Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead

Mike and Reggie continue to hunt the mysterious Tall Man...

According to Reggie Bannister, Universal Studios refused to theatrically distribute the film due to a conflict with Coscarelli. The film was released direct-to-video in 1994. In 1996, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Phantasm III" was one of the top 100 highest selling direct-to-video titles.

Some say this is the weakest in the series. As I have not seen part four yet, I cannot comment with authority, but I will say it is not as great as the original or the sequel. I still enjoyed it, and it has some fun moments and good special effects, but little seems to happen overall. But I suppose any time you see Reggie with a flame thrower, that is a good thing.

I grew up loving The Phantasm series and in my book the first and second film are untouchable. Phantasm 2 was a studio film with a decent budget. The third film brings Don Coscarelli back to his low budget roots. That is not necessarily a bad thing, the 1st film was made with almost no money, but came out great. James Legross is out as Michael. The original Michael (Michael Baldwin) is back. Of course Reggie Bannister is back to hit the road and try to take out The Tall Man. Angus Scrim also returns to the iconic role of villain. The Phantasm series gets weirder and more sci Fi as it goes. This is no exception. The storyline however is less believable and is riddled with plot holes and supporting characters that come across a little ridiculous. Reggie Bannister is the heart of the movie and should have been an action hero with a billion dollar paycheck. Speaking of action, Phantasm 3 is action packed. However, it was not done as well as it was in the second film. I'm guessing the problems that the film has could have been fleshed out provided there was more time and money to shoot this. I still found Phantasm 3 pretty enjoyable as a whole. I liked it much better when I intially rented it on its video release. The next film from what I remember was really strange and for a Phantasm film, that's saying a lot.

As the title states A. Michael Baldwin and Bill Thornbury return as brothers Mike and Jody in Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead. It took about 25 years in between watching part 2 and part 3, but I think it is a good third installment in the series. Although I had minor problems with characters and the story. After Mike is caught by The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), Reg with his quadruple-barrelled shotgun and skullet in tow goes in search of Mike. He meets Tim (Kevin Conners) and Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry) along the way. I did enjoy Rocky's character as she was armed with a nun-chunk and attitude for Reg to deal with. It was Tim's character I had minor problems with. It wasn't Connors portrayal, but rather the credibility of the character and his abilities with a gun of a kid who looks like he is 12. Also some villains comes back as laughing zombies. Guess what? Jokes are NOT scary. The more jokes Freddy Krueger cracked the less scary he became. With the story it was beginning to feel that Coscarelli is going back to the same well perhaps too many times by the third movie with some story points, but some of the new characters do assist with this (e.g. Rocky being the attempted love interest and giving Reg some attitude). By the fifth part the well is totally dry. The two points though weren't enough for me to not enjoy the movie as a whole and Scrimm is still and always was great in the role as The Tall Man. But, if you love the spheres they get a real showing here with a lot more info about them, so if that interests you that may be a plus for you as well.

Emerging from a coma after the events of the last film, Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) reunites with pal Reggie (Reggie Bannister), but only briefly, as he's whisked off to another dimension by the sinister Tall Man (Angus Scrimm). Reggie then sets out to try and find and rescue Mike, aided by 11-year-old orphan Tim (Kevin Connors), and ex-soldier Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry). Also featuring Bill Thornbury, Cindy Ambuehl, Brooks Gardner, and John Davis Chandler.

Universal ordered yet another sequel despite the poor box office of the second Phantasm film, and while Coscarelli was given greater creative control (he was allowed to bring Baldwin back from the first film as Mike), the budget was smaller. Unfortunately there's not much inspiration to the proceedings this time around. A lengthy segment featuring new kid Connors battling criminals in his home comes across as a dumb, R-rated take-off on Home Alone. The mythology of the storyline is greatly expanded , with names given to the flying spheres (Sentinels) and hooded dwarf servants (Lurkers), as well as completely explaining the Tall Man's purposes and use of the corpses he harvests. Some revelations about Mike, as well as his brother Jody (a returning Bill Thornbury), will come as a surprise. The movie was completed in 1993, but Universal kept it on the shelf for over a year, finally opening it in a couple of theaters in 1994 before eventually dumping it virtually direct-to-video in 1995. It's lost the novelty of the first film and lacks the production value polish of the second and gives you just too many characters to care about. (5/10)

Unlike many other reviewers, out of the Phantasm series, I liked this one the best. They really had fun with this one and didn't take themselves too seriously. And it was actually funny!

The movie picks up where the second one ended, but I don't think you necessarily need to see the first two movies to enjoy this one. There are plenty of flashbacks and, frankly, it's a pretty crazy story to follow in any case. I think this one actually made more sense than the first two.

The first Phantasm was an amateur pet project that was literally a bunch of friends working weekends putting together a horror movie for fun. It was and is a cult hit.

The second movie had more money behind it but, in my opinion, tried to take itself a little too seriously for such ridiculous subject matter.

For me, this movie had the perfect balance of horror and comedy. It was hilarious, horrific, and sometimes both at the same time. Good fun with decent make-up effects and an amazing car stunt with a hearse. I also really liked the way they introduced one of the main characters, the kid. I could see that idea being a great movie on its own: Home Alone done as a horror movie.

In the DVD commentary (yes, believe it or not, I even listened to the commentary) Baldwin asked Angus what the fan reaction to this movie was. He said that people either hated it for the comedy element or loved it because of it. I'm in the latter category.

If you're looking for top-notch acting and dialogue or a story that makes sense, this is not your movie. But if you like b-horror movies on the humorous side, I definitely recommend you give this one a shot.