Fantasma II

This was a rather good movie and when it came out there was quite the advertising campaign for it. One that horror movies rarely got back then. The first one though was still better, this one sort of picks up where that left off as there is some backtracking, but I actually liked the way the first one left off. It had a good spooky finish and this movie sort of ruins it. Angus Scrimm is good as the tall man and the guy who played Reggie is back as well. Jodie, however, is played by a different guy, though it doesn't detract to much from this one as he was a kid in the first so you don't really notice. However, when they switch back to the original kid in the next one it is a bit noticeable. Here we have Reggie and Jodie going after the tall man. He has basically wiped out both of their families so they now have nothing left to lose. They get themselves an arsenal that includes two shotguns secured together that for some reason would become popular. So popular in fact that they would return in the next movie even though it was clearly dropped and left behind in this one. The tall man has his weapons two as he has three spheres of doom here. In the next movie they would pretty much be the main focus, but here they are still just a weapon used by the tall man. He also has his dwarfs and his creepy morticians. This one is a bit more action oriented than the first and not as creepy, but it does work rather well and is entertaining.

I can't say I really liked Coscarelli's follow up to "Phantasm" much, at least I can't say I enjoyed the first hour a whole lot. Where the original film is like a waking nightmare, this is a pretty routine horror action flick filled with weird plot gaps and silly ideas. But then the last half hour happened, and I have to say I begrudgingly endorse this flick ... but only for the gleefully outrageous gory climax.

While it isn't the iconic horror film it's predecessor was, Phantasm II is backed by better production values, a cool apocalyptic premise and a stand-out improvement in James LeGros replacing Baldwin. There is a reason why LeGros has appeared in a great deal more than Baldwin (including a hilarious parody of Brad Pitt in Living in Oblivion) and shows it here in spades. Frankly I feel this was as good or better than the first but the required shock ending that punctuates each of the films in this series has grown tiresome and makes each feel like they do not truly stand on their own as their own experience. Nevertheless, the entire series is original, imaginative and involving. Phantasm II really should have capped off the series with it's big budget backing, as the very next film in the series felt a lot like Alien 3 where the film picks up characters from the second film discarded in a very unfortunate and disappointing manner...but I digress. Phantasm II is solid, quad barrel shotgun monster blasting fun and a must see for monster movie fans everywhere!

It's been many years since the events of the first film, and the now grown Mike (James Le Gros) reunites with old friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) to wage war against the otherworldly Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) and his plot to harvest the dead for nefarious purposes. Mike is also aided by psychic girl Liz (Paula Irvine), with whom he has a mental connection.

In the 9 years between the first and this sequel, Phantasm had developed quite a cult following, and with the horror market booming, Universal gave director Coscarelli a much larger budget to work with. The result is an entertaining, if derivative, continuation. The narrative is much more linear but no less outlandish, as the Tall Man and his minions lay waste to entire towns. This being an 80's film, stuff has to blow up real good, with several giant fireballs exploding into the air, as well as a fetishistic weaponry montage. There's also some gratuitous nudity on display, and inventively gory effects from Greg Nicotero and Robert Kurtzman, among others. Coscarelli had obviously watched Sam Raimi's Evil Dead films a few times, as this lifts some camera shots from those, as well as emulating their horror-meets-black-comedy tone. Still, as far horror sequels go, this is one of the better ones, in my opinion, and it has developed its own cult following, as well as influencing future efforts from others (Eric Kripke, the creator of the long-running TV series Supernatural, borrowed a few things from this.

Whoever made the poster for "Phantasm II" was smart enough to depict the movie's two drawing points: Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man, and the flying metal ball. Don Coscarelli must have felt like he'd hit the jackpot when Scrimm signed on for the first movie - and all the others. Here is an actor whose very appearance invites fear; he's like a Jack Palance stand-in. The series' attempts to give him supernatural abilities and yellow blood don't really amount to much; they should have just let him hang out in the background looking evil.

You might recall that the first "Phantasm" movie was basically a few neat schlock effects with no cohesive story or characters to string them all together. I remember wondering if the budget was spent entirely on effects that Coscarelli couldn't wait to show the world - and thus skipped writing a screenplay or developing characters.

"Phantasm II", which, like all sequels, has an obviously bigger budget, possibly proves my theory to have been incorrect. This one has more schlock effects, but makes no more sense. It also has many of the same flaws as the first one, such as pointless driving scenes with tense music giving the impression the characters are on their way to a showdown, but you never know where they're going, or why, so the scenes just play as boring filler.

The bigger budget also apparently paid for some incongruous action-movie like scenes, such as a house exploding, or a car flipping over.

At least the first five minutes of the movie actually explains what The Tall Man is up to: he robs graves to turn the occupants into zombies who kill the inhabitants of small towns. Then, he moves onto another town's graveyard, and starts all over again.

The first movie really should have made that clear.

This relatively auspicious opening makes the viewer hope "Phantasm II" might make more sense than its prequel.

Alas, it is not to be.