MGM/UA
Home Video | Review by Dan Taylor
PHANTASM
is one horror series that I have seriously
mixed feelings about. I thought the first
installment stood on its own so well, and
created such a creepy pre-ELM STREET dream
vs. reality state, that I would've been
happy if they stopped right there.
P2 did the unthinkable by
getting new actors in some key parts, but
the emergence of the "Reg" character
(as played by series regular Reggie
Bannister) made it more enjoyable than
most sequels to classic horror flicks. By
the time P3 rolled around, especially in
its truncated US-release form, it got pretty
hard to tell just where the series was going.
The original cast had been reunited, but
even I was confused by what was "happening"
to Jody (Bill Thornbury) and Mike (A. Michael
Baldwin). And, when we last left our heroes,
Mike was getting operated on by The Tall
Man and Reg was trapped by hundreds of spheres!
Whew...
Which brings us to PHANTASM
OBLIVION. Original reports, including our
own interview with Bannister, had the flick
titled PHANTASM 2000 and scripted by Oscar-winner
and PHANTASM fan Roger Avery. I'm not sure
what happened since the flick is credited
to series creator Don Coscarelli (who wrote
and directed all four installments) and
it would be hard to imagine part of the
PULP FICTION creative team pounding this
mish-mash of time travel, silly action and
flashbacks out of his word processor. Then
again, Tarantino did helm JACKIE
BROWN...itself a mish-mash of time travel,
silly action and flashbacks.
The story has to do with Mike
going back in time in order to stop Jebediah
Morningside (Angus Scrimm back again) from
becoming the nefarious Tall Man. Mike, who's
beginning to LOOK like one of the creepy
Jawa-like dwarves in the series, figures
this can change everything. But it seems
a future without the Tall Man is just ONE
of the alternate realities which can result
from the BACK TO THE FUTURE-esque plot device.
Meanwhile, poor Reggie gets
stuck with the job of kickin' dwarf ass,
gettin' thrown up on and suffering through
what seems like half an hour of flashbacks.
Hey, at least he gets to drive the 'Cuda,
although I coulda sworn it was a
hardtop in installments 1-3.
Give credit to Coscarelli
for weaving a tremendous amount of leftover
footage into this episode's storyline with
little or no effort. Then again, the dream-like
quality of the entire series makes this
type of logical liberty feasible.
Though not horribly unwatchable,
I can only recommend the flick to the most
die-hard PHANTASM fan. Then again, if you
do rent it, keep your eyes peeled for the
STAR WARS visual references sprinkled throughout
the Death Valley scenes.
