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:

This summer, have a ball.

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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:

Fantasma 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

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

For the filming of the prologue sequence, Reggie Bannister dyed his hair black in order to look as young as he was during the last scene of Phantasm (1979), filmed 10 years before.

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Goofs

(at around 5 mins) At the beginning, Reggie goes to get his shotgun but it has disappeared. However, when he is surrounded by the large army of Dwarves and he looks at the fireplace, the shotgun is there.

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Quotes

[Reggie revs up his chainsaw, about to take on one of the Tall Man's henchmen]
Reggie: Come on, you mutha!

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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

Spoofed in Small Soldiers (1998)

User Reviews

probably the best in the best horror series ever!!!

I can't explain in words how much I love the Phantasm series. Each film is a direct continuation of the last and each time we get answers to questions about The Tall Man while at the same time more are being asked. Phantasm II is probably my fave in the series not because of the action (most phans say it's the most action packed but I think part III holds that honor) but really this is the only one where Reggie and Mike are side by side and in my opinion thats why it's the best (in all the others Reggie being the horn dog he is is trying to find mike AND get laid...which is still cool). I can't believe that no other phans have mentioned how much Phantasm II mirrors Evil Dead 2 (I know they've had to notice it) that however is not a problem cause right next to the Phantasm series is the Evil Dead series. Just look at it and you will see what I'm talking about. Phantasm II follows Evil Dead 2 by going into comedy at times, others have complained that Phantasm III had comedy but they for some reason they forget II did also....it just wasn't as campy but still was funny, like when Reggie beat a dwarf creature into pieces by going crazy on it with the end of a shot gun or the look on his face when Alchemy is riding him and smacks him on top of his head and when he pulls a chainsaw on the graver at the end only for the graver to pull out a really LONG chainsaw...and of course just about everything Reggie says is funny. And like Ash getting equipped with his chainsaw in ED 2 Reggie gets his now trademark 4-barrel shotgun, and the scene where the mortician gets a sphere in his back and bounces all over the room makes me think of ED 2. But believe me Phantasm II is not a copy cat of ED 2. It still has some creepy stuff in it like the scene where the grandfather is getting his mouth sewn up. But this movie screams atmosphere more than anything, with it's great score and visual style really helping to push that home. All the actors give great performances and The Tall Man is the ultimate villain thanks to a great creepy performance by Angus Scrimm...all he's gotta do is twitch an eyebrow. Also the scene where the priest gets it is really cool (you can tell that the MPAA made them trim it though but thats just my opinion). But I think what really separates this horror series from most is that in almost all the other you root for Freddy, Jason, or Michael Myers and even though I love The Tall Man (God bless you Mr. Scrimm) Reggie is without a doubt THE man. Some people may have Indiana Jones or any of those guys as their fave characters but mine will always be Reggie (played perfectly by Reggie Bannister) along with the Ash character from Evil Dead (Bruce Campbell...need I say more), Herbert West from the Re-Animator series (Jeffrey Combs...one of the funniest actors around) and the best character Kurt Russell (no introduction needed) EVER played....no it's not Snake Plissken...but Jack Burton from the great Big Trouble in Little China. Sorry for going off on a rant there just wanted you to know. Anyways Reggie is the glue that holds the series together. Why Universal has not put this and part III out on DVD is beyond me, yet they will do another DVD edition of The Mummy remake. I think the reason this series is not as well known is because of the studio's killing it's chances (check out the web site on how they released Phantasm II) and instead of going in different directions to gain mass appeal (like the Elm Street series....which if I'm right Don Coscarelli was offered to direct part 2...the most under appreciated of that series) the Phantasm series as they went (and hopefully go) on tried to please it's core audiance. And the series keeps the same characters through out so you really care for these guys and like them want to know what the hell is going on. I love these movies more than any other series and hope they are continued to be made. Hopefully we will see that Roger Avary penned script be made into a movie soon.