'Fantasm' Penetrated

'Fantasm' Penetrated (2004)

*** (out of 4)

This twenty-three minute featurette takes a look at the 1976 film FANTASM, which turned out to be the first softcore movies released in Australia. Director Richard Franklin and producer Antony I. Ginnane are interviewed and discuss the making of the film from the pre-production thru the release. If you're a fan of FANTASM then you'll certainly be interested in the stories that are told here but even if you're not too hot on the film itself, this here is rather interesting since these men were making something new for their country. It was interesting getting to hear about them coming up with the idea to make the film and then seeking out to try and learn about some of the famous faces that would end up in the movie. There are a lot of interesting stories told throughout the running time so this here is certainly worth watching.

One learns little about the softcore Aussie movie FANTASM (and its sequel) in this desultory DVD extra, typical of a latter-day craze to preserve trivia about every movie ever made (I'm exaggerating on purpose).

It certainly seems that way, as based on the actual content of the two feature films, well-preserved for video fans by Synapse Films, plus these unenlightening interviews with the producer and director, a "who cares?" reaction is in order.

Director Mark Hartley hails from the music video world, earning him a black mark in my book for starters, and apparently makes a living rehashing the details of mediocre Aussie product. His integrity is suspect here from the outset, as FANTASM director Richard Franklin is coyly referred to as "Richard Bruce" his porn pseudonym, throughout this pointless exercise, meant to obfuscate than reveal.

In a segment labeled "The Bottom Line" we learn that FANTASM was highly profitable, not surprising given its $50,000 budget (not made clear whether that was Aussie or American dollars, quite a difference in the '70s), high by porn standards but minuscule for mainstream feature films. This was perhaps the only relevant factoid in the 23-minute length short: it's all about the money. The flop of its sequel is left unexamined -of course, since these shorts are all about fawning.

Producer Ginnane sort of clears up (reading between the lines is a must for any consumer of these rah-rah & asinine interview shorts) the oddity in FANTASM COMES AGAIN of John Holmes getting billing again, but merely popping up clothed in a nanosecond cameo by the pool. "He refused to get into the pool" is Ginnane's explanation of why not Holmes but porn-hag William Margold, the talent wrangler on these runaway productions (the opposite of the shooting-outside-U.S. cheapie craze of recent decades) shot in California by visiting Aussies, appears in the wet sex scene with two gals. Of course, there MIGHT have been an interesting anecdote why Holmes didn't perform, but evidently that was too much for a 23 minutes of filler exercise to include.