without the aid of special effects (save a rain machine)
compounds the impressiveness of what’s been captured. If you’ve seen the
movie you know the bit I’m referring to. In it,
JULIAN BECK
as the reverend Henry Kane attempts to gain entrance into the home
where the ill-fated Freeling family has taken up temporary residence.
The day is bright and gorgeous and watching cadaverous Kane making his
way to the front door is like witnessing a skull-faced wrecking ball
rolling through a flowerbed leaving a trail of smoldering ash behind it.
At the time of filming
BECK was reportedly gravely
ill and I can’t help wondering if his proximity to death allowed him to
relay his grim tidings in a frighteningly unmodified manor. We peg Kane
at once as a manipulative liar but wince at the base truth he dispels
when he very nearly looks directly into the camera and bellows, “You’re
all going to die in there!” The scene, taken alone, remains as
ghoulishly powerful as it ever was and I know I’m not exaggerating its
impact because we’ve received a slew of Traumafessions certifying its
indelibility.
Running not so close behind is a lesser showstopper involving lovable
(mostly due to cues provided by the impossible to argue with
JOBETH WILLIAMS) dad Steve Freeling (
CRAIG T. NELSON)
getting trashed on tequila, gulping a possessed worm, and transforming
into the antithesis of the good natured man we’ve come to know.
NELSON mimics
BECK’s
mannerisms with wild gusto and even purses his lips to mime his facial
structure and the result hits my favorite note of being both
legitimately disturbing and borderline embarrassing. Love still holds
some power in the
POLTERGEIST universe so when Diane
states her unconditional devotion to her hubby, he has no recourse but
to puke up the demon, which then squirms and flaps about on the floor
like a giant maggot. The slimy bastard even has the cheekiness to
grimace like a Kane-o-lantern before hobbling out of the room! I am
giving this scene less laudation because some of its success hinges on
somewhat dated special effects but like the one previously mentioned, it
hits a bona fide nerve. Vomit creature (as it’s listed in the credits)
aside, Steve’s loathsome, post-possession behavior replicates that of an
abusive alcoholic in a squirmy, uncomfortable way (not much of a leap
considering the instigator he ingests is found at the bottom of the
bottle.)
So with not one but two highly memorable, if not classic, scenes like these what could possibly be wrong with
POLTERGEIST 2? Well, a lot. Director
BRIAN GIBSON is fine when dealing with consummate professionals like
BECK,
NELSON and
WILLIAMS,
but every other cast member is left looking humiliatingly amateurish
and hung out to dry. Matters are made worse by a title that sparks the
imagination with a promise of revealing the afterlife when all we are
delivered are poor blue screen flying effects, a badly realized
miniature representing “the beast” and a too corny for even this
cornball glowing grandma angel who saves the day to a furiously trying
to pick up the slack
JERRY GOLDSMITH score. In fairness,
P2: TOS
experienced more than its share of behind-the-scenes setbacks including
the already mentioned death of its ace in the hole baddie
BECK
but that hardly explains all of the lack of creativity shown depicting
the titular “Other side.” In addition, it’s a little difficult to buy
the “We must do this as a family” schmaltz when the Freeling’s eldest
child has disappeared and it’s deemed not worth mentioning why. The fact
that
DOMINIQUE DUNNE who played daughter Dana, was
murdered shortly after the first film makes the mass denial all the more
crass…or maybe it’s just sad.
Oh hell, you know what I have to do? I’m going to do it. I’m stamping
this movie with my slightly unflattering but ultimately affirming GOOD
ENOUGH FOR ME stamp! There. Bang. I just did it. Parts of it are crap
and it reeks of negative energy but when it shines it shines and maybe
there are better sequels out there but do they boast such monumental
take away moments? Not much can alter the fact that
THE OTHER SIDE is the least fun film of the trilogy (
PART 3
is hilarious) but that’s the price you pay for raking up unpleasantries
like spousal rape, alcoholism, child abuse, religious fraud and suicide
cults (not to mention granny death) in a would-be summer blockbuster.
Hey, at least it’s ambitious. People can go ahead and claim this is a
retread of the first but its actually following its own dark guide. If
the first film secretly worried about the teacher student relationship
children have with their television this one boldly wonders if Sunday
school was ever any better. I love the first movie, it can’t be beat,
but one thing it doesn’t have is
JULIAN BECK as Kane.
If his character was all that this movie offered that would still be
good enough for me. Yep, heaven is a let down but should anyone be
surprised? Here’s hoping
BECK is somewhere enjoying something grander than a blue screen cloud.
Wait a minute! I thought I was done with the above post but I have to
add one more thing. If I had any pride in my work I’d incorporate this
thought to the above text but I’m taking the easy way out and shoving
this tacked on addendum here instead like a lazy bastard. While
gathering the images for this pile of words I came across another scene
that I’m strangely drawn to. It’s right after the grandma dies and Diane
goes out to the garden, she sees a rose bush and she recalls planting
it with her mother in a gauzy flashback (Me = sucker for gauzy
flashbacks). A wind picks up and as petals fly by, Diane senses her
mother still very much with her and how sweet. Then suddenly it’s night
and a weird cloud is over the house. Diane gets up from bed to visit the
area where she felt her mother’s spirit. I think she even hears her
voice. Then all of the sudden rotting dead people jump out of the ground
and drag her under the earth screaming (Don’t worry it’s just a dream).
I don’t know, something about contrasting the earlier consoling scene
with it’s pessimistic opposite so quickly afterward gets to me. One
moment it’s suggested that the cycle of life is completed with one
becoming part of nature and the next we’re being told it ends with one
succumbing to an inescapable army of rot. See, this movie is so
unapologetically morbid that I
must forgive its slipshod moments. I have no choice.
15 responses so far ↓
That’s one of the great things about this site, it makes me look at things with a different lens.
P2 was listed in my IAHTKY as one of my 3 most underrated. I don’t love it as much as the original, and although I can admit that nostalgia plays a small part in my love and enjoyment, I can defend it against anything. And I don’t joke or lie, I loved the other side, though I admit it did end abrubtly.
You are also right on about Jerry Goldsmith’s score, which I love. This is my favourite score he ever did.
I was surprised you didn’t bring up the introduction to Kane at the mall. When Carol Anne turns to see his spectre in the distance, I think we understand the sinking look on her face, that there is just something very wrong here. It also works with an awareness of our shared fears of child abduction, which really frightened me as a child, not to mention the disturbing way he sings that song to her.
lottie_of_millhaven’s last sentence is correct. One of the reasons I love Kindertrauma.
That said, the moment with Kane approaching the house and trying to get in is something I always refer folks too when they insist that horror films without FX aren’t as scary.
I had a similar experience with the series, something always felt a bit off with part 2 as if giant chunks of it were missing. Still, there’s some great stuff in there too and Kane really does work when he’s given the chance.
Speaking of missing pieces: I enjoy the scene with the car getting attacked in the garage but then it drives me crazy that the car drives away with damage (paint all over it, a multitude of holes) and they never show any of that happening in the scene. I guess it ended up on the cutting room floor but it makes for an awkward edit.
I know they must have meant for something more dramatic at the end. I may have to track down the novelization and see if I can figure it out!
Matt,
Oh, that scene in the mall is good especially if you ever got lost as a kid in the store! I wish they didn’t show the people walking through Kane in it though. I think it would be better without that but I’m kinda weird about ghost rules in movies! I guess Kane can only be seen by the Freelings?
Jerry Goldsmith rules! He really tried to make that ending work! My favorite of his is either Psycho 2 or Gremlins I think! Oh wait, ALIEN!!!! ALIEN is out of control perfect!!!!
Knob,
Wow! You didn’t like the first one at all? I didn’t know that was possible! I’m glad you can still appreciate that Kane scene anyway. I think you could show just that scene out of context as a short film and it would absolutely work and still be just as scary. I even like the texture that the screen door puts over his face. It almost looks like canvas.
btw knob you should do a IAHTKY! I want to hear your picks!
Probably…
It’s not that I don’t like the first one at all, that I could just ignore… instead it frustratingly walks up to the edge of scary and then pulls its punches… over and over.
It’s the first movie I remember looking forward to seeing and then feeling like someone pulled a fast one on me.
It’s well made, well acted… but so many of the gags look like leftovers from Indiana Jones and Close Encounters… it’s just too damn much FX… the same cock-up Spielberg handed out with his remake of ‘The Haunting’ (I continue to curse him for that one). With less it could have been so much more.
In addition to all of Kane’s “present day” scenes, I also find the scenes with Diane’s “psychic-vision” cult flashbacks wonderfully traumatic (Tangina screaming “TELL ME WHAT YOU SAW!” while Diane recounted the horrors of the cult kept me up a little the night after I saw it for the first time).
Have you ever noticed that the song that plays during Diane’s first flashback (cross-cut with “Let me in!”) sounds an awful lot like the Kellerman’s song from the end of DIRTY DANCING?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5mereCM83Y
Yeah, um, neither did I.
POLTERGEIST II is very tonally different from POLTERGEIST, and I think I actually appreciate its extra sappy sentimentality (juxtaposed, as you mention, with so much real life nastiness). I am probably also the ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD who actually is moved by the “Goodbye Grandma!” ending, and also the scene where Geraldine Fitzgerald emerges through the body of the unhappy diner patron. Makes me miss my own grandmother. I primarily think of both POLTERGEIST movies as tearjerkers.
Finally, I will embarrass myself further by noting that, for some remarkable reason, the “Other Side” finale (which intellectually I know is really subpar) has always oddly satisfied me. That’s what I imagined that The Other Side looked like when I saw the first film! Possibly because a) I saw the second film first, and b) I was 6.
You’re right those flashbacks are pretty darn good and I like the weird angles used and Jobeth Williams crying will always move me! I guess it’s safe to say that every morsel we get of Kane is worthwhile.
and OK, I may get the smallest tiniest tear in my eye at magic grandma ghost but only when nobody else around.
Ha- I never noticed that Dirty Dancing song was so creepy before!
Alas, I will always be disappointed by the “other side” and all the floating around. It reminds me too much of the inside of the top hat in Lidsville….
Check out these 2 pages…..
http://lcart3.narod.ru/image/fantasy/giger/po/1.htm
http://lcart3.narod.ru/image/fantasy/giger/po/2.htm
Lance & eyesofben – you’re not alone, I also have to admit there are scenes and Poltergeist 1 and 2 that are very emotional for me. And eyesofben, you aren’t the only one…I agree with what you said. I do love The Other Side and feel some strange mix of sadness and joy, as well as in P2, the conversation between Carol Anne and Grandma Jess in the kitchen. Especially when Carol Anne tells her she doesn’t want to grow up, and even more so now that I am older and the actress playing her, Heather O’Rourke died as a child.
Lance, do you own any albums of Goldsmith scores? I love P1 and 2, and agree Gremlins, Alien and Psycho II are fantastic…even on their own. The opening credits of Psycho II have always struck a nerve with me and I never told you at the time because I wasn’t a member, but your Psycho II tribute from a few years back absolutely killed me. I could have said literally every single word.
It’s too bad that a decent collector’s edition of Poltergeist II has not yet come to be. I would love to hear more about what was originally intended and what was lost. (I have to read that tie-n book!) I’m sure you have already been to this place, but I highly recommend this exceptional fan site for anyone interested in the movie….
http://www.poltergeistii.poltergeistiii.com/
BTW, I do love that site very much…thank you.
thanks for showing appreciation for this much maligned sequel. though heavily cut, i love P2 almost as much as P1, balancing the happy family cheesiness with healthy humour and horror.
another great kindertrauma was Robbie’s Evil Braces scene
P3 is hilariously terrible. half the script was ‘Carol Anne’ repeated 113 times