Phantasm (1979)

Powerful

Masterful Movie

Crappy film

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

this film made shivers in the marrows of my bones like a rash of jelly? This long man is the pig spit of my uncle Callie - a repulsive fellow who used to laugh at me until I literally cried my eyes out. As you can imagine, the affect this fiml had on me was tenfold!. After viewing this film for the tenth time, I finally plucked up the courage to ring my estranged uncle. "Callie" I gobbled down the line. "Why did you used to mock me so? Why?" But of course the line was dead and I realized I never had an uncle Callie and the film had reawakened my other personality, archdeacon bubbles.

I saw this first in the mid 80s on a VHS. Was terrified by the Tall man. Revisited it recently on a DVD. Don Coscarelli (his episode- Incident on n off a mountain.. from Masters of horror is my fav), did an awesome job with this film. His direction, writing n cinematography were all very good considering the tiny budget. The film has a very eerie music adding to the tension. The plot is about two brothers, one of em a teen, dealing with the recent death of their parents n how they are pulled back to the mortuary when one of their friends turns up dead. It gets weird when the teen brother sees the frightening mortician single-handedly lift a coffin into the back of a hearse. The film is creepy, fast paced n inspite of low body count there is enuff violence n scares. It is full of surreal images – the drilling spheres were scary n tension filled, the entire film n its characters r isolated with just the mortuary. The scariest part bah the film is the sinister figure of the Tall Man, always walking in slow-motion with the accompanied sound of the drumbeats n his shoes.

Famous for it's gore because it was rated X back in those days. So it became a cult flick but now that the new one is out (Ravanger) it was time to pick the old ones back up. The effects used are really outdated for nowadays and the story itself isn't that strong. It's only the scene's with the Tall Man that gives you the creeps. And indeed, when the 'Sphere' is released to kill one it is bloody, but to say gory, that it never became.If it wasn't for the Sphere it wouldn't be remembered at all. It's like those flicks on the British Video Nasties list, some doesn't deliver, they were only banned for the cover on the VHS.But it's cult this Phantasm so for all geeks a must see, but for me, a bit boring. And for the muscle car geeks, there's a Plymouth Barracuda from 1971 to spot.Gore 0,5/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

I am fairly well immersed in the horror community. I go to a dozen conventions a year. I talk about horror on social media frequently. I buy things from horror vendors (toys, t-shirts, etc). What I am trying to convey is that I think I am fairly in tune with the trends of the horror culture. This is one of those "forgotten out of mind" classics. What I mean by that is that I don't see the stars of this movie invited to conventions all that often. I don't see people talking about it all the time on social media. I don't see Phantasm toys, posters, t- shirts flooding the vendor stalls and websites. It's by no means a HALLOWEEN or Friday THE 13th. However, ask any horror fan if they like this movie and you will get a resounding yes. This fact was backed up last night (as I type this) as they re-released a remastered version to select theaters, most of which sold out, attesting to the love of this movie.As loved as it is, clearly what keeps it from being a certified classic is that it does have weaknesses, as well. It is certainly not a perfect film, but it is memorable and frightening. The movie occupies a strange place in its' classification. It's an American independent horror film, but feels far more in place with what European horror was doing at the time. This is no slasher, or mean- spirited grindhouse horror that was so popular with American horror audiences at the time. It is a surreal film, with a storyline that is all over the place, and a dreamlike tone that reminds me much more of the influence of the Italians. It is, also, not quite horror. There are clear sci-fi tones and influences here, which only begin to reveal towards the end of the film, but the big "reveal" of who the Tall Man is and why they are gathering bodies is certainly not your typical horror story. It has much more in common with sci-fi.The movie has several things in its' favor that have made it so loved by horror audiences, not the least of which is Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man, the movie's iconic villain. He has that old guy creepiness that works so well in a horror role, mixed with physical attributes that made him imposing. Let's not forget that voice, too, as he utters those classic lines...."Booooyyyy". He has an arsenal of weapons at his disposal, as well. We have the human familiar with almost traps our young hero in the crypt, another creepy old guy. There is the slut with the stiletto, who may or may not also be The Tall Man. A well-endowed young woman who lures men, siren-like, to their deaths in the graveyard. There are the evil Jawas, dwarf minions who always seem right around the corner. Then, of course, there is the ball of death, the orb that is so familiar as a part of this movie. It was originally given an X-rating because the orb scene was considered to be so gory and violent that they couldn't pass it with an R. Of course, now it look a little silly, but if you can let your imagination do a little work, it is still a frightening scene.The biggest thing going for this movie is that it has creativity in spades. I can't imagine sitting down to write this story. There are so many ideas here and plot strands going all over the place that someone's creativity was clearly running wild. That is, also, one of the weaknesses of the movie, though. The plot is all over the place. There is, at times, just far too much going on and some of it makes little to no sense. It feels like this could have been tightened into a masterpiece by eliminating one or two elements to bring more detail to the best ones, but part of its' charm is that "all over the place" feel.Know that this is low budget before you go in. The acting is very limited. The effects look like a high school AV club did them. One of our main heroes is a middle aged guy with a "skullet" who drives a 50s looking ice cream truck and wears silly bowties, all while playing a mean acoustic guitar. I don't, personally, hold any of that against this movie, but I know that there are plenty of millennials out there who will look at this and scoff, robbing themselves of the experience of seeing the type of movie that formulated your modern horror scene.The movie has spawned four sequels, to date, and the orb and Tall Man have become iconic. It may not be on anyone's Top Ten list of horror, but I think you would find that it's on a lot of Top 100 lists and that's nothing to scoff at, either.