Movie review: ‘Phantasm’

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I hadn’t thought about the wonderful horror flick “Phantasm” for some time, but as I recently researched another movie, I was reminded of it. “Phantasm” is from 1979, but it isn’t just another shallow, gore-driven movie that tried to cash in on the emerging horror flick craze of the late ’70s. While there’s nothing special about its “special effects” (the quote marks are a touch of sarcasm), “Phantasm” has a now-iconic killer silver sphere that is pretty much the signature of the movie and has, in the passing of years, become a cult classic. “Phantasm” isn’t for everyone, but if you haven’t seen it in a couple of decades, try to find it … it’ll be worth your while.

‘Phantasm’
(1979; 89 minutes; rated R; directed by Don Coscarelli and starring A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister and Angus Scrimm)

IT SHOWS ITS AGE, BUT ‘PHANTASM’ REMAINS SCARY

“Phantasm” came out on March 28, 1979, but it was unlike the seminal horror flick “Halloween” (click here for my review) by John Carpenter that had arrived five months earlier. It had its murderous bad guy in the “Tall Man,” but “Phantasm” isn’t a slasher flick in the “Halloween” mold or a vampire effort – it delves into a supernatural, somewhat science-fiction mode.

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The basic story of “Phantasm” and the “Tall Man’s” homicidal, changeling character is that he’s sending Earth’s deceased back to his home planet to become slaves. Thankfully, the philosophy behind this part of the story is downplayed so that you get the full effect of folks stumbling about familiar sights: a cemetery, a funeral home and a mausoleum … you know, all the great places in horror movies!

Although the movie has 1970s production values, it is the underlying story and the now-stereotypical scare scenes (the “Tall Man” appearing out of nowhere; a severed finger becoming an aggressive insect; the “zooming” of a flying sphere that has homicide on its mind) that separate this one from cheap imitators. So, while this does look like the cheap production it is … “Phantasm” is a wonderfully creative horror flick that spawned four sequels – and none of which is really worth watching (sorry to Mr. Don Coscarelli, who is the creator of the lot).

You might not become as frightened with “Phantasm” today because it doesn’t have much gut-churning effects (one exception: the sphere drilling into a man’s head) or that characters, of course, find themselves scurrying about a funeral home and cemetery and that’s pretty passé today.

The story opens with a man being killed by a beautiful woman as they cavort in a cemetery. OK. Well, to each his (or her) own. As friends gather for the burial, the strange antics surrounding the funeral and what goes on inside the funeral home and mausoleum become a talking point among the bereaved.

Along the way, you get introduced to skittering small creatures; the sphere; the woman who tries to seduce potential victims into a homicidal tryst; and, of course, the “Tall Man.” You’ll also find a portal to another universe and the ultimate unearthing (pun intended) of why the “Tall Man” is doing what he’s doing.

All-in-all, the story is much more intriguing than 99-percent of other horror movie stories. So, if you manage to suspend your disbelief and get past the cheesy special effects, you’ll find it scary, but mostly you should find it interesting.

Now, let me write about the cast. It’s not very deep and the actors are pretty raw in their work (you won’t find any Oscar nominations here, much less wins), but they are effective …

  • A. Michael Baldwin (he was just Michael Baldwin in “Phantasm” credits) plays teenager “Mike Pearson” and is the focus of the film. He first comes up with the suspicion of goings-on at the funeral home and Baldwin appears eager and energized in all of his scenes. Baldwin was in his second movie here and had a couple of TV spots (including three episodes on “Eight is Enough”), but that previous work doesn’t show. His acting is pretty raw, but he is watchable and has been in all the “Phantasm” movies.
  • Bill Thornbury plays “Mike’s” older brother “Jody Pearson” and gets good screen time and does a good job. Thornbury, who has had only 10 acting credits (with four “Phantasm” films and his last credit in the last sequel in 2016), should have had a more prolific career. He’s not bad and that’s high praise in this film.
  • Reggie Bannister plays “Reggie” and he’s a friend of Jody and becomes entangled with the brothers’ pursuit of the “Tall Man.” Bannister, who is a friend of Coscarelli, would also be in all the “Phantasm” sequels, has had a more prolific career with 58 credits. He did work on TV, including an episode of “A. Law,” and remains active in Hollywood … mostly with horror-type productions.
  • Angus Scrimm doesn’t get much chance to do much acting as the “Tall Man,” but his physical presence is spot-on and you couldn’t have found a better actor for the role. Scrimm’s body language is nothing short of malevolent throughout the film. He, too, was in all the sequels and I liked him in the little-remembered horror flick “Chopping Mall.” Scrimm had 57 acting credits including work on TV before his death at 89 in 2016.
  • Kathy Lester plays the “Lady in Lavender” who seduces men, who are then killed (with “Jody” being the exception). Lester’s character is actually Scrimm in female form and she has absolutely nothing to work with as “Lady in Lavender.” To her credit, Lester refused to do the nude scene required in the film. Laura Mann, who has only one film credit (guess for which one), plays the physical part as “Double Lavender.” Lester has only four acting credits, with three being in the “Phantasm” series.

The characters with the most potential but utilized the least are the fortune-teller, played by Mary Ellen Shaw, and the fortune-teller’s granddaughter, played by Terrie Kalbus. They are in an early scene and neither gets enough development beyond the one scene. It’s too bad since both do a solid job and could have played expanded roles into the overall plot.

Shaw has only two acting credits including “Phantasm,” while Kalbus has the same two credits: “Phantasm” and a flick from a couple of years earlier called “Kenny & Company.” Oh, Coscarelli directed “Kenny & Company” and most of the actors he worked with over the next couple of decades can be found in its credits.

“Phantasm” didn’t fare well at the U.S. box office. It brought in approximately $15 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to Wiki, and that would have been far down the rankings for 1979. The No. 1 film was the pathetic snifflebag “Kramer vs. Kramer” with $106.2 million and a more-famous horror flick, “The Amityville Horror” was second with $86.4 million, also according to Wiki. Here are the films from 1979 that I’ve reviewed for this blog:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Directly from IMDb.com: “J.J. Abrams, co-writer and director of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), revealed in an interview published in Entertainment Weekly that he came up with the name of the Captain Phasma character after seeing its chrome design: ‘It reminded me of the ball in Phantasm.’”
  • Coscarelli rented filming equipment on Fridays so that he would only have to pay one-day rentals on the equipment and returning it on Mondays.
  • Even though he was only 14 during filming, Baldwin learned to drive in the movie car.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “In the cemetery, a headstone that is featured prominently in two separate scenes is that of ‘Cecelia Weiss.’ It is a recreation of the headstone of Harry Houdini’s mother, with most of the actual inscription included. Houdini was born Erik Weisz, later Americanized to ‘Ehrich Weiss.’”
  • Although the alien dwarves appear similar to the Jawas of “Star Wars,” “Phantasm’s” design of the aliens was completed before the first SW flick was released in 1977 (“Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope”).
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “The 1971 Plymouth Barracuda was chosen because Don Coscarelli remembered a guy in high school who had one, and he was a little envious of him. A Barracuda was made to look like the Hemi ‘Cuda. In one scene you can see the designation of 440-6 on the hood, indicating the car had a 440 with a ‘six pack’ (three two-barrel carburetors).”
  • Shaw was cast at the last minute as “fortune-teller.” The original actor hired for the part backed out because her filming day was a family member’s birthday.
  • The movie originally was given an “X” rating, but the MPAA changed it to “R” partly because of the late legendary reviewer Charles Champlin’s support of dropping the rating a notch.
  • Click here for IMDb.com’s extensive trivia page about “Phantasm” …

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