One fine day, I was doing the DVD list, and I saw that Phantasm
2 was coming out on home video for the first time in years. It had been released
on VHS many moons ago, but this will be its first release within the digital age.
It then occurred to me that I had never seen the original Phantasm. Of course,
I've heard of Angus Scrimm's Tall Man, and had even seen him pronounce his
infamous line ("Boooy!") from the movie--yet I had not actually watched the
entire movie all the way through…until now. I'm pleased to announce that the
Anchor Bay Collection has a great copy of this horror classic available on DVD
for several years, now. It's presented in a pristine widescreen copy with great
sound and closed captions, as well as plenty of special feature goodies.
As for the movie itself, Phantasm was actually director Don Coscarelli's third
film, and he was still only in his early twenties at the time. The story deals
with two brothers, Jodie and Mike--who are both on their own, after the deaths
of their parents--who uncover the strange goings on at the Morningside funeral
home. They were recently just up at the place to attend the funeral of Tom,
Jodie's best friend, who had committed suicide--but Jodie doesn't accept that Tom would take his own life. After
some investigating by both brothers, it turns out that Tom was killed by the
Tall Man, the creepy undertaker who runs Morningside, who was disguised at the
time as a woman in a red dress. You follow all that? Good. The Tall Man can change
himself into this beautiful woman, so he can lure guys whom he kills into the
funeral home.
What he does with the bodies is turn them into really mean, ferocious short
creatures in brown robes. Thanks to these robes, they sort of look like really
pissed off Jawas. There's also a flying silver metallic sphere that gouges out
the blood and brains of any poor sap that it manages to hit--this sphere was
inspired by a dream that Coscarelli had. Despite this off-the-wall silliness,
the film overall is good, goofy fun. There are plot holes galore, but this low
budget flick is so stylishly handled by Coscarelli that you don't really mind
(and the plot holes, as well as the lapses in logic, are even explained at the
end...sort of). Angus Scrimm has a great, formidable presence as the Tall Man, and Coscarelli
uses him to good effect, creating an enduring horror villain in the process.
With its proactive young heroes who take the fight right to the Tall Man (and
who drive a really cool 1970s muscle car), Phantasm is the perfect sort of
adolescent fantasy that was aimed at the teenage kids of its era. But now, over
thirty years after its release, it's still an enjoyable flick to watch with a
gathering of people, especially on Halloween. The Anchor Bay DVD has great
special features set up, with a commentary by Coscarelli and his actors, a
thirty minute retrospective documentary that's fun as well as enlightening,
deleted scenes, and other good stuff. The Phantasm series has just kept on
rolling along over the years, but the first film that started it all remains a
fun romp; it's the cinematic equivalent of a haunted hayride: despite your best
efforts not to give in, you still wind up being scared, and have a great time in
the process. The superior sequel is even better.
--SF
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