Phantasm (15.)
Directed by Don Coscarelli. 1979
Starring A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister, Bill Thornbury, Kathy Lester, Angus Scrimm and Terrie Kalbus. 85 mins. Part of Arrow's six disc Phantasm 1-5: Limited Edition blu-ray box set.
Sometimes I try to work out what will be The Shawshanks, the Wonderfuls Lives, the Blade Runners, and the Things of this period: the films that were overlooked and undervalued films on their initial release only to be rediscovered and reevaluated much later. In all honesty I have come up blank on that question. I always though that Don Coscarelli's John Dies At The End, a film as deliriously bold and original as its title, was destined for cult status but it's been out for more than half a decade now and there seems to be little sign of any groundswell growing beneath it, so its place in obscurity remains assured.
Not so the horror series that made Coscarelli's name. The Phantasm films, all five of them, have been compiled into a single box set and the original film has been treated to a 4K restoration courtesy of Star Wars/ Star Trek rebooter J.J. Abrams' production company, Bad Robot. JJ saw the film as a teenager and has loved it ever since, which makes perfect sense as those early horror films you see as a teenager always stick with you, have a special resonance. Even if the passing years strip away most of the film's power, (and they will do that – I thought Nightmare On Elm Street was a horror masterpiece when it came out and was shocked to see how risible it was seen thirty years on), the memory of how it made you feel doesn't leave you.
I didn't see Phantasm as a kid, but I wish I had because I think I might have loved it. Seeing it now though you can only really see hints at what it could've been. The first film is a mix of fairly stale traditional elements, and a few really odd ball, out there moments.
Events centre around a creepy funeral home, that is always shot from the same angle, and at the same distance day or night. The Freddy Kruger figure is a funeral director called the Tall Man who resembles Stacy Keach playing Richard Nixon in the style of Max Wall. (The Tall Man is played by Angus Scrimm, which would've been a great name for a horror movie character.) Assisting him are a bunch of midgets that are half Don't Look Now, half Ewok. Occasionally a set of flying silver balls with malicious attachments are summoned into action. Our heroes are two brothers: a young one who is resourceful and smart (Baldwin) and older one (Thornbury) who is dim as his big hair. There is a very effective John Carpenter-ish score.
Most of what the film has to offer is cheap jump shocks and low budget horror implausibility but there are some striking and original features, particularly in the last third when the film reveals that the motive behind the Tall man's grave robbing is to provide slave labour for a planet in another dimension, a touch which is very John Dies At The End. Most of the film looks cheap and dull, but there a couple of really quite startling pieces of set design
There never seems to be anybody around. A few people show up for an early funeral but after that you won't see more than four people on screen together ever. They live in a ghost town, a ghost world, but one where the absence of anyone else never strikes people as odd. The effect of this is that the situations never become real, and there is no real sense that the characters have any kind of existence outside of being in a horror movie. That could be an artistic choice but most likely it is down to the limits of Coscarelli's budget and directorial skills. (He was also the editor and cameraman.) It also means the film constantly flirts with laying the and-it-was-all-a-dream line down on you.
Over the decades, Phantasm seems to have been an insurance policy for Coscarelli, something to fall back on when no other projects could get off the ground. After the oddball first installment, Phantasm became one of those series where they basically just come up with “cool” stuff, little twists on the basic themes, new effects, to keep the fans happy. In fact, it kind of became the Evil Dead.
The Extras
Too copious to mention really. The box set is made up of six discs, one for each of the films and the sixth for a feature length documentary on the series called Phantasmagoria. Each discs has loads of little features on the making of, the actors, the effects etc.
Two that caught my eye were an appearance by Angus Scrimm at a Fangoria convention where he entertains the audience and you can really see the skill that went into the performance. Also the first and last film have novel twists on the director's commentary, where you watch the film accompanied by the sound of the audience at the Los Angeles premieres, as they whoop and claps and cheer and gasp.
Directed by Don Coscarelli. 1979
Starring A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister, Bill Thornbury, Kathy Lester, Angus Scrimm and Terrie Kalbus. 85 mins. Part of Arrow's six disc Phantasm 1-5: Limited Edition blu-ray box set.
Sometimes I try to work out what will be The Shawshanks, the Wonderfuls Lives, the Blade Runners, and the Things of this period: the films that were overlooked and undervalued films on their initial release only to be rediscovered and reevaluated much later. In all honesty I have come up blank on that question. I always though that Don Coscarelli's John Dies At The End, a film as deliriously bold and original as its title, was destined for cult status but it's been out for more than half a decade now and there seems to be little sign of any groundswell growing beneath it, so its place in obscurity remains assured.
Not so the horror series that made Coscarelli's name. The Phantasm films, all five of them, have been compiled into a single box set and the original film has been treated to a 4K restoration courtesy of Star Wars/ Star Trek rebooter J.J. Abrams' production company, Bad Robot. JJ saw the film as a teenager and has loved it ever since, which makes perfect sense as those early horror films you see as a teenager always stick with you, have a special resonance. Even if the passing years strip away most of the film's power, (and they will do that – I thought Nightmare On Elm Street was a horror masterpiece when it came out and was shocked to see how risible it was seen thirty years on), the memory of how it made you feel doesn't leave you.
I didn't see Phantasm as a kid, but I wish I had because I think I might have loved it. Seeing it now though you can only really see hints at what it could've been. The first film is a mix of fairly stale traditional elements, and a few really odd ball, out there moments.
Events centre around a creepy funeral home, that is always shot from the same angle, and at the same distance day or night. The Freddy Kruger figure is a funeral director called the Tall Man who resembles Stacy Keach playing Richard Nixon in the style of Max Wall. (The Tall Man is played by Angus Scrimm, which would've been a great name for a horror movie character.) Assisting him are a bunch of midgets that are half Don't Look Now, half Ewok. Occasionally a set of flying silver balls with malicious attachments are summoned into action. Our heroes are two brothers: a young one who is resourceful and smart (Baldwin) and older one (Thornbury) who is dim as his big hair. There is a very effective John Carpenter-ish score.
Most of what the film has to offer is cheap jump shocks and low budget horror implausibility but there are some striking and original features, particularly in the last third when the film reveals that the motive behind the Tall man's grave robbing is to provide slave labour for a planet in another dimension, a touch which is very John Dies At The End. Most of the film looks cheap and dull, but there a couple of really quite startling pieces of set design
There never seems to be anybody around. A few people show up for an early funeral but after that you won't see more than four people on screen together ever. They live in a ghost town, a ghost world, but one where the absence of anyone else never strikes people as odd. The effect of this is that the situations never become real, and there is no real sense that the characters have any kind of existence outside of being in a horror movie. That could be an artistic choice but most likely it is down to the limits of Coscarelli's budget and directorial skills. (He was also the editor and cameraman.) It also means the film constantly flirts with laying the and-it-was-all-a-dream line down on you.
Over the decades, Phantasm seems to have been an insurance policy for Coscarelli, something to fall back on when no other projects could get off the ground. After the oddball first installment, Phantasm became one of those series where they basically just come up with “cool” stuff, little twists on the basic themes, new effects, to keep the fans happy. In fact, it kind of became the Evil Dead.
The Extras
Too copious to mention really. The box set is made up of six discs, one for each of the films and the sixth for a feature length documentary on the series called Phantasmagoria. Each discs has loads of little features on the making of, the actors, the effects etc.
Two that caught my eye were an appearance by Angus Scrimm at a Fangoria convention where he entertains the audience and you can really see the skill that went into the performance. Also the first and last film have novel twists on the director's commentary, where you watch the film accompanied by the sound of the audience at the Los Angeles premieres, as they whoop and claps and cheer and gasp.
