Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Phantasm is an unbalanced enough that most will either be entertained or completely bored. On the surface it doesn’t look like much of a horror film. The cover art (note: the cover art has changed as reflected in the picture Epinions has) has a strange elderly looking gentleman doing his best Spock eye expression while holding a clear ball designed with razors and a bloody drill. Further investigation uncovers that the films centers around a curious 13 year old Mike Pearson/Michael Baldwin who one night sees a body being removed from a cemetery by a creepy undertaker who seems to possess an unusual amount of strength. Thrown into the mix is the aforementioned crystal ball that flies around and attacks people for reasons not completely known or uncovered for quite some time in the movie’s short 90 minute running span.

What perhaps makes Phantasm scary is that it is hard to understand and therefore hard to predict what is going to occur. But, as an audience if it is hard to understand it can also become hard to enjoy and therefore either way the amount of scariness can be greatly reduced. Throughout Phantasm, we are never completely sure what is really taking place, and more importantly, why it is taking place, and even if it is taking place. The movie could be considered a pre-Blair Witch Project, which had the same forces requiring audience members to get more engaged in the movie (especially their ears) although some reviewers would probably heavily disagree that Phantasm and Blair Witch are even remotely similar or should even be mentioned in the same sentence.

As I mentioned earlier, the story revolves around Mike. Mike lives with his brother Jody/Bill Thornbury because both his parents have recently died. For Mike, most of his days are spent hanging out with his brother and his brother’s friend Reggie/Reggie Bannister or wandering around the Morningside Cemetery. Undoubtedly, Mike is intrigued by the cemetery because of the recent deaths of both his parents. One day while observing the cemetery during a funeral, Mike sees something that he cannot easily explain. A Tall Man/Angus Scrimm, the cemetery’s undertaker takes a body out of its grave and carries it away. Upon further investigation, Mike finds out that the dead are miniaturized and shipped off to a supernatural place. The dead also wander around the cemetery killing anyone who may get too close to their secret (hence a scary scene with the dead chasing Mike) – and worse, a weird looking cylinder travels around intent on killing any trespassers as well.

After Mike escapes, he runs straight to his brother and Reggie and tells them what he saw. Put into motion are the thoughts from Mike of “we need to save the town” and from Jody and Reggie “is this all in my brothers imagination.” Watch and see.

Missing the explosion of 80’s teenage horror films by one year (film was made in 1979), director Don Coscarelli’s choice in picking a 13 year old to play the main part was dead on. At 13, Mike is pre-sexual experiences and therefore the horror doesn’t have to revolve around a fact popularized in the 80’s that sex equated death. Also at 13, Mike doesn’t have an abundance of childless behavior. He simply is 13, an age we’ve all been before – although maybe not in the same circumstance as he finds himself in.

Also missing from Phantasm that the 80’s made sure we saw, was an abundance of gore and death. Besides a few scenes where unlikely characters encounter the circular ball I mentioned earlier the gore factor is kept to a low minimum. You won’t see lots of blood, lots of death (besides those who are technically already dead!) – and when a couple of those scenes do occur they won’t be the highlight of the film either.

Another great choice by director Don Coscarelli is his decision to blend several genres into Phantasm. The obvious theme of course is horror, but there is also a science-fiction element to the movie, and what one could call experimental from the uniqueness of the story, characters, and overall pace and presentation of the film. One such use is Coscarelli’s choice in music – which operates almost on a subliminal level. Phantasm has a theme (when I say theme think of the introduction to John Carpenter’s Halloween that had a clear theme, other horror movies like Scream or even Nightmare on Elm Street were lacking themes!) that continues through most of the film. The music never gets in our face – although it does get deep into our ears and minds that things are not quite like what they should be.

As for the other actors, for the most part Jody and Reggie (Bill Thornbury and Reggie Bannister respectively) are less important than 13 year-old Mike. They are however required, since obviously the 13 year-old would not be living alone at that age after his parents died, and at 13 he surely is going to tell someone else what he saw – and therefore out of necessity it is required to have the characters Jody and Reggie – although what we are supposed to center on is of course the evil Tall Man and 13 year-old Mike.

Speaking of the Tall Man/Angus Scrimm he’s right up there with Max Schreck from Nosferatu. The way he not only carries himself, but also uses his long fingers and can easily distort his face into terror brings his otherwise dead character alive.

For whom I’d recommend this film to is a bit tricky. One part of me thinks that any horror loving viewer would enjoy Phantasm – even if that horror loving viewer only loves films with an abundance of violence or gore – both for the most part missing from this film. Another part of me thinks that there are viewers out there who loved films like The Blair Witch Project – where it wasn’t so much what you saw that scared you, but more of what you heard and could imagine was happening. Plus, Phantasm’s science-fiction element could be considered a little cheesy, not just because of the story but also because in 1979 the special effects were a little elementary to how they are today. But still, Phantasm is a great horror movie. Slow in its set up, eerie in its story construction, and quite realistic in all the characters background, actions, and thoughts. If you have time this Halloween, rent Phantasm (or buy, the video is part of MGM’s classic series and therefore sold for a fairly cheap price) and experience one of the best horror films of the late 70’s before slasher flicks took over the genre in the 80’s, 90’s, and on.



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS