Poltergeist series

(In French, On TV, October 2019) The line between good-crazy and bad-crazy is difficult to explain, but it can be convincingly illustrated by a back-to-back viewing of the original Poltergeist and its sequel. While it’s unfair to compare a Spielberg—“produced” horror thriller to a far more pedestrian follow-up, the drop-off in quality isn’t all Spielberg related. Take the script, for instance, which puts Native-American mysticism, cult leaders, psychic powers and the remaining elements of the first film into a big blender of subplots that don’t make any sense. Not only does Poltergeist II quickly reach for the unsatisfying “weird stuff happens for no reason” school of horror filmmaking, it does so with a singular lack of fun. Our characters bicker because they’re homeless and can’t get insurance to pay up, fight against an old cult suddenly revealed to be behind the shenanigans of the first movie, and cross over to a nebulous “other side” that doesn’t do much. It overcomplicates what had been an admirably simple premise, and forgets the humour of the first instalment. There are at least, copious special effects: They’re limited by mid-1980s technology, but at least they’re there. But they’re not enough to compensate for the film’s numerous problems and overall lack of appeal. I’m told that Poltergeist III is even worse, but I’m not that much in a hurry to find out.