Das Böse II

I saw "Phantasm II" before watching any of the other Phantasm movies, and despite its shortcomings, it converted me into a fan of the series. While it has an effective atmosphere and an interesting array of characters, the plot certainly could have been more carefully written. There is one part where Mike risks his life handling a very dangerous flying sphere and uses it as a key to open some weird door, but the movie fails to show the purpose of opening that door. Sure, it shows you what lies behind the door, but that's it! Mike and his friends don't really do anything in there! Also, the Tall Man goes through the trouble of luring Liz into a trap, but he just throws her against a wall once he catches her. If Liz was such a threat to his evil plans (as the plot asserts), then wouldn't the Tall Man want to make sure she's dead? Still, when you have a couple psychics, an ex-ice cream vendor, a mysterious hitchhiker, an army of dwarves, flying spheres and a rather omnipotent--and scary-looking--old guy called the Tall Man rolled into one picture, the movie promises to be interesting, and it delivers for the most part.

Compared to the other Phantasm movies, I liked "Phantasm II" better than "Phantasm III" and "Phantasm: Oblivion," but it's not quite as good as the original Phantasm.

In the tradition of other horror movie franchises, Phantasm takes the action route for this sequel. The horror and sci-fi are still there but there's more combat, stuff blowing-up and gore than there was before. I suppose it does keep things fresh but it does get a bit too tongue-in-cheek sometimes. Kinda like Evil Dead II, I'm not sure if this really fits in with the tone set by the first film.

Phantasm II begins right after where the first film left off. The freaky dwarfs have invaded Mike's home and Reggie must foil the Tall Man's attempts at kidnapping him. Flash forward seven years and Mike is in a mental institution. He is released upon admitting that the whole Phantasm experience was made up only to find that in his absence the Tall Man has been plundering many of America's small towns and thousands of graves are empty.

After the Tall Man kills Reggie's family in a gas explosion, Reg teams up with Mike to hunt him down and kick his head in...again. All they have to do is follow the trail of dead people, right? And this time they are ready for whatever outlandish tricks he's ready to play on them, armed to the teeth with quadruple-barrelled shotguns, flame-throwers and chainsaws. Complicating matters are Mike's inexplicable visions of the future and psychic connections to a mysterious girl he has never met before.

As before, the Tall Man is the best thing in the film. Angus Scrimm is so wonderfully silent and unholy that no matter how slick and entertaining the rest of the film is he'll come out on top.

Don Coscarelli was given a budget 10 times that of the original by Universal, but they did interfere with production quite a lot, much to his annoyance. They said that only one of the original cast members could return, so he chose Reggie Bannister and re-cast Mike with James LeGros (after turning down Brad Pitt!). It does kind of ruin the continuity a bit but it's not terribly distracting.

They also demanded a more simple and linear story, so don't expect any of the bizarre dream sequences and flashbacks. If you're a big fan of the first this might seem disappointing but you know how studios love to think less of their audiences.

The higher budget helps Phantasm to have a bigger scope than the original. The first half of the film feels like a road movie with lots of pretty scenery while the rest is kind of like a low-rent Ghostbusters/Lost Boys clone. Which sounds like a negative point, but the hokey tone of the film vanishes when it heads off into HP Lovecraft territory.

If you're looking for answers as to what the first film was all about then you won't find many. In fact it raises more questions than anything else. But it's still a fun ride. I'm just kind of annoyed that the music took the more generic synth approach that was common in the 80's instead of the funky 70's beats we got before. The main Phantasm theme is still there for your enjoyment however and gets a great finish on the end credits.

WELL.... You GET.... What You PAY for!

You will HAVE TO INVEST an Hour and a 1/2 of Your life in PHANTASM II.... I would say.... OK... Fair Enough!

BUT BEFORE DIVING IN....

FIRST... Let us FOCUS on the Title's Content and Context:

When I saw PHANTASM in a theater in 1979, I liked it so much (9*), I went back a week later and saw it again! I missed Phantasm II while I was living in Colombia, So I decided to take a delayed-by-25-years look! My psyche was all set to enjoy PHANTASM II to the max! I hadn't seen much in the horror/terror genre in recent years, because I really don't like the direction the genre has been going in throughout the past 1/4 century. 8 to 9* was what I was hoping for...I was somewhat disappointed, but will give it 7.5*.

Let's talk about P-2 for a moment...The whole film is based around sustaining a mood of imminent danger, a foreboding atmosphere. If you agree to go along with it, providing suspension of disbelief, you'll probably get a nice kick out of P-2. IMHO elements of the film, music, sound effects, lighting, pacing, etc., all contribute well to that end. So if you are genre-friendly , let's bump my 7.5* UP to 8*! If the horror/terror genre usually isn't your cup of tea, well let's round DOWN to 6*...Fair enough? In this case, I'd say having seen the original PHANTASM would add tend to add a Star to rating P-2, so it does help, but isn't absolutely indispensable.

I really had forgotten how much gruesome gore there was in the original. There's probably even more here, but a lot less than in recent offerings, undoubtedly influenced by PHANTASM 1 and 2, like the SAW franchise (YECH!) As is typically the case in "B" movies, the acting and dialog usually leave a lot to be desired, but, hey, we don't watch these scouting for potential Oscar-nominees, now do we?!?

Bottom-line: ALL of you who are, or have been horror/terror film buffs; a semi-cult classic you won't want to miss, or that you'll want to REDUX! If not in the above group...MAYBE NOT!

In either case...ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

Any comments, questions or observations, in English o en Español, are most welcome!

A Michael Baldwin wasn't in this movie as Mike for some reason the part was given to another actor however A Michael Baldwin returned for the third and the others that followed in my opinion A Michael Baldwin is 'Mike' like christopher reeve will always be superman.

I can't explain in words how much I love the Phantasm series. Each film is a direct continuation of the last and each time we get answers to questions about The Tall Man while at the same time more are being asked. Phantasm II is probably my fave in the series not because of the action (most phans say it's the most action packed but I think part III holds that honor) but really this is the only one where Reggie and Mike are side by side and in my opinion thats why it's the best (in all the others Reggie being the horn dog he is is trying to find mike AND get laid...which is still cool). I can't believe that no other phans have mentioned how much Phantasm II mirrors Evil Dead 2 (I know they've had to notice it) that however is not a problem cause right next to the Phantasm series is the Evil Dead series. Just look at it and you will see what I'm talking about. Phantasm II follows Evil Dead 2 by going into comedy at times, others have complained that Phantasm III had comedy but they for some reason they forget II did also....it just wasn't as campy but still was funny, like when Reggie beat a dwarf creature into pieces by going crazy on it with the end of a shot gun or the look on his face when Alchemy is riding him and smacks him on top of his head and when he pulls a chainsaw on the graver at the end only for the graver to pull out a really LONG chainsaw...and of course just about everything Reggie says is funny. And like Ash getting equipped with his chainsaw in ED 2 Reggie gets his now trademark 4-barrel shotgun, and the scene where the mortician gets a sphere in his back and bounces all over the room makes me think of ED 2. But believe me Phantasm II is not a copy cat of ED 2. It still has some creepy stuff in it like the scene where the grandfather is getting his mouth sewn up. But this movie screams atmosphere more than anything, with it's great score and visual style really helping to push that home. All the actors give great performances and The Tall Man is the ultimate villain thanks to a great creepy performance by Angus Scrimm...all he's gotta do is twitch an eyebrow. Also the scene where the priest gets it is really cool (you can tell that the MPAA made them trim it though but thats just my opinion). But I think what really separates this horror series from most is that in almost all the other you root for Freddy, Jason, or Michael Myers and even though I love The Tall Man (God bless you Mr. Scrimm) Reggie is without a doubt THE man. Some people may have Indiana Jones or any of those guys as their fave characters but mine will always be Reggie (played perfectly by Reggie Bannister) along with the Ash character from Evil Dead (Bruce Campbell...need I say more), Herbert West from the Re-Animator series (Jeffrey Combs...one of the funniest actors around) and the best character Kurt Russell (no introduction needed) EVER played....no it's not Snake Plissken...but Jack Burton from the great Big Trouble in Little China. Sorry for going off on a rant there just wanted you to know. Anyways Reggie is the glue that holds the series together. Why Universal has not put this and part III out on DVD is beyond me, yet they will do another DVD edition of The Mummy remake. I think the reason this series is not as well known is because of the studio's killing it's chances (check out the web site on how they released Phantasm II) and instead of going in different directions to gain mass appeal (like the Elm Street series....which if I'm right Don Coscarelli was offered to direct part 2...the most under appreciated of that series) the Phantasm series as they went (and hopefully go) on tried to please it's core audiance. And the series keeps the same characters through out so you really care for these guys and like them want to know what the hell is going on. I love these movies more than any other series and hope they are continued to be made. Hopefully we will see that Roger Avary penned script be made into a movie soon.