Review of Phantasm (1979) by Michael B — 24 Aug 2008

Oh god I wanted to love this. I am so mixed about my feelings for this movie It's different and I admire it for being so. I can honestly say that no other movie that I know of has the plot of this one if you can call anything that happens in this movie reminiscent of a plot.

Spoiler!: what takes place during the movie is all a dream until the final scene where you find out that whie the Tall Man really does exist, that Mike was dreaming and his brother died in a car wreck.

So the whole atmosphere of the movie makes sense after knowing that and I admire it very much. It sort of floats and meanders around and things happen but nothing is explained. But I don't know how well its done because for me, the movie does not stick out really at all.

It didn't pop for me and considering what it was trying to do, it should have popped. The music is great. The kid that played Mike is good and he effectively carries the film. I wanted the Tall Man do be scarier than he was.

The violent parts were sick but there wasn't much. They had such a low budget apparently and I'm so impressed by what the director did with the little money he had. Great ending. Reggie and Jody were bad actors but in the best way possible.

SO basically what I'm saying is that while this is a unique film and it does have its moments and I'm very impressed with what the director tried to do here, the movie did not grab me in anywhere near the way I hoped it would.

However, I can see why people are obsessed with this movie and why it has a huge cult following. I just wish I could be one of those people.