(1979)
"If this one doesn't scare you...You're Already Dead!"
"I am fascinated and frightened by the American way of death...how a corpse is spirited away by the mortician to some place we are not allowed to go, refabricated by the embalmer, and grandly interred. I knew the subject would make a great horror movie." - Don Coscarelli
Directed, written (in an isolated mountain cabin in an intense three weeks), photographed and edited on a modest $300,000 budget by Don Coscarelli, who was only 24 at the time, and starring Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister, and Angus Scrimm, "Phantasm" ranks high on my list of camp classic horror films.
Jody Pearson (Thornbury) is 24 and doing his best to raise his 13-year-old brother Mike (Baldwin) in their small hometown after the deaths of their parents. As a result, Mike exhibits separation anxiety issues, and follows his older brother practically everywhere he goes, including a funeral. After the funeral Mike sees the mortician, a creepy-looking old tall man (Scrimm) easily pick up the coffin under one arm and steal it, including its contents.
This of course triggers his already active curiousity, and along with his brother and their ice-cream vendor and musician friend Reggie (Bannister) he becomes involved in trying to stop the Tall Man, who in addition to his superhuman strength shows a talent for flinging whizzing lethal silver spiked spheres at people's heads. The Tall Man ploddingly pursues Mike while darkly calling out to him, "BOYYYY!" (the most-quoted line in the film, and with good reason).
The bodies pile up (and disappear) as the Tall Man reanimates them to be dwarf slaves in some alternate world...still with me? As ridiculous as this all sounds (and is), combined with the great soundtrack, sometimes unintentionally hilarious dialogue and visuals, and bizarre scenes that don't have any relevance whatsoever to the already convoluted storyline (such as Reggie suddenly whipping out his guitar for an impromptu jam with Jody), and some truly campy and gory special effects (the film was originally rated X for the sphere scenes), it somehow all works, because all this and more make "Phantasm" a prime example of the Camp Horror Classic genre. If you enjoy this genre and have never seen this film, you're in for a treat!
Photo credits: New Breed Productions
