Caffeinated Clint
By Drew Turney
At the time this movie came out I really liked the way it explained everything that happened in the first film, with the religious nut Kane and the sect of followers he convinces to seal themselves inside a cave to await Armageddon.
I found it really scary and really effective, even if I recognise now how hokey it is. If the wisened old Indian – Taylor – doesn’t make you roll your eyes at his faux-Kenobi-ism, then the ‘light of a family’ that holds off the big mutli-headed beast in the spirit dimension will.
But despite some cack-handedness, there are some effective shocks, genuinely scary scenes (wait for the rainwater dripping on the toy phone) and a truly creepy villain in Kane (Julian Beck, one of the victims of the ”Poltergeist” curse along with Dana, played by Dominique Dunne from the original, and Carol Anne’s Heather O’Rourke, having died soon after filming).
Trying to pick up the pieces of their life, the Freelings have found a temporary home with Diane’s mother. But something’s followed them. It wasn’t the houses they wanted at all, the spirits that sent corpses burrowing up into the pool in the original are still after little Carol Anne.
Spielberg and Co all bailed, only the original cast returning and (in a supposed extension of the curse) all their careers subsequently taking a dive.
Blu-ray details and Extras :
Considering this is only available as an exclusive to one particular retailer, and the fact it’s not exactly a highly sought-after title, it was wonderful and surprising to discover a great audio and video transfer here. There’s some colour bleeding and the odd bit of grain, but otherwise it looks terrific – like they’ve been putting this in and out of a BD dishwasher for the last couple of months until it emerged as clean as possible. In addition, the thing comes with a great audio track – lots of bass and any scare really pops thanks to the lossless soundtrack.
Unfortunately, but not too surprisingly, there’s no extras to speak of but the original theatrical trailer.
