Three women, Diane Freeling (JoBeth Williams), Dr. Lesh (Beatrice Straight), and Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein), combine forces to rescue the family’s youngest daughter Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke), who is trapped in a realm between the living and the dead. But the film’s title is slightly misleading. While poltergeist activity does terrorize the Freeling family, they are also haunted by a malevolent force known as the Beast, whose power stems from a foundation of greed and insidious corruption.  

Steve (Craig T. Nelson) and Diane Freeling are living the American Dream. They have a beautiful house in a burgeoning new suburb that they share with their three happy children, Dana (Dominique Dunne), Robbie (Oliver Robins), and Carol Anne. Steve is a successful real estate salesman responsible for filling half the homes in the neighborhood and they’re celebrating his accomplishments by installing a pool in the backyard. After a series of storms, the Freeling’s home is invaded by mischievous spirits who pull Carol Anne into an alternate dimension via a portal in her bedroom closet. Though still alive, she can only communicate through open channels on a TV. Steve enlists the help of Dr. Lesh, who brings in her team to study the paranormal phenomena. With scientific tools and recording technology, they discover a multitude of spirits stuck within the house. Dr. Lesh in turn seeks help from a powerful medium named Tangina, who guides them in freeing Carol Anne from the demonic figure lurking within the house.  

Diane and Carol Anne Freeling are the first to embrace the supernatural phenomenon. In the film’s opening moments, Carol Ann sleepwalks downstairs and begins to talk to unseen spirits they will come to call the TV People through the static of an open channel. Diane first encounters the spirits through her dining room chairs. Mysteriously pulled out from the table, she turns her back for a moment only to find them artfully stacked on top of the table when she returns. Later that evening, Diane is thrilled to tell Steve about the paranormal patterns she’s found. She practically drags him from the driveway to a path she’s marked on the kitchen floor through which the spirits pull objects. She and Carol Anne have even experimented with traveling the pathway. Diane seems to thrive as the disturbances progress, practically glowing in contact with the spiritual energy. Even when desperate to find her missing daughter, she accepts the metaphysical realm with a wonder and fascination lost on her skeptical husband.  

Steve is terrified of what is happening in his house. He sits on the floor in shocked silence as Diane explains being pulled by unseen hands and quickly grabs his daughter as she is projected across the tiles. Seeking to control the unexplainable, he forbids anyone from entering the room until he knows what’s going on. Seconds later, the tree outside Robbie’s window bursts in and drags the child out, the spirits seeming to mock his attempts to control their activity. As the story unfolds, Steve’s appearance deteriorates. His eyes bear dark rings, his smoking increases, and he resorts to telling his boss he has the flu, a lie his disheveled appearance fully supports. Struggling to maintain control, he is resistant to the paranormal activity and hesitant to accept Tangina’s advice. He emotionally withdraws from his family and seems to wear down further with each passing event. 

Feeling helpless, Steve reaches out to Dr. Lesh, a psychologist who investigates paranormal phenomena as a hobby. She calls herself irresponsible for this devotion, but she is the bridge between the spiritual and the scientific. The bond she forms with Diane Freeling is essential to saving Carol Anne. Technicians Ryan (Richard Lawson) and Marty (Martin Casella) make up her team. It’s an inspiring system of female leadership that will be repeated throughout horror, most notably by Lin Shaye in the Insidious franchise. After observing the shocking level of poltergeist activity in the Freeling house, Dr. Lesh explains the difference between this type of disturbance and a traditional haunting. Poltergeist activity is usually associated with a living person, in this case Carol Anne, while a haunting revolves around a specific place. As the story unfolds, both types of disturbances will blend together and endanger the entire Freeling family. 

Once Dr. Lesh realizes the unprecedented extent of the paranormal activity, and after Marty receives a nasty bite while trying to enter the closet, she brings in outside help. Tangina is a powerful medium and clairvoyant, able to sense activity in the alternate dimension and pinpoint where Carol Anne is within the house. She explains that the spirits are confused by the child’s powerful life force. Born in the house, Carol Anne exudes a light similar to that through which they need to pass to reach the next dimension. They are attracted to her, but also frustrated and angry in their confusion. Though they cause pain and destruction, they are simply the unhappy spirits of people trying to make sense of their new state of existence. Tangina also identifies the existence of another being, the Beast, a malevolent force feeding on this chaos and holding Carol Anne prisoner. It is the haunting attached to the house, taking advantage of the poltergeist activity the child attracts. 

Tangina’s plan involves going into the closet portal to find Carol Anne then exiting with the child through a separate portal in the living room ceiling. Diane ties a rope around her waist and enters the portal with Steve holding the other end and swearing never to let go. Midway through this search and rescue mission, Tangina begins calling to the spirits that haunt the house, guiding them into the light. Her plan is to “clean” the house by helping them pass into the afterlife while Diane finds Carol Anne and brings her back out. But Steve panics and begins to pull on the rope, prompting the Beast to retaliate. A giant skull roars through the closet doorway causing Steve to drop the rope in terror. Luckily Dr. Lesh and Ryan are holding the other end in the living room. They pull Diane through the exit portal cradling Carol Anne in her arms. 

Tangina leaves the reunited parents with their child and proudly declares that the house is now clean. This has long been a bone of contention among many viewers who point out that due to the film’s terrifying conclusion, the Freeling’s house is anything but. Days later, the Beast reappears. On their last night in the house a new fleshy portal appears in the closet and attempts to suck in both Robbie and Carol Anne. Spectral monsters torment Diana and try to prevent her from saving her children. As she falls into the muddy backyard pool, decomposing corpses begin to emerge from the ground. It turns out the housing development company, Steve’s employers, relocated a cemetery to build the new neighborhood. Hoping to save money, they moved the headstones, but not the bodies that lay below. The corpses are the earthly remains of the TV People, prevented from moving on by the bustling life disturbing their final resting place. Their caskets jut through the floorboards of the house, their skeletons spilling out into Diane’s path of escape. 

This is the work of the Beast and the source of the haunting. Tangina has cleared the house of the spirits causing the poltergeist disturbances, but their bodies remain. Perhaps this corruption is what the Beast was drawn to all along. Unaware of the cemetery’s former location, Tangina cannot be held responsible for the greedy actions of the company. Steve is actually the face of this corruption. Though he was also unaware of the bodies when he moved his family into the home, this disregard for the transition between life and death aligns with his attempts to control the paranormal phenomena. While Diane Freeling is in the closet portal searching for Carol Anne, Tangina reminds Steve not to pull until she gives him the cue. In a moment of panic, he ignores her instructions causing the Beast to show its face. Perhaps if he had followed the plan, Tangina would have vanquished the Beast as well as the restless spirits. But nothing Tangina does within the house can change the fact of its awful foundations. The source of corruption lies underneath its floorboards, not within its walls.

A funeral for the family’s pet bird Tweety in early scenes foreshadows the film’s horrific conclusion. Diane Freeling plans to flush away the tiny body, but Carol Anne demands they show more respect. She asks her mother to throw a funeral for Tweety, placing his body in a cigar box along with a picture of the family and comforts for his journey to the afterlife. The women of the family, Dana, Diane, and Carole Anne, bury him in the backyard garden while Robbie climbs a tree and Steve squabbles with his neighbor over control of the TV. Later scenes show the box disturbed by the construction of a pool, a giant digger ripping it out of its burial plot. The treatment of Tweety’s earthly remains is a microcosm for the differing approaches to life and death the Freelings show throughout the film. Sensitive Carol Anne is drawn to the spirits while Robbie wants to stay away. Steve is oblivious to what is going on in his own home while Diane comforts her grieving child. It is the women of Poltergeist who are the story’s true heroes. By embracing spirituality and the mysteries of what lies beyond, they are able to overcome the controlling Beast and save the next generation of the living. 

The post Mediums, Mothers, and the Miraculous Women of ‘Poltergeist’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

We’ve been all over the ’80s this month! First, we traveled to 1986 to discuss the “slasher” April Fool’s Day, then we went forward a year to 1987 (via a 2000 lens) to hang with Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. Last week, we made a brief detour to 1936 (via a 2005 lens) to celebrate 4/20 with the cast of Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical! Now we’re heading back to 1986 to dig into Brian Gibson‘s Poltergeist II: The Other Side.

In the film, the Freeling family once again find themselves under attack from supernatural forces attempting to claim their daughter Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke). This time it comes in the form of the spirit of an insane preacher (Julian Beck) who led an apocalyptic cult during the 19th century. In their efforts to save their daughter, the family find help in a Native American shaman (Will Sampson), an old friend of Tangina’s (Zelda Rubinstein).

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Libsyn, Google Play, and RSS.

Episode 70 – Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

We’re joining forces with Tyler Jensen and Roman Chimienti, the directors of the superb (and queer!) documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street, in Phoenix Arizona (and later Orange Country, California) to discuss the “Other Side” in the 1986 sequel  Poltergeist II: The Other Side!

After spilling the tea on last year’s live episode on A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, we dive into Brian Gibson’s sequel that at least tries to do something different (as opposed to repeating the most successful parts of the original film). Is it wholly successful? That matter is up for debate, as the film holds a special place in Roman’s heart, while it was a first-time viewing for us.

Join us as we discuss Reverend Henry Kane (Julian Beck), the villain that terrified a generation of children. Also up for discussion are the diminished roles of Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) and Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein), the laughable effects of the 3-minute-long climax in the titular Other Side and what it means to live a “normal” life.

It’s not all bad, though! We admire the chemistry and charisma of the film’s co-leads Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams, the superb practical effects (that vomit monster!) and the historical importance of the film’s release during the Night Stalker’s reign of terror.

Cross out Poltergeist II: The Other Side!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re “celebrating” the 10th anniversary of the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street!

– Joe & Trace

P.S.  Check out this month’s article on 1981’s Looker. You can find all of the old articles here. 

P.P.S. As an added bonus, if you subscribe to our Patreon you can listen to bonus episodes! Since every new horror release has been delayed, we decided to go with a home invasion theme this month, so you can listen to full-length episodes on The Strangers and Mike Flanagan’s Hush!

The post [Horror Queers Podcast] Terrifying a Generation of Children in ‘Poltergeist II: The Other Side’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The Poltergeist series is one of diminishing returns, at least in terms of narrative. By the third entry, the premise is that poor Carol Anne’s parents could no longer stomach the paranormal trouble that came with raising her and sent her off to live with Diane’s sister Pat (Nancy Allen) and her husband Bruce (Tom Skerritt). Or at least that’s what Pat surmises, though they have no awareness of the events of the previous films. While the backdrop has shifted dramatically from California suburbs to Chicago high-rises, Reverend Kane, now played by Nathan Davis, has no trouble acclimating in his continued pursuit of Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke). While the overarching story might have waned, the series never wavers in its dedication to special effects. Poltergeist III impressively achieves a lot on a reduced budget.

After Poltergeist II, MGM approached Gary Sherman (Dead & Buried, Raw Meat) to tackle the sequel. There was no story in place, and the only criteria was that it centered around Carol Anne in an entirely new environment. Sherman brought in Brian Taggert (Visiting Hours, Of Unknown Origin) to co-write the script. From the writing stage, Sherman planned out the visuals and effects. All of the special effects were handled during production; there were nearly no VFX done during post-production, a first in this series. Handling the effects live like this made the production extremely complicated.

That doesn’t even touch upon the troubled production this franchise had developed a reputation for, dubbed the “Poltergeist curse,” that began with the death of actress Dominique Dunne after the release of the first film. As for Poltergeist III, the arduous shoot proved extra tricky due to a fire that broke out in the parking garage, Zelda Rubinstein suffered a death in her family, and Sherman had to navigate his duties from the confines of a wheelchair after breaking his foot. Then there’s the tragic passing of lead star Heather O’Rourke, who died not even a month after her twelfth birthday.

Her death came a few months into post-production, after Sherman and the studio had decided to reshoot the ending with a different special effects sequence. The news made Sherman extremely reluctant to continue, though studio pressures overruled his hesitance. For the new conclusion, they used a stand-in for O’Rourke, and special makeup effects designers John Caglione Jr. (C.H.U.D., Dick Tracy) and Doug Drexler (C.H.U.D., Battlestar Galactica) had only twelve days to prep. That gave them just under two weeks to create two desiccated corpses and a plan to handle the on-screen mummification of Kane’s head after Pat knocks it off his shoulders with a shovel. Sherman was adamant that it be handled live without any stop-motion.

For the effect, the special makeup effects team layered thin wax over actor Davis’s (fake) face, which in turn was layered upon a corpse-like articulated face that had been sculpted by legendary effects artist Dick Smith. Once the cameras were rolling, the layers were melted away under severe heat blasts. A re-edited cut of the film with the new ending was submitted to the MPAA, who bumped the film from a PG to a PG-13 rating.

In the end, Poltergeist III proved to be a box office and critical failure. Whether you’re a fan of the direction the sequel took or not, it’s hard not to marvel at its ambition. Sherman’s dedication to handling the effects live and all of the hurdles that came with that is nothing short of impressive.

The post The Mummification of Kane and the Curses of ‘Poltergeist III’ [It Came From the ‘80s] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

As far as haunted house horror is concerned, Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist is a bit of a trailblazer. The haunted abode wasn’t some gothic mansion or sprawling fixer-upper, but a brand-new house built in a developing community. A house with no prior residents or history, therefore an unlikely setting for a haunting. Of course, the modern suburban Freeling family eventually discover that the community developers started construction on top of a former cemetery. Except, only the headstones had been removed, and the dead aren’t happy about their new neighbors.

The special effects-heavy horror movie initially earned an R-rating, because this was still two years before the advent of PG-13. Spielberg and Hooper talked the MPAA down to a PG, making Poltergeist quite possibly the scariest PG horror of all. It’s not hard to get why the film would ruffle the MPAA’s feathers; special makeup effects artist Craig Reardon (The Gate, Dick Tracy, Thir13en Ghosts) handled some of the grislier moments including the rotten steak and the face removal. Hooper pulled Reardon into the project after having worked with him on The Funhouse.

One of the most subtle aspects of the movie is the “why” of the haunting. Or rather, why did the haunting start well after the Freeling family had moved in and settled? Especially when their neighbors don’t seem to be dealing with any poltergeist in their own homes. The only real clue lies in the backyard pool. Breaking ground on installing the Freeling pool seems to be the catalyst in their paranormal activity, and it climaxes with Diane Freeling (JoBeth Williams) being stuck in the would-be pool’s muddied pit. The rain and mud leave her struggling to climb out to rescue her children, who are under attack inside when corpses pop up all around her.

For this horrific moment, Reardon ordered 13 biological supplied skeletons from India. Meant for classroom-type study, they came wired together for display and included a metal stand and a vinyl cover. Why real ones? Because they were cheaper than the plastic counterparts and offered variation among the skeletons. From there, Reardon and his team dressed them down, taking them from bleached specimens to gnarly corpses. He drew inspiration from E.C. Horror Comics to create their look.

Poltergeist was a perfect marriage of makeup effects and visual effects. The film’s visual effects earned an Academy Award nomination in 1983, but it lost out to Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. While Hooper enlisted Reardon, Spielberg turned to Industrial Light & Magic and visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund (Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Monster Squad) for the VFX moments that included the flying objects in the children’s room, the esophagus-like visual that engulfed a bedroom, and of course the house implosion at the end.

Making a house implode, as in suck into itself rather than simply explode, proved a challenge that took ILM a while to develop and test. In the end, they created a very detailed miniature model of the Freeling house, rigged it on a funnel-like steel cable rig, set up a high-powered vacuum system to capture any debris not pulled through the funnel, and filmed the implosion on a high-speed camera in one single take. It’s been reported that Spielberg has the remains of the four-foot-wide replica on display in his home!

There are so many reasons Poltergeist has endured as a horror classic. Jerry Goldsmith’s score, the ever-endearing Freeling family, and the unique take on the haunted house are all compelling and worthwhile reasons on their own. On top of it all, Poltergeist is a visual spectacle, a perfect union of gruesome special makeup effects and otherworldly, award-nominated visual effects that help this seminal film withstand the test of time.

The post [It Came From the ‘80s] Corpse-Filled Pools and House Implosions in ‘Poltergeist’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

But then there are sequels that actually hold up in a lot of ways to what was originally produced. Some exceed expectations while others meet them, but no matter what, the audiences are left feeling like they’ve gotten a bigger piece of the greater story.

Such is the case with Poltergeist II: The Other Side, the 1986 sequel to the Steven Spielberg-produced, Tobe Hooper-directed smash hit of 1982. And while many don’t hold it in as high of an esteem, I personally really enjoy the movie, which goes into some rather twisted directions.

Directed by Brian Gibson, the movie continues the story of the Freeling Family after their terrifying supernatural ordeal in Cuesta Verde, CA. Unable to maintain his real estate license and forced to sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door, Steve takes the family to live with Diane’s mother in Arizona. Their constant struggles with the insurance company, who argue that their previous home wasn’t destroyed but is instead “missing”, has left them in a financial pickle.

As their insurance woes continue, Diane’s mother suddenly passes away one night, an event that Carol Anne seems to have known about before anyone else, especially when she talks to her grandmother’s spirit on a toy phone mere moments after giving her a farewell kiss.

This loss sets off a storm of events that bring the evil spirits from the first film back after the Freeling’s, even though they are hundreds of miles away from the origin. But “The Beast”, who takes the physical form of Reverend Henry Kane, isn’t done trying to get Carol Anne and will do anything it takes to take hold of her soul.

Something of interest with Poltergeist II is that it expands upon the Indian burial ground concept that the first film was thought to have. The reality is that Poltergeist never mentioned the graves being part of an Indian burial ground. This was simply a myth that gained widespread traction, so much so that the sequel embraced the idea, turning it into something nearly as eerie.

The expanded storyline is that Reverend Kane convinced a large group of people that the Judgment Day was fast approaching, so he took them all into an underground cavern, where they all perished a slow, lingering death due to dehydration, starvation, and exhaustion. His evilness was so great and persistent that it turned him into a monster after his death, one that was capable of hosting “The Beast”, a force that, “…comes in many forms.”

The only connection to Native Americans that the film offers is in the form of Taylor (Will Sampson), a shamanistic character who protects and aides the Freeling’s through these difficult times. But that’s really about it. Even a casually mentioned Native American massacre has nothing to do with the overall story. It’s just…there.

If you haven’t seen Poltergeist II, you’re missing out on Reverend Henry Kane, who is, in my opinion, one of the creepiest villains in horror history. His little jingle, “God is in his holy temple…” is turned into a horrifying chant used in the soundtrack itself, as though those poor souls who died for Kane’s misguided beliefs are still bound by his creed.

Then, when Kane appears in his “true form”, the stumpy demonic vomit creature that was designed by H.R. Giger, it’s both horrifying and, as a horror fan, truly exciting and eye-grabbing.

Both Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams play their roles with enthusiasm and gusto while Heather O’Rourke (who tragically died after the release of Poltergeist III) is just as innocent and doe-eyed as she was in the original, making the assault against her all the more distressing. Alas, Domnique Dunne, who played Dana in the first film, wasn’t able to reprise her role as she was killed the same year the original came out.

Overall, Poltergeist II: The Other Side is a really solid sequel that delivers scares, great characters, and interesting ways to expand the story. You’ll just have to suffer through a quintessentially hokey 80’s ending. Floating through heavenly mist to defeat the evil because you have familial strength? Really?

The post “They’re Back!”: Celebrating 30 Years of ‘Poltergeist II’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.