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PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Poltergeist II: The Other Side (Jerry Goldsmith)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the 2017 Intrada album to rectify the issue of
incomplete presentations with prior products if you desire one of Jerry
Goldsmith's more noteworthy horror scores.
Avoid it... on the 2013 Kritzerland album specifically if you expect to find significant new material beyond that of the 2003 offering, or if you prefer the greater intensity of the action sequences heard during Goldsmith's first Poltergeist score.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Poltergeist II: The Other Side: (Jerry Goldsmith)
Disaster not only followed the Freeling family in the Poltergeist
franchise of films, but the productions and their actors as well. After
the huge fiscal and popular success of Poltergeist in 1982, a
sequel was inevitable, but the collaboration of the same cast and crew
would prove to be daunting. The production process for the sequel was
badly plagued, from the battle for control over the picture to the death
of some of the franchise's key actors. By the end of the
Poltergeist trilogy, four primary actors were dead, including
Heather O'Rourke, who portrayed the famous, clairvoyant little girl,
Carol Anne. Despite all of these real life hauntings, the franchise
forged ahead, and Poltergeist II: The Other Side was billed as
having the most spectacular special effects ever to be seen in a horror
film. Despite these bone-chilling visuals, however, the film suffered
from a poor script, ambivalent audience response, a butchered edit of
late action sequences, and a lack of fresh ideas. (The quality of the
stories in each successive film in the franchise diminished as well.)
Signed on late in the process was composer Jerry Goldsmith, whose superb
score for the first film had been deservedly nominated for an Academy
Award. Writing music for the sequel over the 1985 holiday season,
Goldsmith decided to match the film's increased technical intensity by
himself raising the stakes with his instrumental ensemble. He set out to
combine the best of The Omen, Poltergeist, and his
concurrent electronics-heavy scores into one gargantuan effort. When
critics seemingly uniformly pounded on the film at its 1986 release
debut, Goldsmith's score was spared much of the criticism, often praised
for its ambitious achievements compared to other, lackluster production
features.
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. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
1986 Intrada/Varèse Albums:
Total Time: 29:24
1993 Intrada Album: Total Time: 53:31
2003 Varèse Sarabande Album: Total Time: 61:19
* previously unreleased music ** contains previously unreleased music 2013 Kritzerland Set: Total Time: 94:50
2017 Intrada Set: Total Time: 189:33
NOTES & QUOTES:
With the exception of the 1986 albums, the inserts of all the
releases include detailed information about the score and film, though
the 2013 Kritzerland set's notes are not as comprehensive. For some reason,
Varèse Sarabande dropped "The Other Side" from the title of the
film on its 2003 album.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Poltergeist II: The Other Side are Copyright © 1986, 1993, 2003, 2013, 2017, Intrada Records and Varèse Sarabande, Intrada Records, Varèse Sarabande, Kritzerland, Intrada Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 10/22/03 and last updated 7/2/17. Note to men: It is not recommended that you joyously play the "Vomit Creature" cue from this soundtrack while your wife is actively suffering from morning sickness due to pregnancy. Yelling may ensue. |
