Phantasm II (1988)

Mike, now released from a psychiatric hospital, continues his journey to stop the evil Tall Man from his grim work.

Director:

Don Coscarelli

Writer:

Don Coscarelli

Stars:

James Le Gros, Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Le Gros	...	Mike (as James LeGros)
Reggie Bannister	...	Reggie
Angus Scrimm	...	The Tall Man
Paula Irvine	...	Liz
Samantha Phillips	...	Alchemy
Kenneth Tigar	...	Father Meyers
Ruth C. Engel	...	Grandma
Mark Major	...	Mortician (as Mark Anthony Major)
Rubin Kushner	...	Grandpa
Stacey Travis	...	Jeri
J. Patrick McNamara	...	Psychologist
A. Michael Baldwin	...	Young Mike (as Michael Baldwin)
Amanda Gray	...	Background Player
Elizabeth Quezada	...	Background Player
Lauren Gray	...	Background Player

Storyline

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?

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | second part | number in title | funeral home | coffin | 

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Taglines:

The Ball Is Back!

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Genres:

Action | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The project of a sequel to Phantasm (1979) was greenlit and financed by Universal Pictures mainly because one of the main executives at the studio was a big fan of horror movies, as well as being Don Coscarelli's former attorney.

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Goofs

(at around 57 mins) When the three of them hide in the open grave, we see 2 hearses coming their direction, one behind the other. Only one hearse fully drives by and then they climb out of the open grave.

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Quotes

[the Tall Man is planning to inject Liz with embalming fluid, which Reggie has spiked with acid]
Mike: Hey!
[the Tall Man glances up]
Mike: Suck on this!
[Mike releases a captured silver sphere, which flies directly to the Tall Man's head and inserts a drill into the front of his skull. A yellowish fluid flies from the back of the sphere, but after it stops, the Tall Man rips the sphere from his head & crushes it like a beer can]

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Crazy Credits

With the exception of the title Phantasm II, there are no opening credits.

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Alternate Versions

Television version is very heavily cut and removes nearly all the gore. Differences in Television version are:

• When Mike storms into the Embalming Room in the old abandoned Mortuary, the dead Woman's body has a cloth sheet over her.
• The Worm creature instantly pops out of the fake Liz's back and the scene where he crawls out is completely cut.
• Father Meyers' sphere attack is almost completely cut. The shot of his ear flying is removed as is the drilling on his head.
• Alchemy doesn't remove her top when walking up the stairs with Reggie.
• When Reggie & Alchemy are having sex in the room in the abandoned Manor, Alchemy has a top on and the shots of her in her panties are completely removed.
• When Mike & Reggie are chasing The Tall Man in their car and Reggie points his 4-barreled shotgun at The Tall Man in his Hearse, Mike hollars "Shoot Him!" instead of "Shoot The F**ker!"
• The shot of the Caretaker burning to death in the Furnace is cut completely.
• The silver sphere drilling the Caretaker's hand in the Hallway is also cut.
• The gold "Ripper" sphere sawing it's way into the Caretaker's back is cut. However, we do see the gruesome shot of the drill in his mouth after Mike pulls him back.
• The Tall Man's death is cut very heavily. The shots of his skin peeling off and his eyes exploding are completely removed.

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Connections

Referenced in Scream: The TV Series: The Orphanage (2016)

User Reviews

An action sequel

In the tradition of other horror movie franchises, Phantasm takes the action route for this sequel. The horror and sci-fi are still there but there's more combat, stuff blowing-up and gore than there was before. I suppose it does keep things fresh but it does get a bit too tongue-in-cheek sometimes. Kinda like Evil Dead II, I'm not sure if this really fits in with the tone set by the first film.

Phantasm II begins right after where the first film left off. The freaky dwarfs have invaded Mike's home and Reggie must foil the Tall Man's attempts at kidnapping him. Flash forward seven years and Mike is in a mental institution. He is released upon admitting that the whole Phantasm experience was made up only to find that in his absence the Tall Man has been plundering many of America's small towns and thousands of graves are empty.

After the Tall Man kills Reggie's family in a gas explosion, Reg teams up with Mike to hunt him down and kick his head in...again. All they have to do is follow the trail of dead people, right? And this time they are ready for whatever outlandish tricks he's ready to play on them, armed to the teeth with quadruple-barrelled shotguns, flame-throwers and chainsaws. Complicating matters are Mike's inexplicable visions of the future and psychic connections to a mysterious girl he has never met before.

As before, the Tall Man is the best thing in the film. Angus Scrimm is so wonderfully silent and unholy that no matter how slick and entertaining the rest of the film is he'll come out on top.

Don Coscarelli was given a budget 10 times that of the original by Universal, but they did interfere with production quite a lot, much to his annoyance. They said that only one of the original cast members could return, so he chose Reggie Bannister and re-cast Mike with James LeGros (after turning down Brad Pitt!). It does kind of ruin the continuity a bit but it's not terribly distracting.

They also demanded a more simple and linear story, so don't expect any of the bizarre dream sequences and flashbacks. If you're a big fan of the first this might seem disappointing but you know how studios love to think less of their audiences.

The higher budget helps Phantasm to have a bigger scope than the original. The first half of the film feels like a road movie with lots of pretty scenery while the rest is kind of like a low-rent Ghostbusters/Lost Boys clone. Which sounds like a negative point, but the hokey tone of the film vanishes when it heads off into HP Lovecraft territory.

If you're looking for answers as to what the first film was all about then you won't find many. In fact it raises more questions than anything else. But it's still a fun ride. I'm just kind of annoyed that the music took the more generic synth approach that was common in the 80's instead of the funky 70's beats we got before. The main Phantasm theme is still there for your enjoyment however and gets a great finish on the end credits.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 July 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Phantasm II

Filming Locations:

Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,012,285, 10 July 1988

Gross USA:

$7,282,851

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$7,282,851

Company Credits

Production Co:

Spacegate Productions, Starway International Inc., Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1