…Poltergeist II sticks closely to the first film’s structure, doing most of the same spooky things but not as well….

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 8, 2023

Pretty lousy.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Mar 21, 2023

The annoying thing is that the movie doesn't make sense. Poltergeist II doesn't stick to its own supernatural rules and leaves lots of loose ends waving in the breeze.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 3, 2021

The original Steven Spielberg-Tobe Hooper Poltergeist was an effective shocker. Gibson's sequel is a maudlin, religiose affair.

| Nov 3, 2021

It's a tacky tale of terror. It creates no plausible atmosphere, but springs its shocks indiscriminately.

| Nov 3, 2021

Not much of the first film's tincture of humor is revived, but most of the tiresome mumbo-jumbo routines get another going-over.

| Nov 3, 2021

Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke and Oliver Robins are involved again, but this is movie-making by numbers, orchestrated with thunderous but ultimately deadening technical resource.

| Nov 3, 2021

There are movies that make you want to mince words, and then there's Poltergeist II: The Other Side, a movie so ineffably bad, you can't even find the words to mince.

| Nov 3, 2021

Poltergeist II's effects immediately build the movie to a frightening plane. Then palpable emotion propels the story through un: fathomable, often ridiculous, yet wholly enjoyable events.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 3, 2021

The sequel is, ho-hum, more of the same, with lots more special effects. And when the writers were stuck for an idea, they just dug through their movie-molded memories.

| Nov 3, 2021

A spooky, gross, pointless movie that is all tease and no payoff.

| Original Score: 0/4 | Nov 3, 2021

Director Brian Gibson has done nothing to justify a sequel to Tobe Hooper's honor classic. He gives us an experience or two that might have fit into the previous film, but killer braces are not enough to fill an entire sequel.

| Nov 3, 2021

The cast should be given credit for playing gamely along with Poltergeist II. Nelson and Williams in particular seem to do their best to have some fun with these roles. Unfortunately, they have too much working against them

| Nov 3, 2021

A movie lodged somewhere between life and death, between rip-off and invention, between exploitation and mordant wit.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Nov 3, 2021

Poltergeist II is very much like its scary original. Except for the lack of ingenuity and clarity. Plus, the acting never draws us in. But the special effects are great.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 3, 2021

Poltergeist II yields nothing to its predecessor in razzle-dazzle -- courtesy of Richard Edlund's effects -- but it lacks the modest wit and flipness of the original.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 3, 2021

The special effects for Kane and his followers are a chilling combination of ghostly wisps and liquefying flesh. But the director, Brian Gibson, relies too much on the crude shock value of these effects and too little on suggestion.

| Nov 2, 2021

A lot of people who ordinarily avoid horror pictures will rush to check it out. But what they will see for their trouble is barely distinguishable from a dumb drive-in cheapie.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Nov 2, 2021

The plain truth is that director Brian Gibson fails to deliver the goods. His movie just doesn't stand a ghost of a chance without Spielberg's technical wizardry and professional polish.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Nov 2, 2021

The original, in brief, was more original, but then horror fans have never been what you'd call an overly demanding lot.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 2, 2021