Steve, Diane, Robbie, and Carol Anne Freeling (Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Oliver Robins, Heather O’Rourke) have been forced to move in with Diane’s mother after their house was destroyed in Poltergeist. The spirits, lead by the evil Reverend Kane (Julian Beck), still want Carol Anne, and it is up to the Freelings and an Indian Shaman (Will Sampson) to stop them.
Quick Review: In reviewing this sequel to one of the best ghost stories filmed, should I consider the addition of an Indian shaman? Or yet another reason for the ghosts to exist? Or the tepid acting, with none of the family chemistry so evident in the original? Or the alteration of the family from average people to psychics? Or the fake dream-scares (couldn’t, oh, I don’t know…say, THE GHOSTS deliver the scares)? Or the cliché of the ghost calling on a child’s toy phone? Or the elimination of the older daughter (well, as the actress was murdered, the filmmakers can’t be blamed for that one). No, I’ll go straight to the ending, as that covers everything (yes, spoilers ahead). After attacks from a mutating giant worm, a flying chainsaw, and an army of ghosts, all the family has to do is jump into a big hole, hold hands and look at each other lovingly, and all is well. Well, Carol Ann still has a problem, but a winged Grandma floating in the puffy clouds of Heaven can take care of that. This saccharine, Hummel figurine finale is the stuff of bad, Christian-TV cartoons. It isn’t something that should be seen in a horror film.
I will give credit to the skeletal Julian Beck as the sinister, ghostly Kane, but as the actor was dying, it’s like watching a snuff film.