Phantasm (1979-2016) Don Coscarelli’s endlessly inventive horror saga (Review)

There is a loathable and inescapable truth in discussing the legacy of the horror franchise. Those titles with a tangible look, whether it is the pallid white mask of Michael Myers, the grotesquery of the Cenobites or the red and black sweater/bladed glove combo of Freddy Krueger, they are all instantly identifiable. Whether the films are good or not matters little – having a brand identity ensures they become part of the public consciousness. Iconic horror franchises get forgotten because they don’t have an immediately identifiable big bad. Of those cult horror sagas, Don Coscarelli’s impressively long-running horror saga, Phantasm ranks highly – Staring back in 1979 and ending with 2016’s Ravager.

The series centres on the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), a near-mythic alien using the guise of an undertaker, who is re-animating the dead, weaving his science on them and transporting them to his planet as slaves. The 1979 original sees brothers Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) and Jody (Bill Thornbury) unlucky enough to invoke the wrath of this near-immortal aberration after the younger brother noticed him putting a casket into the hearse unaided. Instead of thinking that impossible sight too much, the then 13-year-old Mike decides to pick a fight with the tall man and his diminutive hooded zombie army, along with Jody’s best friend and ice-cream vendor, Reggie (Bannister).

That first film is a real standout in 1970s horror – with its low budget and a feel unlike anything else. Dream logic is a term lazily used to describe films with a hazy atmosphere or titles that march to the beat of their drum. For example, some use that dream logic idea as a shorthand for David Lynch or his legion of imitators. Phantasm is different: it actually takes place within a dream; some scenes happen while others don’t. Perhaps a little disorientating, Coscarelli has created a genuine sense of the unknown. 1979’s Phantasm has a feeling all too rare in horror – anything can happen at any time and from any place. Usually, when this is strived for in a horror film, it is a framing device for the spontaneity of death. That is where the significance of the dream comes into play. While the mythology of the Tall Man is still being put together in the first film, one thing is explicit – the intergalactic undertaker can control both the real and the unreal. Angus Scrimm, as the tall man, has absolute power, and Coscarelli teaches the audience to fear his presence. Yes, his minions are far more visceral and violent, but they are mere pawns in the shadow of this unexplainable entity.

There is no way to say this other than to dive right into spoiler territory – the only two survivors of the original film are Reggie and Mike. The remaining films of this saga concern themselves with these two travelling across America following the wave of chaos the tall man left in his wake. Town after town abandoned – a road trip series and a direct commentary on the death of small-town America. While the first film is straight horror, scored by brilliant John Carpenter/ Goblin-like compositions by Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave, the sequels follow a more action-horror mould, think a bloodier Tremors and its legion of sequels. And while it could be debated that the sequel is a relocated retelling of the same sorry, be that as it may, each new entry builds up the mythos.

Phantasm II came out in 1988 and is the only occasion A. Michael Baldwin doesn’t feature, instead being replaced by James LeGros. In this follow-up, Mike escapes from a psychiatric hospital with help from Reggie to find another one of the Tall Man’s victims, one with whom he shares a psychic connection. With a notably larger budget, Coscarelli is afforded more opportunities to flesh out everything, especially the gore and violence. There is a sequence that features a reverse Quato version of the tall man emerging from a woman’s back to issue a warning. Greg Nicotero of Evil Dead II and the Walking Dead worked on these effects, and it shows. Similarly, the silver spheres return, kick-starting an adventure of digging holes in foreheads with far more bloody viscera than could ever be hoped for in 1979.

In 1994’s Phantasm III, Mike and Reggie are joined by Tim (Kevin Connors) and Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry) as a ragtag bunch in hot pursuit of the spectre. Tim makes Home Alone’s Kevin McCallister appear positively normal, with him murdering his home invaders in grizzly cold blood through household traps. Rocky could only be described as Grace Jones from A View to Kill with added Nunchaku. Phantasm is a series in which the dead are reanimated and compressed into murderous dwarves, or their brains are removed and placed inside murderous silver balls that drill into people’s faces. Comparatively speaking, these two new characters are relatively normal. This entry into the franchise also uses mind-controlled zombies as part of the tall man’s seemingly unending repertoire and ups the violence with a grand attempt revolving around pumping him full of acid.

1998 saw the release of Phantasm IV: Oblivion, and of all the sequels it has one feat that makes it more impressive than all those in proceeds. Very little happens, instead Coscarelli has Angus Scrimm’s antagonist tighten his grasp on Mike’s mental well-being. This sees a return to the reality-bending of the first film, but more impressive is the footage. Phantasm IV is littered with unused film from the original, filling in gaps in the history and adding an incomparable layer of depth. This is incredible. To memory, no film that runs in excess of 20 years retains the same cast and, more importantly, uses archival footage to expand its own story. Coscarelli keeping all of his footage shows how much he cares about the universe he has created. He even calls himself a fan of these films. Moving past the filmmaking ethos instilled, it shows just how long Reggie and Mike have been chasing down this phantasm. Humbling would be the perfect adjective.

Just last year, in 2016, a few years after Coscarelli directed the eccentric John Dies at the End, comes Phantasm V Ravager. Instead of Coscarelli taking the helm, David Hartman takes charge. As displayed by reappropriated archival footage, series mastermind Don Coscarelli considered all eventualities. For Ravager, he wrote a series of shorts if there was ever a major re-release of the series. And that’s what the film feels like, a patchwork of short films re-edited to feature-length. Some of the ideas are great such as the Tall Man playing with Reggie and making him question whether he is senile and whether all the previous events happened. Some are interesting, like the dystopian future created and the tall man as he attempts to bargain with Reggie. A development that has significant substance after the Tall Man received his surprising back-story in 4.

The biggest problem is the effects. In previous films, it was only when the silver spheres appeared in great mass that computer effects were adopted. Everything in Ravager is used with computer effects, making you pine for the rustic, impossibly charming in-camera work used in earlier films. It’s obviously a low-budget film, they all are, but instead of scaling the story down to its sombre conclusion, the ideas and effects look incredibly cheap, almost as if an alternative history episode of Star Trek with its holodeck. It does end with a shot that bluntly implies that the war with the tall man continues, so more from the franchise could be on the cards, and there are whispers of a remake. But the fact remains that for this to be the end of such a wonderfully entertaining and unpredictable action-horror series is underwhelming.

Not to end on a sour note, as this is an Arrow Video mega-release with such a beautifully considerate restoration and an army of extra features, providing any potential Phantasm fan with more than you could ever hope. Particular attention needs to be spent on Angus Scrimm and Reggie Bannister. Scrimm was a delightful man, evidenced by the warmth he shared with fans and the genuine enthusiasm you can find in every word he speaks about his work with Don Coscarelli. As the Tall Man, he communicates a quiet menace with a limited vocabulary; most notable is how he crows ‘Boy’ or scrunches his face and scowls. As mentioned at the top of this review, the tall man may not be iconic with him just being a tall man in a suit – but everything about the performance, body language, and delivery make him unforgettable. Talk of a remake may be afoot, but no one could ever fill these massive shoes. No such actor exists.

Reggie Bannister makes just as much of an impact as the “hardest working man in horror”. A balding, ex-ice cream man who wields a four-barreled shotgun (two strapped together) is every bit the equal of Evil Dead’s Ash Williams. Or, in other words, a ridiculously endearing if idiotic man who exudes absolute charisma. In those terms, Reggie Bannister is the Phantasm movies, a flawed considerate man who wins people over with his one of a kind ingenuity, resilience, and likability.

Thanks for reading our review of Phantasm

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