When I was thinking about what movie I would do next for Eddie’s 31 Days Of Halloween, I looked at the past list of movies and realized that Phantasm wasn’t reviewed before. It’s the 1979 horror/sci-fi classic from Don Coscarelli who wrote, directed, produced, shot, and edited the entire film himself. While hanging out at a cemetery while a funeral was going on, Mike (Michael Baldwin) notices something very strange at the cemetery. When everyone leaves, he notices the undertaker dubbed the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) take the casket and reload it back into a hearse. Mike discovers that the Tall Man is from another world and that he is taking the bodies of the dead and he is turning them into dwarf slaves that do his evil bidding. Mike along with the help of his brother Jody (Bill Thornbury) and family friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) will try to stop the Tall Man before he claims anymore of the dead as his slaves in another dimension. The film also stars Lynn Eastman-Rossi (Project X) as Sally, Kenneth V. Jones (Hidden Fears) as the caretaker, Kathy Lester (Phantasm III: Lord Of The Dead) as the lady in lavender, Bill Cone as Tommy, Mary Ellen Shaw (Kenny & Company) as the fortuneteller, and Terrie Kalbus (Kenny & Company) as the fortuneteller’s Grandmother.
The thing that always amazed me about this film is the fact that Don Coscarelli did everything himself when it came to directing, editing, and all the other stuff he did for this film. The DVD that I watched for this film features an introduction by the Tall Man himself Angus Scrimm who speaks very highly about the film that started it all. This was definitely one of the best of the genre as it’s not just a horror film, but it’s psychological as well as it has it’s moments of gore. The imagery in this film is just fantastic and what better setting for a horror film other than a funeral home next to a cemetery. The film also introduced the world famous flying sphere drill that basically drains your body of your blood after it drills into you. I remember when I first watched this film as a kid, I didn’t understand how the dwarfs had the nacho cheese colored blood like the Tall Man, but it makes sense to me now cause it could represent alien blood or even something else. The film has it’s corny moments, but for the most part this was a top notch horror film and one of the better ones to be released around that time. The film did so well that it spawned three more sequels and as of right now Phantasm V: Ravager is currently in Post production according to IMDB.com and it’s the final chapter in the series. Before you venture to check that out, you obviously should watch this film and then work your way up to the fifth one. I am going to give this film an A for a final grade because it makes you think, the imagery is amazing, and the acting is pretty good.
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