Phantasm: Ravager

Reggie (Reggie Bannister) is wandering through the desert seeking out his friend Mike and the evil Tall Man (Angus Scrimm). Along his journey, he is hunted down by the dangerous spheres and stumbles upon the gorgeous Dawn.

I have to talk about the actors. Reggie and Angus were fine, of course, as they know exactly who their characters are. Dawn Cody is the worst part, with awful acting as Dawn (though she seems to be better as Jane, strangely enough). Daniel Roebuck is a nice addition, even if he seems out of place.

Joe Leydon and Marten Carlson both criticized the film's narrative cohesiveness. Leydon speculated that the film's troubled production may have cause this, and Carlson more directly blamed the film's origin as a series of shorts. This is a legitimate concern. The film is quite a mess, even in a series that has some bizarre continuity. Anyone going in to this without knowledge of the series will be completely confused. (But, of course, it seems obvious not to watch "part five" without seeing earlier chapters.)

Phantasm Ravager is the most recent(and final?) installment to the Phantasm series. While the film is very low budget, as a fan I enjoyed this quite a bit. It has been a while since I saw the last couple of direct to video sequels and seeing this makes me want to check them out again. This film takes us full circle with the original cast of Reggie, Michael, Jody and of course The Tall Man. This story is taken from Reggie's perspective on his search for Michael and his hunt for The Tall Man. This film jumps around to multiple realiities/universes, which ultimately leaves it up to the viewer to decide what is real and what is a dream. Reggie gives a great performance as lead and aging action hero at battle with the forces of evil. In the little down time that he has, he still plays a mean guitar and has some game with the ladies. There are nods to Bubba Ho Tep and while I can't say this film blew me away, as a fan of the series I was satisfied and entertained with this. Reggie Bannister is a very charismatic leading man, his performance here is great and is very under rated in my opinion.

Phantasm: Ravager (2016)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The fifth and apparently final film in the series has Reggie (Reggie Bannister) walking through the desert where he is trying to locate Mike as well as The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm).

That's pretty much the only plot details you need to know about PHANTASM: RAVAGER, which turned out to be perhaps the best in the series next to the original. I really wasn't sure what to expect since there had been such a break in between films but director David Hartman has created a pretty interesting episode that will probably have some people scratching their heads but for the most part I thought it delivered the goods.

I haven't been the biggest fan of the sequels, which is another reason why I was so shocked to see myself enjoying this one so much. The majority of the film takes place at three different settings so there's a lot of guessing as to what's really going on. The setting is constantly changing and you never know if you're in the afterlife, reality or some sort of Hell. I thought this really kept you into the picture but I must say that around the hour mark you start to wish there was something making sense or at least something pointing you into the direction that the film is going.

The film really benefits from the cast members standing up and really delivering the best performances of the series. Bannister is extremely good once again in his role of Reggie and he's actually got quite a bit of acting to do here and he pulls it off very well. Scrimm doesn't get too much screen time but whenever he's on the screen you can't take your eyes off of him. Dawn Cody is also good in her small role and it was great seeing A. Michael Baldwin.

The sphere is back as you'd expect and there's all sorts of gore that will keep fans happy. There's a lot more CGI here than in previous entries and while some of it is very poor it's not too distracting. PHANTASM: RAVAGER isn't going to appeal to everyone as I'm sure some will have an issue with the ending. I personally thought it was a great way to end the series.

Not at all what I expected. At first I was all enthralled, but then as I saw what they were doing with the story I was more like "What the heck, guys?"

For this being the "last" one, they sure didn't tie up any loose ends. I felt the general theme was a cop-out. I waiting for it to resolve, but it never did. Well, it kind of did. Too much bouncing around and not enough substance. Perhaps if it were another 20 to 30 minutes of substance, it would have been an awesome movie. Substance as in meaningful human interaction, dialog, dynamic plot devices... cutaway scenes to previous movies did not help.

Don Coscarelli did not direct it and I hear it had a really low budget, so maybe that's what happened??

I thought Reggie Bannister did a good job.

I can't go into details as I do not want to generate a spoiler alert.

I'll start by saying that the Phantasm series is one of my all- time favorites. Each film progressively follows & continues the story line, but each film reflects upon the filmmaker, actors, crew, & time in which it was made. In that respect, Phantasm Ravager fits right in with the series. It has its own style, look, & feel, and, like the other sequels, it's trying something slightly new but with all the old gang in tow.

I've read a few reviews complaining about the budget & the effects, as well as the fact that nothing is really resolved. As far as the budget: no fan of the series would be looking for much else. This has been & will be a low budget series til the end. Ravager is a fairly ambitious story & it fairs just fine with what it has to work with. As for resolution: no true Phan would ever expect or want anything resolved in the series. Throughout the series, any potential answer always brings with it a multitude of new questions. Ravager does the same. To give any concrete answer would fly in the face of everything that is a Phantasm film. One negative online review claims the film spits in the face of the fans by presenting a definitive and disappointing denouement. Again, nothing could be further from the truth. You take away exactly what you choose to take away. There are multiple interpretations and, like the entire series, it all rests with viewer.

In the end, is the film as great as it could be? No. There can always be improvements to everything. It is not quite the grand finale I personally expected, yet I always depend on these films to stray from expectation. Am I happy that there is a new installment to endlessly analyze upon further viewings? Absolutely! The Phantasm series is something different to every Phan. Each Phan has there personal favorite, their personal theories, and their personal readings of the films. Phantasm morphs as the viewer does, remaining fluid, and forever changing. And like any good art, the Phantasm series, including Phantasm Ravager, remains open for infinite interpretation.