Review of Phantasm (1979) by Jerel F — 14 Oct 2008

October is here and that means I will be watching various horror movies throughout the month (as if you care.). If Netflix would hurry up I might be able to write a few more horror movie reviews before Halloween arrives...

I remember seeing Phantasm as a young child and thinking it was the coolest movie ever. That platinum ball of death that whizzed it's way into people's heads and drained their blood was the tits. Now, in my mid-twenties, I have revisited the movie that once held a special place in my heart, and I must say for a horror movie made in the 70's it wasn't that bad. The plot is more intruiging than your typical horror movie and the camera angles and scene shots really make you feel you are part of the set.

If there was one thing that was absolutely terrible, it was the dialogue and acting. I laughed throughout the movie at the shitty, overacted/underacted conversations between the two brothers. I tried not to hold that against the film though since the standards in acting have risen quite a bit in the past 30 years.

My favorite part would have to be the tall man sporadically showing up throughout the film and sternly saying, "BOY!".

If there was one other complaint about this movie it would be the ending. I was seriously captivated by the storyline of the two brothers. When I found out that the whole thing was supposedly a dream and the older brother had been dead the whole time it kinda killed it for me. To top it off, the tall man killing the younger brother just made no sense to the existing plot. I know I'm probably looking into this too much, but I guess I was expecting a more climatic end. Oh well, it's definitely still one of my favorite horror movies and I'm looking forward to the sequels.