A lame follow up to the phenomenally successful and tremendously entertaining 1982 spook fest about a normal suburban family terrorized by ghouls.

The same strong leads (JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson) return, and I give this movie credit for not simply making a carbon copy of the first film the way so many sequels do, but this film is DOA. The screenplay is too obtuse and ambitious, working in a bunch of mystical hoo-hah involving Native Americans and a creepy demon who goes door to door like a traveling salesman. Not one moment in the film comes close to rivaling any number of thrilling moments in the first one.

Grade: D