BLASPHEMOUSLY BAD MAGIC OF 'POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE'

Julien Beck stalks Heather O'Rourke's family in P2 Year: 1986

Shockingly worse than the more maligned, infamous POLTERGEIST III, but a lot more entertaining than EXORCIST II, this first sequel of the haunted house classic suffers the same futile, completely unnecessary attempt at explaining the origins of the initial ghostly infestation...

Cool P3 poster as P2 rates: *1/2

Vapid Indian spells with extremely bad special effects, killer tequila worms, the son's braces becoming monsters, and contrived dialogue from characters so wonderfully natural the first time around, and in a house that's not even their own: Craig T. Nelson is particularly hammy while JoBeth Williams means little to nothing. Along with a barrage of flashbacks from Steven Spielberg's classic, POLTERGEIST, we're reminded of what should've been untouched, and unburdened...

Trying hard for a Spielberg Close Encounters look

As the real burden's on Heather O'Rourke's Carol Anne: the pivotal victim before now holds silly magical powers to the OTHER SIDE run by nefarious Julien Beck as "Reverend Kane", a creepy old man providing the only real chills...

Before and after him, it's all flash and zero substance. Although our tall, wise Indian, Will Sampson from ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (who literally inhales a celestial slipstream), is noted by the family patriarch as having (probably) escaped from an insane asylum. Well old Will should've stayed put — this crap is embarrassing. Even ORCA's a step up.