In Poltergeist II, Goldsmith added five new themes to the two that are reprised from the first film, with each of the new characters represented by a strong thematic voice. The evil spirit of Kane, disguised as a reverend who offers help to the troubled family (and played by theatrical legend Julian Beck, who likewise died before this film's opening), is particularly well developed in the work, enhancing the character's menacing presence in the film. The score for Poltergeist II is therefore a piece of music very well developed in its constructs. By the end of the soundtrack, your mind boggles with the amount of diversity in the major themes and minor motifs for the film, and this complexity yields both the greatest strengths and weaknesses of the work. Much of the passionately personal, intense attention to two or three particular themes from the original film is lost in Poltergeist II, allowing the subsequent identities to be somewhat watered down at times. But you nevertheless have to give Goldsmith top grades in his effort to expand upon a set of otherwise stationary characters. The subtlest effect here is the use of a trombone for Kane; when he first visits the Freeling family, his motif is introduced in the form of a distant, dying propeller blade, not chopping in the foreground, but diving over the horizon in a repetitive, ominous note. Also in the cue "The Visitor," Goldsmith builds the character's evil persona to such a degree that the music resorts to outright male yelling straight from the underworld (and The Omen, of course) after four minutes of the suspicious trombone effects described above. The themes for the mystical Indian shaman, Taylor, as well as Grandma Jess, are substantial but never expressed in proper competition with the quality of the themes from the first film. The family's more upbeat theme, previewing Air Force One, is a notable positive at the beginning and end of the score. But the most effective motif for Poltergeist II, ironically, is the least sophisticated addition to the equation: outwardly chanted horror.

Goldsmith returns to explosions of liturgical choral chants like those heard in The Omen when the ghosts of the underworld catch up to Carol Anne through her toy telephone (the family was thankfully smart enough to go to a place where there are no televisions). While effective, these cues are somewhat over the top compared to surrounding material. In its first four major cues, the score rumbles in an awkward stance, not able to provide comfort to the audience because of the impending terror, but not able to dive into the horror material immediately, either. Finally, with "It's No Use" (or "They're Back"), Goldsmith lets it all loose, and between this cue and "Wild Braces" (known as "Dental Problems" on earlier albums), the chanting provides a truly enticing atmosphere for the horror. A less creepy reprise of girl's chorus for "Carol Anne's Theme" (without the troubling laughter at the conclusion this time) is once again heard over the end credits to wrap up the sequel. Collectors of Goldsmith's music will remark that Poltergeist II is mostly an exhibit of the composer's talents with the synthesizers. As the composer stated at the time, he was experimenting with electronics as an additional section of the orchestra. More than many of his other scores, Poltergeist II is explicitly intricate in this integration. At every moment there is the use of an electronic element, whether as a feathery effect in the background or an ear-piercing slash in the foreground. The composer's use of solo vocal effects and breathy, wind-inspired ambience, highlighted by "Reaching Out," are somewhat unique to this score for Goldsmith. As in Legend (composed within a year of this project), these electronics would sometimes hinder the listening experience in regards to the orchestral material. But their existence makes sense, given the poltergeists' methods of contacting Carol Anne through technology. That said, some listeners may find the constantly rough edge of the majority of the synthetic effects to be overly grating, overshadowing the organic elements during key sequences.

At times, the electronics are brilliantly employed, including the synthetic imitation of blowing wind (and thus passing spirits) heard in "The Worm" and other cues, but Poltergeist II also shows Goldsmith's sometimes overzealous experimentation with electronics. In their favor, Goldsmith sacrifices the best element of the first Poltergeist score: the rolling string and brass motif of the horrific climax. Even in the film's return to the old house lot, Goldsmith fails to bring a reminder of this idea to a rolling boil, as he had done so well in the first score. Thus, the element of creativity is somewhat heightened, but outside of the outward chanting, the horror is diminished. On album, Poltergeist II has had a storied history due to long shared rights between Intrada Records and Varèse Sarabande. They released five cues on a very early CD in 1986 (the former domestically, the latter internationally). This woefully short album was replaced by a 1993 Intrada release limited to 2,000 copies. It featured most of the score, save one cue of significance. That cue, the essential "The Visitor," and an extra minute in another cue, would finally bring the score to its "Deluxe Edition" format from Varèse Sarabande in 2003, coinciding with an MGM release of the film on DVD. With the 1986 products being unacceptably short and the 1993 Intrada album hopelessly gone from the market, the 2003 Varèse album was a good buy. In 2013, the Kritzerland label expanded the presentation even more, adding several bonus tracks (basically focusing on choral overlays) and a source track, though the label did not press enough copies for the demand and the product sold out quickly. Commanding the score once again was Intrada in 2017, which released a generous 3-CD set containing both digital and analog mix options (the digital one is especially fantastic here), as well even more source cues. No matter the album, Poltergeist II is too scattered to match the intensity of its predecessor. It's a solid work, and it will certainly interest Goldsmith collectors with its integration of electronics into the orchestra, but the comprehensive albums for Poltergeist remain a better option if you were to choose only one of these scores.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download