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 Ma... Read allMike, 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, 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.
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
Mark Major
- Mortician
- (as Mark Anthony Major)
A. Michael Baldwin
- Young Mike
- (as Michael Baldwin)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was the lowest-budgeted film Universal produced in the eighties.
- Goofs(at around 1h 15 mins) When Liz hits the marble mausoleum wall, it wobbles.
- Quotes
The Tall Man: You think that when you die, you go to Heaven. You come to us!
- Crazy creditsFinal credit (copyright notice): "This motion picture is protected under the laws of the United States and other countries. Unauthorised duplication, distribution, or exhibition may result in civil liability, criminal prosecution, and the wrath of The Tall Man."
- Alternate versionsA bootlegged workprint 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 replies "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 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 and Liz are sleeping in the abandoned manor they take refuge in, after Mike kisses Liz, they have a telepathic love scene. 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 and 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, and Liz. This scene was removed because director Don Coscarelli felt it looked too fake.
Featured review
"Phantasm II" is as good a sequel to Don Coscarellis' original shocker as one could hope for. Essentially, it's to its predecessor what "Aliens" was to "Alien": a genre crossing movie that puts the accent on action, and lots of it. It's exciting, gleefully macabre stuff that has a real fun factor going for it.
It gets down to business fairly quickly, picking up where the first film left off and then fast forwarding to several years later when Mike (James Le Gros) is being released from a mental hospital. Mike is still determined to battle the nefarious Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) and convinces his good buddy Reg (Reggie Bannister) to join him in the fight. They track their nemesis down to a small Oregon town (named Perigrod) and find that he's still up to his old tricks.
One has to take some bad with the good considering that this was a major studio sequel to an independently made classic. The budget allows for greater scope and super-duper effects, but Universal flexed its muscle and made sure that this was a more linear and less surreal movie than "Phantasm" one. They also made Bannister and A. Michael Baldwin audition for their old roles, and in the end would only let Coscarelli keep one of them. It was also their idea to give Mike a love interest, a sweet gal named Liz (Paula Irvine) to whom Mike is psychically connected.
What's truly a delight here is seeing the affable Bannister ascend to the role of a badass hero. He and Le Gros make a good team as they vow to fight evil. Their impromptu shopping trip calls to mind a similar sequence with Arnold in the action favourite "Commando". Scrimm gets barely any screen time, but in this case a little does go a long way; we always look forward to his next appearance. Samantha Phillips adds some sex appeal as hitchhiker Alchemy, busy character actor Kenneth Tigar does alright as a frightened priest, and Stacey Travis ("Hardware") has a brief part as Liz's sister. The atmosphere is still good (one of the most successful aspects to the film is seeing the damage wrought by the Tall Man and his minions, as Mike and Reg pass through towns that have become forlorn wastelands) and Daryn Okadas' cinematography is excellent. The infamous spheres are back and the makeup effects and gore (supervised by Mark Shostrom) are fun to watch - and not as "unrelenting" as Leonard Maltins' paperback review would have you believe. The music by Fred Myrow and Christopher L. Stone is the icing on the cake; that theme still has the power to chill.
Overall, "Phantasm II" is a must for horror and action fans and holds up as prime '80s entertainment.
Eight out of 10.
It gets down to business fairly quickly, picking up where the first film left off and then fast forwarding to several years later when Mike (James Le Gros) is being released from a mental hospital. Mike is still determined to battle the nefarious Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) and convinces his good buddy Reg (Reggie Bannister) to join him in the fight. They track their nemesis down to a small Oregon town (named Perigrod) and find that he's still up to his old tricks.
One has to take some bad with the good considering that this was a major studio sequel to an independently made classic. The budget allows for greater scope and super-duper effects, but Universal flexed its muscle and made sure that this was a more linear and less surreal movie than "Phantasm" one. They also made Bannister and A. Michael Baldwin audition for their old roles, and in the end would only let Coscarelli keep one of them. It was also their idea to give Mike a love interest, a sweet gal named Liz (Paula Irvine) to whom Mike is psychically connected.
What's truly a delight here is seeing the affable Bannister ascend to the role of a badass hero. He and Le Gros make a good team as they vow to fight evil. Their impromptu shopping trip calls to mind a similar sequence with Arnold in the action favourite "Commando". Scrimm gets barely any screen time, but in this case a little does go a long way; we always look forward to his next appearance. Samantha Phillips adds some sex appeal as hitchhiker Alchemy, busy character actor Kenneth Tigar does alright as a frightened priest, and Stacey Travis ("Hardware") has a brief part as Liz's sister. The atmosphere is still good (one of the most successful aspects to the film is seeing the damage wrought by the Tall Man and his minions, as Mike and Reg pass through towns that have become forlorn wastelands) and Daryn Okadas' cinematography is excellent. The infamous spheres are back and the makeup effects and gore (supervised by Mark Shostrom) are fun to watch - and not as "unrelenting" as Leonard Maltins' paperback review would have you believe. The music by Fred Myrow and Christopher L. Stone is the icing on the cake; that theme still has the power to chill.
Overall, "Phantasm II" is a must for horror and action fans and holds up as prime '80s entertainment.
Eight out of 10.
- Hey_Sweden
- Apr 16, 2013
- Permalink
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $3,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $7,282,851
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,012,285
- Jul 10, 1988
- Gross worldwide
- $7,282,851
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