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The Phantasm series of films is yet another one of those cases IMO of sequels coming close to dliuting and just flat out damaging what made the original film so special.

The 1st Phantasm film (released in 1979) is a justifiable horror classic.  While the acting at times is amateurish, I really think that it actually adds to the film's charm and off kilter nature.  The film is just so freaking weird!  Some people have accused the film of not making sense at all, and even though it doesn't bow to any kind of conventional narrative structure, it does make sense if you use your brain and pay attention to what's really going on.  Just enough information is given but not too much to take away from what's transpired.

This is where the sequels really screwed up.  Phantasm 2 (released in 1988) is much more of an action film of sorts.  While the original didn't need a sequel, out of the 3 sequels so far, the 2nd one is still kind of enjoyable as an almost spoof of 80's action cliches  even if it isn't scary or creepy at all. 

The 3rd and 4th Phantasm films (released 1994 and 1998 respectively) took the story into completely disasterous areas.  The 3rd in particular is just a terrible film all around.  Even some of the hardcore fans of the series hate this movie.  The 4th film tried to turn things around by going back to more of the sci-fi-horror style  of the first film.  They did this by incorporating excised footage from the original 1st movie and working the modern day scenes around this footage in terms of a basic plot.  But where the 4th film was advertised as wrapping everything up, all it did was just create even MORE questions.  I really think that the only reason the 4th film kind of worked slightly at all is due to the inclusion of the 1979 footage which makes up about half of the film.

Anyway, I didn't really want to go into plot specifics in case someone hasn't seen the films but here's how I would rate the entire seires out of 4 stars:

PHANTASM   (1979)   ****
PHANTASM II      (1988)   ***
PHANTASM III: LORD OF THE DEAD  (1994)  *1/2
PHANTASM IV: OBLIVION    (1998)  **

(http://www.impawards.com/1979/posters/phantasm.jpg)

(http://www.iconsoffright.com/Mainstream/phantasm.jpg)

(http://www.takeourword.com/images/phantasm.jpg)

(http://www.zone-sf.com/images/phantasm4.jpg)

(http://www.toxicshock.tv/interviews/reggiebannister/pics/phantasm_II_poster.jpg)

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cb/Phantasm_3.jpg/200px-Phantasm_3.jpg)

I've only watched the first one as I heard the other ones are crap.  I know, I know.  I need to watch them.  But I'll give you my thoughts on the first one.

I was in the Navy and while we were on cruise my friends and I watched it.  They thought it was cheezy and stupid but I thought it was really well done.  It's more of an atmospheric movie.  Sure, some of the effects don't hold up (the rubber mutant fly in the kitchen and finger in the box) but it sets the tone and they make the main characters likable.

The movie has the feeling of a Lovecraft story.  Grave robbing.  Interdemensional things trying to take over our world...and just an overall creepy feeling.  It is a low budget classic.  I wish Hollywood would relearn that less is more.

I have never been much of a fan of Phantasm. Though there are fun elements to the first film, it does make little sense. Someone certainly can inject their own semi-logic into the film to make sense to themselves, but that does nothing for somebody else watching the film.

Having seen Phantasm IV, it makes me wonder how much better the first movie may, or may not, have been had they kept some of the footage. The missing footage from the first one certainly makes part IV an interesting watch for that, not to mention that it is the first time since the original that all of the original actors repeated their roles.

Part II was mostly memorable for the depressed atmosphere and for Reg's chainsaw fight.

I have not seen part III.

I have primarily caught the sequels on late night TV. They make for something interesting to have on, and I get a kick out of the predicaments Reg can get himself into and out of. Beyond that, though, I don't much care for the series.

Uh oh, you did not just say that...

Phantasm is indeed a horror classic. The acting, weird events, and odd editing are all evidence that it all was really a dream, with the Tall Man popping up at the end for a chilling flicker of doubt. The sequels are indeed convoluted, and perhaps unnecessary after the events of the first film, but do they suck? ##!! no.

One of the most emptyheaded errors that the sequels makes is that the Tall Man wants to capture Mike and not kill him. However, this sets the stage for the rest of the Phantasm game. Where the first gives some basics to the series, "the tall man conquers worlds to make dwarves", "it could all just be a dream", the second finally gets into the significance of out main characters I.E. Mike is not just a witness to Tally's wickedness, but has the potential to stop him. Lord of the Dead (My personal favorite :hatred:) begins the great speculation for the future of Phantasm, when it becomes totally clear that The Tall Man does not only want to kill or dwarfify Mike, but wants something in his head. Not only this but it also gives a taste of the Tall Man's power, that the towns he conquered in the first two films are far from the only ones (also, it's totally cool whilst turning down the cheese of the second, still keeping in several terrifying moments). Phantasm OblIVion was about recapping the series, and helping tie up loose ends the first 3 left. This is not "wrapping it up", it's helping to set the stage to the final confrontation. Sadly, aside from the preceding reason it truly wasn't that good a film. Hopefully, Phantasm 5 will be the wrap you seek.

PHANTASM - dreamy, odd horror/f(ph)antasy film, truly a classic which left us with some tantalizing question marks over our heads. ***1/2
PHANTASM II - Basically 80s fodder, filmwise, but really starts to set the stage plotwise **
PHANTASM III - Finally puts the plot out for you, yes, the Tall Man is out to kill us all, yes, he does want Mike for greater purposes than death or slavery, and no, he doesn't die very easily. ****
PHANTASM IV - A recap, hopefully a prequel to PHANTASM'S END, which will undoubtably be a fine cap on the most mysterious horror franchise that I know of. **

Far from what you said, the Phantasm series is supposed to get more complicated, more complex as it continues, and the sequels are much better than the average horror continuation, because unlike every mindless/wisecracking teen-slasher killer, The Tall Man isn't going anywhere soon. Forget "returning in the sequel", try "returning 2 minutes later", and until Reggie, Jody, Mike, (or the Bruce Campbell character) find his final weakness, the world is doomed.

 I get them all confused.I like the killer balls,though! And the way gook squirts out of the Tall Man's eyes in one of them.

I've seen the first one numerous times and love it. I wanted to see it in the theater when it originally came out, but was unable to convince any adult to take me. I just adore the music in this film. I had a Horror/Halloween site for many years and the Phantasm theme was used on the index page (though one was able to turn it off and on...I hate music that starts up without me wanting it to).

I rented the second one many, many years ago and only watched it the one time. I have not seen any of the others.

I really don't think that the 1st Phantasm should have had a sequel of any kind to begin with despite the fact that I enjoyed part 2.

I like that fact that the 1st movie plays on the whole fact that it's simply about a boy who just happens to see something that he isn't supposed to see and spends the rest of the movie trying to convince adults that what he is saying is actually happening.

I'm not saying that the sequels shouldn't have gotten more complex, but complex doesn't necessarily mean better.  It's almost like Don Coscarelli (the writer/ producer/director) just doesn't have the slightest idea on where the series should head and it's painfully clear that he's just been making it up as he goes along without any concern on how his sequels are tarnishing the reputation of the original film.

the fact that Part 3 added in the plot element that the Tall Man actually wants to use Mike and that there's more to Mike than first appeared is just ludicrous.

I was able to let the whole psychic chick plot thread in part 2 slide because the movie delivered pretty much what I wanted out of a Phantasm sequel, more gore, more spheres while also shedding some light on what was actually going on in the 1st film.

Parts 3 and 4 IMO have ruined a lot of people's perceptions of the original film.

I'm not criticizing people for liking them, but that's just my opinions as I think the 1st film is a hoot and a true horror classic.

I have seen all four of the movies.  The original Phantasm is the best.  The other three are good, but nothing can be as good as the original.

I will admit that they are corny, but that is what makes them great.  Isn't that the reason we have this forum?  We love the movies that are corny to the normal folks.

I have the first Phantasm on DVD and I love it.  It has the trailers and Angus Scrimm does a intro duction.  I love when he says "BOY".

I plan on buy the other three and hope for part five.  As much as I like the films, I hope that it does not turn into something like Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street.


Just my 2.5 cents.

John

Have 2, 3 and 4 on DVD and find them very entertaining, strangely I'm not such a fan of the first one though, it's not as action packed as the sequels or at least I don't remember it being so.  I would quite happily get hold of 5 if it ever appears.

i just picked up the new special editions from anchor bay of Phantasm and Phantasm 3, ive seen both but im gonna do a review of the first Phantasm. Phantasm 3 is presented in its full unrated verision for the first time in north america apparently so im might write one for that too. im a huge fan of the series, they all are cool in my book.

I've only watched the second one, I thought it was a really nice, atmospheric '80s movie.  Rather cheesy, but the killer balls were cool. 

New slogan for the first movie: Fast Cars, Fast Women, Faster Balls  :teddyr:

 :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle: :bouncegiggle:

Ok, so here's my opinion on the Phantasm franchise:

Phantasm - Great old school horror that screws with your mind. You're not sure if what you're seeing is real, or a dream, or what. Plus, who the hell would have expected a balding ice cream man to become the series' hero?! While I have to say its a bit of a snoozer at times, I really do like it.

Phantasm II - Great Caesar's Ghost this is a fun one! (DAMN YOU UNIVERSAL FOR NOT RELEASING IT YET!) Reggie gets his trademark four barrel shotgun, hops in his hemi and travels cross country with Michael to put a hurtin' on the Tall Man. Things get weirder, the effects get better, and .... sigh... could I love it more?

Phantasm III - This one was really fun in my opinion and you just gotta love the little kid with his shiny six-shooter. That little runt would give "The Man With No Name" a run for his money. The only problem with this one (that carries over into the thus far, final film) is that Coscarelli and company attempt to explain the unexplainable.

Phantasm OblIVion - This is definitely the weakest of the series and mainly because things get so out of whack with the storyline. Instead of wrapping things up, they try to dig into the Tall Man's past, and there's that whole weird subplot about Michael's true identity. I was very disappointed with it.

So going from best to worst (in my opinion): Phantasm II, (a tie for second between) Phantasm III and the original, and in last place, Phantasm OblIVion.

Now, from what I understand, Anchor Bay will be releasing "Phantasm OblIVion" in the near future with audio commentary and extras. Also, it seems that Don Coscarelli is looking to finish off the Phantasm saga, though it won't be the futuristic epic with Bruce Campbell that we were all hoping for. (Man, Bruce and Reggie in the same flick? That'd be cool as hell!)

Oh and I like the new slogan for the original Mendard. Very nice! Hmmm.... how about this for a slogan for Phantasm II or III: "The Balls have Finally Dropped...."

Why does my name keep getting a second 'd' in it?

Possible slogan for part V: Less hair, more balls

How much extra gore is present in the unrated version of Part 3?

I think that there was a deleted head exploding shot near the end when Reggie shoots that zombie point blank in the head with the super shotgun.

Sorry Menard my bad.  :teddyr:

BTW, I picked up the new Anchor Bay release of the 1st Phantasm film today at Circuit City for only 12.99.  It came with an awesome poster as well and apparently one out of every 7 is signed by Don Coscarelli.

I've had the original MGM special edition DVD that came out in 1999 of the 1st Phantasm film (which was just a port of the Elite laserdisc release) and had been perfectly content with that even though it didn't have anamorphic ehancement for the picture.

I'm a bit disappointed that the Anchor Bay release didn't carry over all of the bells and whistles that made the MGM disc so great. The disco remix of the main them and Bill Thornbury performing a complete version of "Sittin' Here at Midnight" isn't on here as well as all of the wordwide press materials/posters.

The commentary track on the Anchor Bay one is the same as well which is disappointing as Angus Scrimm had to re-record his comments due to microphone problems which makes his comments about twice as loud and doesn't fit in as a whole.

The one great thing about AB's release is that the film has finally been anamorphic widescreen treatment and looks fantastic.

I'm going to hang onto my MGM disc as it's been out of print for a while and use my Anchor Bay disc for when I want to watch the film.

Torgo, you just asnwered by burning quesion about the new Anchor Bay release -- I've got the MGM one as well. THanks, I'll be picking up the new one later this week =D

There was a fifth one?

I've seen the first four, and my favorite, and actually the only one I enjoyed, was the fourth one.

But, I must admit, the silver balls in the series of films has to be one of the greatest iconic images in horror films.

I was just suggesting the slogan for the fifth one, if it were to be made.

There is a new 36 minute documentary which is comprised of stuff from the 1 and half hour doc on the mammoth Region 2 box set.   They mainly just used stuff relating to the 1st film.

Phantasm - dirty, low-budget, "do the best with what they have", atmospheric mind-F*ck flick.

Phantasm II - bigger budget, lots of action, four-barreled shotgun, Reggie becomes moviedom's least likely action hero, more blood, more balls, hopelessness and terribly marketed. The Evil Dead II of the series.

Phantasm III - less budget than the last one, no Hollywood backing, spirals from cool into corny, child hero, pink hearse, too "cute".

Phantasm IV - promised to be the bring the series back to the serious, "artsy" form of the first one but ultimately ended up as some confusing, vicious cycle type thing that either leaves open the chance for a fifth installment or leaves it as some kind of repeating loop of movies...

Bear in mindd, people, Menardd ddiddn't like Zarddoz.

Oh man, my girlfriend picked up the boxed-set (though it would be more appropriate to call it a "balled"-set I guess...) for me for my birthday last year. Best. Gift. Ever... for two reasons: it's the only legitimate Phantasm II DVD I'm ever going to be able to get and, of course, because it's the coolest damn packaging EVER.

Oh darn; now they'll all know I have good taste, mister double d. :tongueout:

I would say you have a one-gutter mind, Menard..

... but of course I'd be calling the gutters dirty, then.   :twirl:

Gutters ain't that dirty.  :teddyr:

I watched the whole series in the wrong order (those days before owning a VCR), so my favourite is and probably will ever be #2, which is the first one I saw. It has everything! Lots of action, eerie atmosphere and a mystery that doesn't seem to need a final explanation. I watched #3 some years later, fun flick but yeah, pretty weak when compared to the rest. Then I finally saw #1 and liked it, but found it kinda slow.

I saw #4 on Tv a few months ago. It's definitely an improvement over #3, it has a better atmosphere and it gives the impression Cosacarelli has a convincing ending for the series in mind. Still, the low budget and the poor pacing take their toll and ends up being rather unsatisfactory.

I'd really like that Cosacarelli manages to get a good script and ends up the serie in a good way, before it's too late.

(http://www.mobius.name/blog/images/phantasm.jpg)

I saw the original PHANTASM way back when and found it frighteningly strange; the blue-white light and clinical starkness of the fluorescents in the embalming room, the droning hum of the otherworldly teleportation device, the tall man's determined clomp clomp steps through the masoleum, his bellowing "BOY-ah," the portal to a wasted world of slaves, the stolen dead . . . weird s**t, if you'll pardon my French.  Logic doesn't matter in a film like PHANTASM, which is all atmosphere and creepy thrills (in fact the tall man looked like Uncle Creepy if anybody remembers those old Warren magazines.)  PHANTASM was so original, I have to call it a classic (though hardly "old school" as Jordan stated). 
The second film was a fun, "action-packed" revisit, with its share of creepy moments, but inferior as it ultimately lacked the novelty of the first film.  Haven't seen the rest, but expect the usual downward spiral for sequels that were never intended. 

I still can't figure out Universal (who still retains the US rights to the 2nd film) hasn't done a proper Region 1 DVD release of Phantasm 2.

They would even have to put any extras on it, just as long as it's proper anamorphic widescreen! 

I really need to get a region free DVD player and a PAL to NTSC converter. 

For less than $50, you can do the same thing with a Philips model DVP642 (http://www.amazon.com/Philips-DVP642-DivX-Certified-Progressive-Scan-Player/dp/B000204SWE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6185236-3734244?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1177386741&sr=8-1) or DVP5140 (http://www.amazon.com/Philips-DVP5140-Multiformat-Windows-Support/dp/B000F2KUK8/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-6185236-3734244?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1177386741&sr=8-2). They both have a built-in PAL/NTSC converter and you can go to http://videohelp.com/ to get the conversion codes for them; which is a simple 5 digit code you can enter from the remote to make the player region free. Other Philips models will work as well.

Or even better, you can transform your computer DVD drive into a region free player with AnyDVD (http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html), it's only $49.