• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Phantasm

M

Mighty_Emperor

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Messages
19,407
I'm sure we've discussed this elsewhere but it looks like a box set is being prepared:

www.anchorbay.co.uk/perl/search.pl?CO=ABDTBC02

so I thought I might as well post that and start a thread as I do quite like them (for what they are).

Phantasm:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0079714/

Phantasm II:
www.imdb.com/title/tt0095863/

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead
www.imdb.com/title/tt0110823/

Phantasm IV: Oblivion
www.imdb.com/title/tt0138703/

------------------
This site has a good overview of the series:
www.zone-sf.com/phantasms.html
 
About time too. I love these films. It's about time someone made a Tall Man action figure too.

Favourite Tall Man moments:

1) "The graveside ceremony is about to begin, SIR!"

2) "When you die, you think you go to heaven. You don't. You come to US!"

3) The Tall Man prowling though town in slow motion in the first film.

Favouite Reggie Moments:

1) Reggie discovers he doesn't have the biggest chainsaw

2) Reggie VS the undead traffic cop

3) Anytime Reggie puts his sunglasses on


Bits I just don't get...

1) Who on Earth is that mad old fortune-telling woman, and what is her relationship with the Tall Man?

2) Where do the zombies in the third film come from?
 
Ooooooh! My favourite horror series of all time, remastered and with extras? Can't wait.

grayalien, your number 2 Tall Man moment is my number 1 Tall Man moment. I just love that quote. I also love "You may not take your own life. That is my domain exclusively".

Let's face it, the entire series is cool as all get out. Let's hope this boxset and the unexpected success of Bubba Ho-Tep will lead Coscarelli to finally get backing for Phantasm: Endgame. Let's face it, at 78 Angus Scrimm's not as young as he once was, and we shouldn't bank on him being around indefinately.

Oh, grayalien, two things you don't get? Are you sure we're talking about the same series of films? I've seen them all a dozen times, and there's hundreds of things I don't really get. Where the gravers came from is the least of them. Lord knows, we now know how (and if) Jody actually died, but...we only have Jody's word for it. And, possibly most importantly, have any of the films actually happened, or is it all a dream?
 
The first film was GREAT according to me, it was one of the most effective nightmare-inducers I've seen. The dream zone quality really makes you want to mnake sense of it, but it never quite comes together.

My questions:

1) Who was the busty Woman In White who seduced people to their death in the first film? AFAIK she didn't appear in the other films.

2) What is the exact nature of the other world that the Tall Man opened up?

3) What is the source of the Tall Man being able to constantly regenerate?

And let me add that Reggie is COOL! Me & my brothers used to call him the Mellow Milk-Man because he drove the ice-cream truck and was such a hipster. But such a great character!
 
I agree that this is one of the few series to actually effectively evoke a sense of true dream logic. Most films that try for it just seem like they're trying. These ones genuinely makes you wonder what is going on, and are all the more unsettling for it.

As for your questions, let me see which I can answer to the best of my ability...

grayalien...

1) She was Jebadiah Morningside's mother before he became The Tall Man. Exactly how she became what she was in the first film is anybody's guess, but you can expect that Jebidiah's experimenting "infected" her, too.

2) We would have to assume that they are the living who have been infected with The Tall Man's yellow blood, as opposed to the dead who are reanimated and compressed by it.

Mr. R.I.N.G,

1) Well, she's the Lady In Lavender. A servant of The Tall Man. What, you wanted more than that? Well...I dunno. Neither does anybody else.

2) Again, who can say? I mean, we kow it's The Tall Man's home dimension, and we know that they use reanimated dwarves in barrels as slaves. I suspect that if more than that is ever explained, it'll be in the last film in the series.

3) Well, he is the Lord Of The Dead. He can also travel through time, space and dimensions at will. I suspect that dying just transports the "soul" to another dimension. As such, it is of little consequence to him.

There's a scene I remember from my first viewing of Phantasm III, which I've not seen in any print since, where The Tall Man walks out of the Dimension Gate, picks up his dead body (killed in the 2nd one) and just chucks it through the gate. It suggests either that dying simply moved him somewhere else, leaving a husk behind, or that this was a Tall Man from another time.

As it is, there are 2 things we know for sure about The Tall Man. First, his physical appearence is that of Jebadiah Morningside, whose experiments with Dimension Gates opened the door for The Tall Man to enter this world (including to times before the gate was invented/activated*). Secondly, we know he is an alien. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.

*In fact, what is particularly interesting is that the majority of all 4 films happens before he first comes to Earth. When he clutches the Sphere which has exited Mike's head and steps through the Dimension Gate, it is to the past - being Jebadiah "coming back" from his first trip through the Gate.
 
If I remember rightly from Phantasm 3, at one point they trap the Tall Man in the cold room of a mortuary, hoping that the low temperature will kill him. He collapses, then a golden ball tunnels out from his head and starts whizzing around. So I guess eithier the 'essence' of the Tall Man is in the ball - or else maybe the ball is just a device being operated by some entity in the other dimension, and the Tall Man is simply a remote-controlled puppet.

Hence, in order to stop him, you'd actually need to journey through to the other dimension and find out whos pulling his strings.
 
Well, don't forget that the Spheres have brains in them, and that from number 3 onwards, Mike also has a Sphere instead of a brain (or maybe as well as). So the Golden Sphere which is in The Tall Man's head could actually be The Tall Man. We also know that he has tentacle-like worms in his head.
 
There's a press release about it on the New Line site so it looks pretty definite:


LOS ANGELES (March 10, 2005) – New Line Cinema has struck a deal with filmmaker Don Coscarelli to bring a new version of his cult horror film Phantasm to the big screen.

Coscarelli will produce the remake of the classic film, which will give a 21 st century upgrade to the original 1979 film. The new version of Phantasm is being designed as a relaunch of a potential horror franchise.

Phantasm revolves around the evil “Tall Man” who moves from small town to small town, turning the local dead into slaves as he prepares for an otherworldly invasion. Armed with his deadly Silver Spheres, an army of shrunken warriors and half-man/half-machine constructs, the Tall Man will stop at nothing short of domination over our space and time. It's up to Mike - a young boy with signs of growing psychic power himself - his older brother Jody, and the local ice cream man to uncover the plan and save our dimension from annihilation.

The project is being overseen at the studio by New Line executives Jeff Katz, George Waud and Stokely Chaffin.
Click to expand...

http://www.newline.com/press/2005/0310_phantasm.shtml

The "half-man/half-machine constructs" sound intriguing. Unfortunately they don't make any mention of casting. It's tempting to hope that New Line will create something with the budget and production values of their "Lord Of The Rings" trilogy, but realistically speaking, something along the lines of "Freddy Vs Jason" is probably the best we can expect.
 
Reggie talks Phantasm TV and topless chicks...

May 6: Reggie Bannister talks new PHANTASM

At last month’s Cinema Wasteland convention, Fango talked to PHANTASM veteran Reggie Bannister—who, like the rest of us, is waiting to find out more about the new franchise entries that Don Coscarelli is co-writing and will produce for New Line. "I’ve been picking their heads, but they won’t let me read it," he says of the first new script, which Coscarelli has written with Stephen Romano. "Don keeps things pretty close to the vest.

"Steve has brought a really fresh new approach to the series," adds Bannister, who notes that he isn’t sure whether the project is a direct remake or a fresh sequel. "I believe Don never really wanted to do a remake per se, but he and Steve are very clever, so if there is a way around a simple remake, they’ll find it. With the PHANTASM story, you can certainly take a 90-degree turn at any point and satisfy both ends of the equation: The distributor who’s bought the original story and wants to see that told, and the older fans who want to see something wacky, that goes the PHANTASM-land distance."

The actor further reveals that the script will undergo a further polish by another writer ("They’ve been talking to Stephen Susco, who wrote THE GRUDGE, but who actually ends up doing it we’ll just have to see") before going out to directors, and that a PHANTASM TV series may also be in the offing. "Don and Steve have talked about that, and I’d certainly like to be involved as an actor," Bannister says. "I’d also be interested in helping to produce it. That would be fun, and if we were going to do a series, we wouldn’t take it someplace like the Sci Fi Channel. I’d like to go to a network where people can speak in normal language, and if a chick’s top comes off, nobody’s going to freak out. With channels like Showtime, Cinemax and HBO—I mean, the language in DEADWOOD is totally over the top, and I believe they do that just because they can, to a certain extent. And if you want an adult series, you need to be able to do that. So if there was a PHANTASM series, I’d want to be talking to those channels, so we could really do some good stuff."
Click to expand...

Source: http://www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=3970
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
I'm sure we've discussed this elsewhere but it looks like a box set is being prepared:

www.anchorbay.co.uk/perl/search.pl?CO=ABDTBC02
Click to expand...

That link doesn't work but they have pictures and details available and well take a gander:

abd4430.jpg


Phantasm 1-4 (5 Disc Box Set) (Sphere Box Set) (Future)


If This One Doesn't Scare You, You're Already Dead!
Directed by Don Coscarelli
Cast:

Phantasm:
Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister, Kathy Lester, Angus Scrimm, Terrie Kalbus, Ken Jones, Susan Harper, Lynn Eastman, David Arntzen, Ralph Richmond, Bill Cone, Laura Mann, Mary Ellen Shaw, Myrtle Scotton.

Phantasm II:
James LeGros, Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm, Paula Irvine, Samantha Phillips, Kenneth Tigar, Ruth C. Engel, Mark Anthony Major, Rubin Kushner, Stacey Travis, J. Patrick McNamara, A. Michael Baldwin, Amanda Gray, Elizabeth Quezada, Lauren Gray, June Jordan, Megan Gibbons, Craig Murkey, Amanda Gibbons, Troy Fromin, Georgeanna Valdez, Guy Alford, Irene Korman, Ricky Murkey, Katie Carlin, Delia Ortega, Lee Craig, Ramona Ortega, Richard F. Berry, Patrick W. Allen, Phil Fondacaro, Ed Gale.

Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead:
Reggie Bannister, A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Gloria Lynne Henry, Kevin Connors, Cindy Ambuehl, John Davis Chandler, Brooks Gardner, Angus Scrimm, Irene Roseen, Sarah Scott Davis, Duane Tucker, Claire Benedek, Wendy Way, Robert Beecher, Chuck Butto, Beau Lotterman, Paula Irvine, Jennifer Bross, Samantha Phillips, Kathy Lester.

Phantasm IV: Oblivion:
A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister, Bill Thornbury, Heidi Marnhout, Bob Ivy, Angus Scrimm, Christopher L. Stone, Chloe Kay, Sylvia Flammer, David Gasster, Sasha Kassel, Aidan Kassel, Eric Avary, Andy John, George A. Craig, Steven C. Kassel, Robert Gates, Todd Mecklem, Jason Jacobs, Michael Perkins, Colin Jessup, Stanley Potter, Yrava Regor, Brett Schweinfurth, Robert Tomaszewski, Roger Avary.


DVD Extras...

# Phantasmagoria - An All-New In-Depth Feature Length Documentary on the Phantasm Series
# More Brand New Featurettes and Special Features To Be Announced Soon!
# Brand new extras are also in preparation.
Click to expand...

www.anchorbay.co.uk/perl/search.pl?CO=ABD4430

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!!
 
Should you find yourself in Baltimore next weekend, you could get to meet Don Coscarelli, Reggie Bannister and the legendary Angus Scrimm at the Horrorfind Weekend:
http://www.horrorfindweekend.com/state/ ... ities.html

Oh, and some guy called Bruce Campbell is going to be there as well. And Kane Hodder - the finest thespian to ever strap on a hockey mask and go butchering teens.
 
I love the credits for Phantasm. It's all variants of Don or his mum. I bet she designed the sphere DVD box set and all. Bless. And did Reggie's fine singing performance ever launch his pop career?
 
I only ever watched the first two, the original i owned on betamax :lol: , alas gone now :evil: .... however the box set in the sphere is a must have , which would make my collectaphille brother burn with envy...where's my credit card :twisted:
 
I've never seen any of them, but that interview in the latest issue got me interested. That sphere thing is tempting...
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
So they are now available for pre-ordering (out at the end of the month):

Sphere (£34.99 reduced to £25.99):
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000B ... ntmagaz-21

Digipack (£29.99 reduced to £22.49):
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000B ... ntmagaz-21

£2.50!! The price just begs you to get the sphere :)

Good interview with Don Coscarelli in the current FT too :)
Click to expand...

Well my Sphere turned up today (it burnt its way through the front door and embedded itself in the wall - I think its part of the free P&P) and the extra money (1 shiny English pound - on Amazon it is £24.99 compared to £23.99!!!!) is soooooo worth it. The Sphere is a thing of beauty - a touch of self-assembly requirewd (but rather than that than the prongs arriving broken) but it is larger than I would have thought and sooooooo shiny.

I'll obviously be watching the films tonight but at the moment I'm just watching the Sphere.
 
I got mine delivered on the day of release in an enormous box from Amazon and had no idea the sphere was life sized, I imagined it would be the approximate diameter of a DVD.

Haven't watched them yet however as they a Xmas pressie from Mrs Heckler.

(which means a little squiffy on Xmas day I'll be running around the house sphere in hand going woo woo around corners and 'sphereing' members of my family)
 
I asked for it for Christmas. Hopefully it should sit proudly next to the Lament Configuration puzzle box set of the Hellraiser films I got last year :D

The BBC have been showing Phantasm films in the past week. Lord of the Dead is on tonight at midnight and Phantasm II was on last week.
 
Heckler20 said:
I got mine delivered on the day of release in an enormous box from Amazon and had no idea the sphere was life sized, I imagined it would be the approximate diameter of a DVD.
Click to expand...

I think its bigger than life-size - most of the spheres are a bit bigger than fist-sized (in 2 one goes up through a guy's throat) - this is kid's football-sized.

It might get the vote for best box ever although I haven't seen the US Evil Dead II Book of the Dead with speaking eye so.....
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000A ... ntmagaz-21
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000A3X ... enantmc-20
 
Ah! I saw that edition of Evil Dead in Silverscreen, Brum a couple of weeks ago!! Unfortunately it isn't bound in human skin- more like rubber ;)

I have so got to get that Phantasm sphere box set...
 
TheQuixote said:
Ah! I saw that edition of Evil Dead in Silverscreen, Brum a couple of weeks ago!! Unfortunately it isn't bound in human skin- more like rubber ;)
Click to expand...

Boo - they may be saving that for the reall really special issue.

TheQuixote said:
I have so got to get that Phantasm sphere box set...
Click to expand...

They are great.

I might take a photo as long as no one objects to relfectoporn in this day and age.
 
I treated myself to the Sphere boxset today. The sphere itself feels as if it is made out of rather cheap plastic, and I was a little disappointed to find that the top doesn't screw on. Still, it certainly looks the part, and comes complete with a tastefully unobtrusive little base to stand it on.
 
£8.99 is crazy money considering what you get but I do recommend people buy the Sphere - it is a thing of beauty.
 
There's also an action figure of the tall man out at the moment. Unfortunately the head sculpt is disappointing, the legs don't move at all, and he looks as though he's wearing a rather cheap leather jacket. He comes with a stand featuring a pair of tuning forks, a rather well realised dwarf, and a sphere. When you attach him to the stand, he leans forward at a drunken angle, but there's no other way round it as he seems incapable of standing up on his own.

All in all it's rather a botched job, and hardly the best tenner I've ever spent. On the other hand, it's probably the only Tall Man figure they'll ever make - and it doesn't look too bad from a distance. With the lights turned down.

If you look for him on the web, be aware that some online stores seem to be showing photos of the better-looking prototype rather than the actual finished figure. Here - sadly - is what he really looks like:
http://www.necaonline.com/cultnews17.html
 
At last - Phantasm 5!

When the surprise news broke earlier this week that a fifth Phantasm movie — called Phantasm: Ravager — was not just in the works but had actually been completed, it raised an awful lot of questions. Who directed the latest entry in the beloved cult horror franchise about the ghoulish, mysterious Tall Man and his lethal flying spheres? Which previous actors from the series (if any) would be making an appearance in the film? And when might we see some footage from the first Phantasm movie in 16 years?

EW can confirm that Phantasm: Ravager is directed by filmmaker and artist David Hartman, whose résuméincludes the TV show Transformers Prime and the Rob Zombie videos American Witch and Lords of Salem. Hartman also worked on the films Bubba Ho-Tep andJohn Dies at the End, both of which were directed byPhantasm overlord Don Coscarelli. Coscarelli himself cowrote Phantasm: Ravager with Hartman and produced it through his Silver Spheres company with executive producer Brad Baruh.

“I felt it was time to let someone else play with my train set,” said Coscarelli in a statement. “David and I go back to my film Bubba Ho-Tep. He did terrific visual effects on that, and more recently created a wild animated sequence and some amazing visual effects in my most recent film, John Dies at the End. Our aesthetics are in sync and he’s quite an experienced director in his own right.”
Click to expand...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1wOobOGa4w

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/03/27/p ... exclusive/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top