Mike, now released from a psychiatric hospital, meets with Reggie, and discover his dreams ( the events of the original film) are real, and they both journey to find and stop the evil Tall Man from his grim work.
Mike is released from psychiatry, when he agrees with the doctors that the terrible happenings in his past were just in his imagination. But once he's free, he contacts Redge and they team up to hunt down and eliminate the "Tall Man", who plunders the graveyards and steals the corpses with help of his terrible dwarfs. A beautiful strange girl starts to appear in Mike's dreams. He assumes she's in danger and needs their help - will they find her before the Tall Man can do her any harm?Written by
Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>
Don Coscarelli has revealed that some elements of this movie were influenced by Stephen King, specially a few aspects of his novel 'Salem's Lot'. A small part of it at the end, when the characters go out on the road chasing down vampires, gave him the "road movie" idea of Mike and Reggie chasing The Tall Man. See more »
Goofs
(at around 14 mins) When Reg and Mike break into the hardware store for tools, the items in the trolley keep on changing from shot to shot, and also change position too. See more »
Quotes
[Mike & Liz are in the back of a hearse after escaping the mortuary & the Tall Man. Reggie has just been attacked by Alchemy in the hearse's front & thrown out of the car]
Mike:
One minute... we're gonna wake up. This is only a dream.
Liz:
That's right... it's only a dream!
[the barrier to the hearse front suddenly slides down. The Tall Man is sitting at the wheel and glaring back at them]
The Tall Man:
No! It's not!
[the back window breaks, and Mike & Liz are pulled out by the Tall Man's dwarf zombies]
See more »
Crazy Credits
With the exception of the title Phantasm II, there are no opening credits. See more »
Alternate Versions
A bootlegged work print features several additional scenes not included in the wide release, minus sound effects or background music. There are also additional shots of gore that were snipped in order to avoid an "X" rating. Scenes included are:
After the house blows up in the beginning, there is no Funeral scene. After Reggie runs out, Mike runs out and Reggie says he knew it before it was going to happen. Mike tells Reggie that they could probably die trying to find The Tall Man and Reggie replys "Hey, we all got to go sometime".
After Mike encounters the Liz look-alike and sees the Worm-type creature crawl out of her back and Reggie torches him with the flamethrower, Mike wakes up finding out it was all a dream and Reggie tells him to get ready as he's ready to leave in his car.
There is a rumored scene that Mike has a dream that he makes love with Liz all over the World.
The sphere attack on Father Meyers is also much gorier. We see a much bigger geyser of blood spurt out the back of the sphere and we see a huge puddle of blood forming in front of him.
When Mike & Liz are sleeping in the abandoned Manor they along with Liz & Reggie take refuge in, after Mike kisses Liz, they have a Telepathic love scene and after it finishes, Liz tells Mike "That's about the safest sex we'll ever have".
When the gold "Ripper" sphere drives itself into the Caretaker's back and sends him flying across the Casket Room, we see a lot more blood squirt from his body.
After The Tall Man's body is pumped full of acid and Mike, Reggie & Liz escape with Alchemy in the Hearse, we see a new Tall Man come out of the Space Gate and we see him throwing the dead Tall Man into it. This scene can be seen at the beginning of Phantasm III: Lord Of The Dead.
Alchemy removes more skin from her face and it soon reveals that it was actually The Tall Man who had tricked Mike, Reggie & Liz. This scene was removed because director Don Coscarelli felt it looked too fake.
Phantasm II (1988) was a sequel cum remake that was produced by a Hollywood company nine years after the release of the first film. More of a remake than a true sequel. This time armed with a bigger budget and "named" actors, Don Coscerelli and company this time around make a film with mixed results. What could have been a great film turns out to be the first film with a big budget. This time around Reggie and Ice Cream man and the kid (James Le Gros) have been following the "Tall Man" (Angus Scrimm) all around middle America. Everywhere he goes, death follows him. Can Reggie and the kid save the day?
Phantasm II was also plagued by the M.P.A.A. Many of scenes were left on the cutting room floor or were either re-shot with bloodless scenes. I have seen the work print and it was real graphic. Too bad this movie was heavily edited because without them it's just another boring horror film using rehashed material and what not. A shame because this film had such potential.
I didn't like this movie. When it first came out, I was very disappointed with it. The movie just didn't feel right. I felt cheated. Phantasm II was filled with one clichés too many and the actors didn't seem to enjoy themselves. That's what made the first film fun. Thankfully the third film rectify this situation and returned to it's low budget roots. For completists only. Followed by two more sequels.
C-
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Phantasm II (1988) was a sequel cum remake that was produced by a Hollywood company nine years after the release of the first film. More of a remake than a true sequel. This time armed with a bigger budget and "named" actors, Don Coscerelli and company this time around make a film with mixed results. What could have been a great film turns out to be the first film with a big budget. This time around Reggie and Ice Cream man and the kid (James Le Gros) have been following the "Tall Man" (Angus Scrimm) all around middle America. Everywhere he goes, death follows him. Can Reggie and the kid save the day?
Phantasm II was also plagued by the M.P.A.A. Many of scenes were left on the cutting room floor or were either re-shot with bloodless scenes. I have seen the work print and it was real graphic. Too bad this movie was heavily edited because without them it's just another boring horror film using rehashed material and what not. A shame because this film had such potential.
I didn't like this movie. When it first came out, I was very disappointed with it. The movie just didn't feel right. I felt cheated. Phantasm II was filled with one clichés too many and the actors didn't seem to enjoy themselves. That's what made the first film fun. Thankfully the third film rectify this situation and returned to it's low budget roots. For completists only. Followed by two more sequels.
C-