 Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm series
as a whole has a pretty turbulent, yet intriguing history.
The idea was entirely Coscarelli’s. The original
film was made low-budget and became a cult success. It
took nearly a decade for the first sequel to come out.
Studio pressure forced Coscarelli to recast one of the
central characters and the big-budgeted Phantasm
II was a box office flop (it made its money back
and not much more). Despite the fact that both
films were completely awesome, the likelihood of a third
film was slight.
For this reviewer, the early nineties were comparable
to the dark ages. With no Internet, I had zero way of
knowing what was coming out or when. My horror knowledge
was limited to whatever I could read when my local comic
shop or grocer would bother to stock Fangoria,
so my first realization that they made Phantasm
III: Lord Of The Dead was
when I was watching cable late one night and saw that
it was coming on. I remember thinking it was a
school night, the film didn’t
start until 2 A.M. and I had to be at football practice
at 6.
The next morning I was groggy,
tired, and disappointed. My coach made it all the worse
by making me to run an extra mile for not being prepared.
I think Coscarelli owes me a few laps around the
track for that.
Phantasm III starts essentially where
the first sequel left off. Mike (A. Michael Baldwin)
is in a coma. Jody (Bill Thornbury) has been dead for
a decade, Reggie (Reggie Bannister) has still pimped
his shotgun so that it has four barrels and thusly is
made for some asskickin.’ This is all explained through
a flashback at the beginning, which features footage
from the prior films. From there things get convoluted
(every Phantasm fan
ever just laughed at that sentence, no doubt). Apparently,
our vertically enhanced villain of superhuman strength
known only as The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) has been slowly
making his way across Oregon, laying waste to small towns.
He kills people, makes midgets outta them and sends them
to an alternate dimension to be his slaves. No
one knows why. It’s likely we never will. Anyhow,
Mike recoveres from his coma but his reunion with
Reggie is short lived, and soon he is under the
control of The Tall Man.
 Reggie, now alone, begins to search for The Tall Man.
His trek first brings him to Holtsville where he meets
up with two new companions. Tim (Kevin Connors) is a
resourceful little bastard who has been using his wits
to survive since The Tall Man killed his entire family
(and the town). The other is tough-as-nails bitch Rocky
(Gloria Lynne Henry), a Grace Jones look-alike/martial
artist. Jody, it seems, isn’t entirely dead. He has
been made into one of The Tall Man’s flying spheres,
but somehow retained control over himself and can fight
on the side of good. How? What? Why? Huh? – Seriously!
You can’t
figure this shit out no matter how hard you try. Just
enjoy the ride.
My main problem with Phantasm III isn’t
the plot. It’s the fact
that it doesn’t come with that “Straight
Outta Compton” level of horror movie ferocity that
the first two films did. It’s a bit more jokey, as
when Reggie kills four midgets with one shot. Even more
painful are Reggie's pickup lines, such as “ever
try vanilla?” Calling
dialog like that "groan inducing" would be overly complementary.
 Even in light of all that, there is still plenty of Phantasm fun
to be had. The Tall Man himself is as menacing
as ever. Angus Scrimm chews up every scene has he
wonderfully, a trait shared with every film in
the series. The horror is toned down a bit in favor of
action, so there are some great sequences including
a car chase with Jody’s old Hemi Barracuda
- a beautiful beast in its own right. There's a little
less gore than in the first sequel, with fewer people
murdered by the spheres, though a Frisbee with saw
blades was a fun touch.
What stood out the most for me when I first watched Phantasm
III on cable, and still resonates with me today,
is the incredibly bleak ending. It’s difficult to
discuss without giving it away, but it’s safe to
say that Tim, the curiously independent little boy,
is stuck in a very scary position by the finale.
Without going into details, one sphere is a  bitch to
handle – imagine taking on over a hundred.
The effects are great throughout the series, but this
sequence is one of the most effective. It’s
certainly the dreariest of the four.
For fans of the other films in the series, I recommend
Phantasm III for the badass ending, the
cool chase sequence, and of course the killer silver
spheres – but
then again most Phantasm fans have probably
seen III already. Make no mistake;
this is not the film the uninitiated to start with. Go
pick up Phantasm first.
It’s wonderfully unique, and a classic of the horror
genre.
The DVD Presentation
Aside from being a bit soft, the video for Phantasm
III looks exceptionally good. There isn’t
a whole lot of visible grain. The film is presented
in anamorphic widescreen. All in all, it looks better
than I expected a low-budget horror film would.
Anchor Bay got the audio right too. The original
stereo mix is included along with a 5.1 surround track.
Whenever the spheres go whizzing past,
the surround effects are AWESOME! Unfortunately, Anchor
Bay still isn’t
including subtitles on their DVDs. That's the only
problem with an otherwise strong release.
And the Extras Are?
Audio Commentary with stars A. Michael Baldwin and
Angus Scrimm –
Without Coscarelli, this commentary is something of a
missed opportunity. Still, Angus Scrimm is always entertaining
to listen to and paired with Baldwin, the discussion
is lively and nicely balanced between production stories,
special effects, character analysis and the fun they
had making the movie. If you like this series,
this commentary is well worth your time.
 Phantasm III: Behind-The-Scenes – (8:52)
There is no narrative force in these behind-the-scenes
clips, just raw footage
shot while the film was in production. With nothing
driving this forward, I found it difficult to remain
interested, but it was cool (as always) to see the
gore make-up applied.
Deleted Scene – (0:12)
Expecting an in-depth sequence that explains
some lost chapter of the Phantasm mythos?
Don’t. This twelve second clip is just a bit
of The Tall Man following Reggie. It reveals nothing,
and wouldn’t have benefited the film if left in.
Phantasm III trailer – (1:22)
This works well as a tease to the film. It doesn’t
reveal anything of the plot but it shows the iconic spheres,
Tall Man and Reggie and proudly proclaims the series is
back. Oddly enough, Phantasm III never
made it to theatres although this is definitely a theatrical
trailer.
 Anchor Bay Trailer Gallery –
Also included amongst the extras is a collection of other
Anchor Bay release trailers. We get Phantasm, Survival
Quest, the Masters Of Horror episode “Incident
On And Off A Mountain Road” and Kenny & Company – all
of which were brought to us by Don Coscarelli. In addition
to these, we have trailers for the non-Coscarelli films Re-Animator and Night
Of The Living Dorks.
It should be noted that
this DVD is missing the photo gallery, cast & crew
biographies, DTS track and subtitle support
that can be found on the R2 release of the
same title.
The Bottom Line
For me, there is no such thing as
a bad Phantasm film. Phantasm
III is probably my least favorite but it’s
great that Anchor Bay has finally released it in Region
1. I imagine that there are many new horror fans that
haven’t had the
chance to see it. This release makes the continued omission
of Phantasm
II on
DVD all the more obvious and really, these films are
best enjoyed sequentially.
Phantasm III, while great fun, will
offer nothing but confusion for the uninitiated viewer.
I only recommend it to those who call themselves “Phans” and
haven’t yet gone region-free for their fix.
|
