If I were to actually sum up 1979's "Phantasm" in just 3 itsy-bitsy words - Those words of my choice would be - "Absolute. Putrid. Rubbish."Yeah. OK - I can understand (40 years ago) an impressionable 16-year-old kid watching this horrific nonsense and (as a result) being satisfactorily "awed" by it.But seeing this contemptuously erratic excrement today (as a mature-minded adult) - It was, without question, a total insult (on all counts) to the sound reasoning of any thinking person.Containing no logical coherency, whatsoever - This completely stale fright flick - IMO - Was the absolute nadir of trashy/cheesy 1970's horror.

I first heard of Phantasm when its sequel came out. Barry Norman reviewed it and admitted that he hadn't even heard of the first film. Neither had I.Fortunately my sister in law had a friend who had closed down their video business and so gave her a lot of the videos he used to rent out. She lent me two films that could be classed as life- changing. One was The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The other was Phantasm.The film starts off like standard horror fare- sinister goings on at a small town American mortuary. But then the film starts to get more and more surreal. Its like a lot of the film inhabits a dark dream-like world.Check out the scene where the lead character goes to see a local seer. Add to that the chase scene in which Michael chops off The Tall Man's fingers and takes one home. This film is most famous for the flying silver spheres within the funeral home. These spheres certainly don't disappoint.And then there's the soundtrack which fluctuates between gritty analogue synths of doom and funereal organs. I found the soundtrack on CD and within the sale section of a local and long gone record store. One of the best purchases I've ever parted money for.Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man deserves recognition as one of the scariest and most sinister baddies of all time. Hes unrelenting, otherworldly and the inhabitant of many viewers nightmares.This film was remastered and released at cinemas across America last year. And it deserved the 4K treatment.File this film under 'underrated'. Also file it under 'masterpiece'.

I found out about this film from horror compilation Ultimate Boogeymen: The Killer Compilation, which consisted of notable scary movie villains, killers and monsters, I was hoping it might be something worthwhile. Basically following the deaths of his parents, 24-year-old musician Jody Pearson (Bill Thornbury) raises his 13-year- old brother Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) in a small Oregon town disturbed by the mysterious deaths of its citizens. Family man and ice cream vendor Reggie (Reggie Bannister) joins the brothers in their suspicions of the local mortician, dubbed the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), they believe he is responsible for the deaths. Mike relays his fears to a Fortuneteller (Mary Ellen Shaw) and her Granddaughter (Terrie Kalbus) about the possibility of Jody departing and leaving him in the care of his aunt, and his suspicions about the Tall Man. Mike is shown a small black box and told to put his hand inside, something grips his hand, he panics, before being told to calm down, and the grip of the box relaxes, he is taught that there should be nothing to fear but fear itself. Mike decides to enter the mausoleum, and finds the lair of the Tall Man, a series of corridors with wall burials, he is pursued by flying silver spheres, capable of drilling into the head of a victim, and a number of minions, that are in fact deceased townspeople, their corpses have been shrunk down. Jody and Reggie are sceptical about Mike's stories of what he has found, but they are eventually convinced, they all enter the mausoleum, and find white room filled with containers, as well as two beams. Mike unintentionally finds that the beams are a gateway, leading to another planet, he enters this briefly, and sees the dwarfs working as slaves, Reggie tries to escape from the Tall Man, but appears to be stabbed and killed. Mike and Jody barely escape, and devise a plan to lure the Tall Man into a local deserted mine shaft and trap him inside, they are successful, then Mike suddenly wakes up, lying next to the fire. Reggie is there and tells him he was having a nightmare, in fact Jody was killed in a car accident, this has been a common occurrence for Mike. In the end, Mike enters his bedroom, he is shocked to find the Tall Man there waiting behind the door, and he is dragged through the bedroom mirror by one of the dwarf minions. Also starring Kathy Lester as Lady in Lavender, Kenneth V. Jones as Caretaker, Susan Harper as Girlfriend and Lynn Eastman-Rossi as Sally. Scrimm does make a menacing villain, but it sits right between imaginative and illogical, a macabre fun-house mortuary is fine, and the shiny flying balls drilling and spilling blood are nasty, but the science-fiction stuff and slave dwarfs take it to a ridiculous level, a weird but sort of alright cult horror. Okay!

Sometimes, a film or song wedges itself in our minds because of a certain point in time or occurrence in our lives. That's what happened for me with Phantasm.It was October 1981, close to or on Halloween. My girlfriend and I were in college, both with full course loads and both working near full time. I ended up at her studio apartment late one night, and she was too tired to do anything, so she crashed early. The wind was slightly chill and rustled through the dying leaves on the trees, sounds which came through the open windows. She had a comfy Lazyboy, I had a cold beer, and the room was very, very dimly lit. With nothing else to do, I settled in for a little boob tube action.Near the beginning of the movie, there's a scene where one of the lead characters, Michael, catches fleeting glimpses of dwarf figures scurrying between tombstones. That scene FREAKED ME OUT that night, and I was hooked for the rest of the film. Hooked on the film for the rest of my life, as it seems.I recently revisited Phantasm for something like the twentieth time and started thinking about what makes this movie a critically acclaimed horror fan's favorite. Here's some observations:The basic story line is fairly solid and easy to follow, though the script is nothing to write home about. The acting is average to mediocre but, yet, we actually care what happens to these characters. Kudos to writer/director Don Coscarelli for creating some backstory to the two main characters, brothers who lost both of their parents and are now all the family they have left. Michael, the younger, exhibits the insecurities and awkwardness of adolescence, while his older brother shows the confidence and fearlessness of the man he has become. Their best friend, Reggie, adds a feel good camaraderie indicative of many 1970s films.There are certain visuals in the film that stand out, though the cinematography is an exercise in contrasts. For me, the stark, pure white Morningside mortuary building lit by full force sunshine is emblazoned in my mind. Also, the black and white faux marble interior scenes are harshly lit, while the rest of the film's exterior shots are dark and murky. The silver sphere rounding corners is a hallmark of the special effects, as are the scenes of the other world.The soundtrack is subtle, eclectic, but superb. Although not as recognizable as John Carpenter's Halloween or Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells from The Exorcist, Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave use synthesizers, electric guitars and bass to compliment scenes and heighten tension, without being overbearing or obvious. And then there's, of course, The Tall Man - Angus Scrimm, who's presented as the malevolent evil foil to the love of the brothers and their friends. Though he's in the film a limited amount of time, each appearance is larger than life. For example, his relishing the coldness of Reggie's open ice cream truck is absolutely eerie. And the way he pops up when you least expect him. You cringe when he growls, "BOY!"I also remember a few "firsts". Phantasm was the first film that I can recall that successfully married the horror and sci-fi genres. Also, the scene where Michael is looking at an old photograph and The Tall Man begins to move is the first such device I can recall in modern horror, a full 23 years before the Harry Potter movies did the same thing.All in all, Phantasm scores while many contemporary films fall off. Maybe they're trying too hard.