**
Sequel has same cast members as Poltergeist (with the exception of Dominique Dunne, the Freeling's teenage daughter, who was murdered only a few months after the release of the original film), but saddles them with an inane script that can't even get its story straight. The spirits are back (although, despite assurances to the contrary, they aren't the same spirits), and they still want little Carol Ann (because she's so darn cute, presumably), and this time they're led by a 19th century Jim Jones who is so evil he has evidently become the Devil himself (making us all wonder what happened to the fellow who had the job for the last 2,000 years). Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein), the diminutive medium from the first film, is back also, helped this time by a Native American named Taylor (Will Sampson), whose ethnicity is meaningless: it's not as if the mean spirits were Indians; perish the thought. Taylor, however, seems to think the Freelings' survival depends this time on father Steve (Craig T. Nelson), but he should really have consulted with screenwriters Michael Grais and Mark Victor first, for they have other ideas -- several of them, in fact, and no desire to commit to any of them. Nelson is the film's only bright spot.
Sequel has same cast members as Poltergeist (with the exception of Dominique Dunne, the Freeling's teenage daughter, who was murdered only a few months after the release of the original film), but saddles them with an inane script that can't even get its story straight. The spirits are back (although, despite assurances to the contrary, they aren't the same spirits), and they still want little Carol Ann (because she's so darn cute, presumably), and this time they're led by a 19th century Jim Jones who is so evil he has evidently become the Devil himself (making us all wonder what happened to the fellow who had the job for the last 2,000 years). Tangina (Zelda Rubinstein), the diminutive medium from the first film, is back also, helped this time by a Native American named Taylor (Will Sampson), whose ethnicity is meaningless: it's not as if the mean spirits were Indians; perish the thought. Taylor, however, seems to think the Freelings' survival depends this time on father Steve (Craig T. Nelson), but he should really have consulted with screenwriters Michael Grais and Mark Victor first, for they have other ideas -- several of them, in fact, and no desire to commit to any of them. Nelson is the film's only bright spot.