Available at Amazon.com
Written and Directed by
Don Coscarelli
Cast
Michael Baldwin ………. Michael
Bill Thornbury ………. Jody
Reggie Bannister ………. Reggie
Kathy Lester ………. Lady in Lavender
Angus Scrimm ………. The Tall Man
Running Time: 88 minutes
Rated R
DVD Release date: April 10, 2007
All right, it’s hard to talk about Phantasm without a number of spoilers. They are inevitable. Then again, I’d imagine that the only people reading a DVD review of Phantasm are those who have already seen it. I’ve always contended that the best way to view the picture is to be tricked into watching it. In fact, I’m fairly certain that no woman has ever seen Phantasm without a bit of subterfuge or trickery involved.
Phantasm is the third and probably the signature film of director Don Coscarelli, the Drive-in auteur who brought us Beastmaster and Bubba Ho-Tep. This film tackles that deepest of theological questions: What happens when we die? It affords us the answer that we get transformed into evil midgets in order to be used as alien slave labor.
The story goes something like this: 13-year-old orphan Michael has a couple of problems, 1) he fears being abandoned by his older brother Jody; and 2) he fears the strange little Jawas running around the local cemetery, who seem to be under the purview of the town’s lanky mortician and his blue eye-shadowed subordinates.
As it turns out, the mortician is a shape-changing alien with yellow blood and fingers that turn into big fuzzy insects when severed and left in a closed container. He is also responsible for transforming your dead family members into evil, cloaked, angry dwarves.
Oh, and he has a nifty stargate.
And a nasty, hovering Christmas ornament that stabs people in the face before drilling a hole into their brains.
Rather than transfer out of school and move in with an aunt in a distant town, Michael decides to fight back. He uses knives, builds an exploding hammer, wields shotguns and nickel-plated 45s, drinks some beer, and drives a sweet, black Plymouth Barracuda. Aiding him in his quest is his drifter-ish older brother, who offers sound advice on gunplay, and the local ice cream man.
The film doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It has virtually no budget, and is populated with non-actors, and was made by a 23-year-old director. Taking all these things into account, and grading on the curve, Phantasm is a great movie.
Starring the Grammy Award-winning (for liner notes) Angus Scrimm (nee Lawrence Rory Guy) as the iconic Tall Man, A. Michael Baldwin (no relation) as Michael, Bill Thornbury as Jody, and horror convention fixture Reggie Bannister as Reggie.
The DVD
Considering it is only one disc, there’s quite a bit of stuff here.
We have a commentary track by Don Coscarelli, Michael Baldwin, Angus Scrimm, and Bill Thornbury. It’s recycled from the Laser Disc release, but serviceable nonetheless.
Covering a bit of the same material is Phantasmagoria, a 30-minute documentary/making of/behind the scenes special. It’s good for what it is.
The DVD also gives us a vintage 1979, 30-minute interview with Don Coscarelli and Angus Scrimm.
There are 8 minutes worth of deleted scenes. They aren’t really labeled, there is only one chapter, and some of the deleted scenes would more aptly be titled bloopers.
We get a Behind-the-scenes bit, which is a home movie style account of the production of Phantasm, something called Actors having a ball, a Fangoria commercial with Angus Scrimm as the Tall Man, a 10 minute Angus Scrimm convention appearance, Trailers for Phantasm and Phantasm III, as well as their TV Spots.
Other trailers for Don Coscarelli films are here too, like Kenny and Company, Lance Henrikson vehicle Survival Quest, and his Masters of Horror piece.
