Phantasm (1979)

A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber known only as the Tall Man, who keeps a lethal arsenal of terrible weapons with him.

Director:

Don Coscarelli

Writer:

Don Coscarelli

Stars:

A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
A. Michael Baldwin	...	Mike (as Michael Baldwin)
Bill Thornbury	...	Jody
Reggie Bannister	...	Reggie
Kathy Lester	...	Lady in Lavender
Terrie Kalbus	...	Fortuneteller's Granddaughter
Kenneth V. Jones	...	Caretaker (as Ken Jones)
Susan Harper	...	Girlfriend
Lynn Eastman-Rossi	...	Sally (as Lynn Eastman)
David Arntzen	...	Toby
Ralph Richmond	...	Bartender
Bill Cone	...	Tommy
Laura Mann	...	Double Lavender
Mary Ellen Shaw	...	Fortuneteller
Myrtle Scotton	...	Maid
Angus Scrimm	...	The Tall Man

Storyline

Mike, a young teenage boy who has just lost his parents, afraid to lose his brother follow him to a funeral, where Mike witnesses the Tall Man lifting a coffin on his own. Mike decides to investigate, and discovers that the Tall Man, protected by his flying spheres, is shrinking dead bodies down to half their normal size and reanimating them as slaves. It is then up to Mike, his brother, and Reggie the ice cream man to stop the Tall man.

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Plot Keywords:

woman on top | sex on the floor | long haired woman | picking up a girl | sex outdoors | 

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Taglines:

If you're looking for horror that's got balls...IT'S FOUND YOU.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for nudity, violence, and intense scenes

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 March 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Morningside

Filming Locations:

16232 Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$300,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$11,988,469

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$11,988,469

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Breed Productions Inc., Bad Robot

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono 4-Track Stereo (Visurama)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Co-Producer Paul Pepperman approached Angus Scrimm at a sneak preview of Kenny & Company (1976) and told him that Don Coscarelli had written a role for him in his next production. When informed that he would be playing an alien, Scrimm became very excited and immediately asked to know what country his character would hail from. Pepperman said: "He's not from another country, he's from another world."

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Goofs

When Mike walks on the marble floor of the mausoleum it sounds like he's wearing 70's large heeled shoes like the suited Jody in an earlier scene. Shots show he is in fact wearing flat soled sneakers.

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Quotes

Reggie: The ice cream is gonna be flyin' fast and furious.

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Crazy Credits

With the exception of the title Phantasm appearing on-screen, there are no opening credits.

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Alternate Versions

Several other deleted scenes from Phantasm can be seen in the film Phantasm IV: Oblivion including the infamous "Tall Man Rope Hanging Sequence". Another deleted scene that is featured on the DVD has Mike in bed talking to his brother Jody about the Tall Man (with reference to the rope hanging sequence.) Mike: "We can leave him up there forever, though" Jody: "Why not, that rope will last a lifetime" Mike: "Yeah" Jody "Hey, why did you go blow you knob of for?" Mike: "I was trying to save you, dude" Jody: "My kid brother, is one bad mother".

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Connections

Referenced in Horror Business (2005)

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Soundtracks

Sittin' Here At Midnight
by Bill Thornbury
Thornbury Music

User Reviews

In it's own way, a horror classic

Two orphaned boys, Mike (Michael Baldwin) and Jody (Bill Thornbury) notice some strange things happening at Morningside Mortuary. Bodies are disappearing from coffins; a lady in lavender has sex with men in the graveyard and then stabs them to death; little midgets in brown cloaks (making sounds like lions) are roaming about and there's a flying silver orb with spikes that embeds itself in people's heads! And then there's the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) overseeing it all...Soon Mike, Jody and their friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) are fighting for their lives...

The story is pretty thin (and REALLY out of whack at the end), the acting dismal, there's no characterizations or depth and some of the special effects are horrible but...this is STILL a classic horror film. It takes a while to get going (nothing much happens in the first half hour), but when it does there's scarcely a letup. Action leaps into high gear, there's some fairly graphic gore (including the now infamous flying sphere killing), there are plenty of scenes guaranteed to make you jump and the music score is very spooky...right up there with "Halloween". Also some of the special effects are impressive (considering there was no budget). Also Bill Thornbury is a VERY attractive man and there's gratuitous male and female nudity. What's even more surprising is Don Coscarelli wrote, produced, directed AND edited this at the age of 24! He's never matched it since and all the sequels really suck...but this stands alone as a classic. A must-see for all horror fans. Also Scrimm is EXCELLENT (and damn scary) as the Tall Man.

Trivia: This was awarded an X rating FOUR TIMES because of the sphere killing...Coscarelli went all the way to the head of the ratings board who overturned it and gave it an R--a rare occurrence that the ratings board kept in a gore scene!