A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
36K
YOUR RATING
- Awards
- 2 wins & 2 nominations
Videos3
Kenneth V. Jones
- Caretakeras Caretaker
- (as Ken Jones)
Lynn Eastman-Rossi
- Sallyas Sally
- (as Lynn Eastman)
Dac Coscarelli
- Funeral Guestas Funeral Guest
- (uncredited)
Kate Coscarelli
- Funeral Guestas Funeral Guest
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- See more cast details at IMDbPro
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.
- Taglines
- If you're looking for horror that's got balls...IT'S FOUND YOU.
- Genres
- Certificate
- X
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaDon Coscarelli rented all of the filming equipment used to make this movie, always on Fridays so he could use it all weekend and return it on Mondays, all the while only actually having to pay one day's rental on the equipment.
- GoofsWhen The Tall Man breaks down the door of Mike's house, at the bottom of the door, a crew person's feet are visible running and pushing the door.
- Quotes
The Tall Man: Boooy!
- Crazy creditsWith the exception of the title Phantasm appearing on-screen, there are no opening credits.
- Alternate versionsNew Line/Image Collector's Edition laserdisc features a separate section with one deleted scene (struck from a what appears to be a work print as there is no music and sound is limited to dialogue only). The scene has Mike telling big brother Jody about weird goings-on he has witnessed at the cemetery. Jody then gets Mike drunk and takes him to Reggie's ice cream parlor, where they start a food fight. Then it cuts to a scene the next day where Jody stops by the bank where he works and visits his girlfriend.
Top review
A Weird and Original Cult Movie
After the death of Tommy (Bill Cone), who was stabbed by a woman at the cemetery, Jody (Bill Thornbury) and his friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) attend the funeral at the Morningside funeral home. Jody is followed by his teenage brother Mike (Michael Baldwin), who has just lost his parents and is afraid of losing his big brother that intends to travel.
Mike snoops around the cemetery and sees the mortician known as The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) carrying Tommy's coffin alone without any help. Mike breaks in the mortuary to investigate the mystery and discovers weird dwarf creatures with yellow blood and dangerous flying spheres that protect the location. When he is chased by The Tall Man, he cuts his finger and brings it home to show Jody to convince his big brother that there is a dark secret in the mortuary. Jody, Reggie and Mike discover that The Tall Man is from outer space and is transforming dead bodies in dwarfs to work as slave in his world. Now they decide that The Tall Man must be destroyed. Will they succeed in their intent?
"Phantasm" is one of the most weird and original cult movies that I have ever seen. The surrealistic and dreamlike story entwines horror with sci-fi with many twists and bizarre characters and situations.
I saw "Phantasm" for the first time on VHS in the early 80's and I have just seen it again on DVD and surprisingly the film has not aged, only the clothing, the hair style and the special effects. But for fans like me, it is still attractive and entertaining. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Fantasma" ("Phantasm")
Mike snoops around the cemetery and sees the mortician known as The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) carrying Tommy's coffin alone without any help. Mike breaks in the mortuary to investigate the mystery and discovers weird dwarf creatures with yellow blood and dangerous flying spheres that protect the location. When he is chased by The Tall Man, he cuts his finger and brings it home to show Jody to convince his big brother that there is a dark secret in the mortuary. Jody, Reggie and Mike discover that The Tall Man is from outer space and is transforming dead bodies in dwarfs to work as slave in his world. Now they decide that The Tall Man must be destroyed. Will they succeed in their intent?
"Phantasm" is one of the most weird and original cult movies that I have ever seen. The surrealistic and dreamlike story entwines horror with sci-fi with many twists and bizarre characters and situations.
I saw "Phantasm" for the first time on VHS in the early 80's and I have just seen it again on DVD and surprisingly the film has not aged, only the clothing, the hair style and the special effects. But for fans like me, it is still attractive and entertaining. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Fantasma" ("Phantasm")
helpful•248
- claudio_carvalho
- Dec 23, 2012
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Morningside
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $300,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $11,988,469
- Gross worldwide
- $11,988,469
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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