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:

After ten years... the ball is back!

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Genres:

Action | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Reggie Bannister's wife was present on the set on the day Bannister's love scene with Samantha Phillips was shot.

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Goofs

(at around 1h 16 mins) When the sphere flies towards the mortician and pins his hand against the wall, you can easily see the blades are actually stuck in the wall between his fingers and not lodged in his palm which the scene indicates.

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Quotes

The Tall Man: You think that when you die, you go to Heaven. You come to us!

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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

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.

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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.