In today’s franchise-obsessed box office era, it’s hard to imagine that a blockbuster horror movie would have to wait four years to get a sequel. Audiences of this millennium are groomed to seeing Paranormal Activities, Saws, and Final Destinations hit theaters practically every year. Hollywood has geared our minds to think that a four-year dormancy is long enough for a movie series to be given an entire reboot, let alone a sequel.
Nevertheless, when Poltergeist II: The Other Side finally hit theaters in May 1986, it opened to one of the highest grossing weekends of the year, but was met with largely mixed to negative reviews.Poor word-of-mouth left the movie scaring up a disappointing domestic gross of around $40 million.While this total isn’t at all bad for a movie released in the mid-‘80s—especially at a time when sequels rarely succeeded over their predecessors in terms of box office dollars, its attendance hovered around only half of the first installment.What went wrong?
To be fair, the second version of the Freeling family being chased around by a swarm of invisible pests never stood much of a chance to succeed beyond what it did.The first Poltergeist became the instant haunted house horror movie staple and has been cited as one of Time Magazine’s 1000 greatest movies ever made.It couldn’t be duplicated.And that’s because it worked on every level (and featured the dream collaboration of Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg).Coming off the success of an instant classic, hopes for Poltergeist II were demandingly high and disappointment was inevitable, particularly since neither Spielberg nor Hooper were involved in the making of this one.
The story picks up a year after the events in the first film.The Freelings now reside with the maternal grandmother. Father, Stephen, attempts to earn a living as a door-to-door vacuum salesman and, mother, Diane remains as the pretty Regan-era homemaker.The children, Robbie and Carol Anne, seem to have adjusted to their new life in Arizona (the eldest daughter, Dana, fails to be mentioned in this film, due to the murder of actress Dominique Dunn in 1982).All is seemingly well until late one evening, Carol Ann ominously announces the famous tag line, “They’re baaaaaack,” and we know the family is in for another struggle to remain true to each other as the dark forces try to tear them apart.
Despite the new and oftentimes obscure angles introduced to the series, featuring Native American folklore and nineteenth century cults, the movie is simply left underrated for all but two words: Henry Kane.Reverend Henry Kane is possibly one of the most horrifying and overlooked villains in cinema history. Kane’s character acted as a cultist leader and religious zealot from the 1800s, who convinced his followers to conceal themselves underground while the apocalypse took place above.Now, his ghostly quest is fixed on capturing Carol Ann and to take her to “the other side.”
Played to perfection by Julian Beck—with his sunken-in, foreboding eyes; yellowed decaying teeth revealing a wide deathly grimace; donned in a black, early 1800s preacher outfit, hat and all—the spirit of Henry Kane alone makes the movie worth seeing.Still photos of this character are enough to give someone the willies, and the scene featuring the aged reverend singing gravelly along to the hymnal “God is in His Holy Temple” as he approaches the innocent Carol Anne playing thoughtlessly in the front yard leaves for one of the most chilling moments in horror movies.
While many Poltergeist enthusiasts have assumed Kane to be “the beast” from the first film, it’s better to let this movie stand on its own, referencing the first as little as possible.Comparing it to the first film is unfair, and having it serve as a companion piece leaves too many plot holes.The first film wasn’t conceived or filmed with a sequel in mind.
Agree or disagree that the folklore added to Poltergeist II borders on silly, at least the writers, rather than rehash elements that made the first film a memorable thrill ride, attempted to add different foundations to what would otherwise be a typical, generic ghostly account.While they didn’t recreated the magic of the first film, they did manage to produce a movie that, as its own story, is worth checking out, and just happened to create one of the most frighteningly creepy characters to ever appear on the silver screen.
