Phantasm II

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.

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.

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 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.

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!