Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

Poltergeist II: The Other Side earns its sequel stripes by giving the haunting a face you won’t forget: Julian Beck’s Reverend Kane, a soft-spoken nightmare who feels less like a special effect and more like a bad idea made flesh. It keeps the Freeling family at the center, letting Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams sell the fear with lived-in warmth, so the supernatural chaos lands as something happening to people you actually care about. The vibe is bigger, stranger, and sometimes surprisingly funny, with showpiece set pieces and practical effects that have that gloriously tactile ’80s heft. It’s not for everyone—there’s a darker edge than the first film and a couple of genuinely unsettling moments—but if you want horror that’s both crowd-pleasing and memorably creepy, this one delivers.

Poltergeist II: The Other Side is clearly trying to expand the original’s suburban-haunting premise into a bigger, mythic battle with cult lore, spiritual guides, and a central villain who’s meant to feel like pure nightmare fuel. The problem is it often trades the first film’s clean escalation and suspense for clunky exposition and a “now this happens” structure, so the scares can feel scattered rather than earned. There are a few standout images and an enjoyably nasty antagonist presence, plus the family dynamic still has warmth, but the movie’s payoff and ending don’t really justify how much setup it demands. If you want a tight, genuinely scary sequel, you’ll likely be frustrated; if you’re here for weird ’80s horror swings and creepy set pieces, you might have a better time.