Time to take a look at a low-budget oddity that became a cult classic and turned into a franchise.
I have been peripherally aware of Phantasm for most of my life. It came out when I was still a baby, and so I’m sure that random TV airings, video store box art and, more recently, internet articles about horror movies have painted a picture in my mind. I was aware of the most iconic image of the film (pictured above) and that there was a tall man and a weaponized floating sphere, but I had no real conception of what the movie is about. Having finally sat down to watch it, I have a slightly better conception of what the movie is about.
The first thing that struck me is that there is a real effort on the filmmakers’ part to develop a spooky, dream-like vibe. The first twenty minutes of the film exist entirely in graveyards, mausoleums or candle-lit rooms occupied by mute psychics. Angus Scrimm, as the film’s lanky antagonist, cuts an imposing and eerie figure, as well. As viewers, we are thrust in the deep end along with 13-year-old orphan, Mike Pearson, who is trying to sort out the strange things happening at (and adjacent to) Scrimm’s funeral parlor. If I had to describe the plot, I would call it a supernatural mystery, though it defies easy categorization. Mike, along with his older brother Jody, and their ice cream vendor friend, Reggie, must navigate the Tall Man (Scrimm) and his many minions in order to figure out what is going on, or I guess why so many of their friends and family are dying. The end goal isn’t exactly crystal clear. Once they uncover definitive proof that nefarious deeds are afoot, it’s a race to put an end to it before they are stabbed, or murder-balled, or shrunk down into evil Jawas. It’s a weird movie.
As I alluded to above, we get some answers to the central mystery, but a lot of questions remain, especially when you factor in the twist ending, and the twist in the middle of the twist ending. It feels very much like an outline of a rich universe that has a ton of backstory yet to be filled in. Presumably, that’s what the many sequels strive to achieve. Overall, though, the uncertainty works to the film’s advantage in some ways. A lot of the horror comes from Mike not having his bearings about him when the next crazy thing happens, and that feeling comes through to the audience as well. This is a very low-budget movie, but the acting is pretty decent, and all of the characters are either memorable or likeable. Reggie is a great example of the “cool dork” character that you used to see in the seventies and eighties (think Styles from Teen Wolf), and I wouldn’t be shocked if Scrimm wasn’t at least a partial inspiration for this guy:
I am curious about the rest of the series, but it’s not like I’m motivated to rush right out and continue the story of the Pearsons and the Tall Man. If nothing else, I feel like a gap in my horror movie education has been (mostly) closed.
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