Review of Phantasm (1979) by Andrew V — 23 Jul 2007

An odd horror film that is cult and somewhat classic. The movie starts out very good, the pacing is effective and the narration slowly builds to a crescendo which bypasses the three point structure of conventional storytelling.

The Tall Man is a creepy vision of horror. The 'Morningside' Funeral Home is actually eerie, and the ambience in and around town is spine tingling. However despite all these successes, I found this film to be a bit puzzling.

I mean theres the ambigious ending, which doesn't really feel realistic at all. Sure its a horror film but I really didn't expect Coscarelli to use that device after all you've seen. Notice I'm not trying to give it away? Well theres also the flying ball.

Now as cool as that looks I do actually think its one of the most unnecessary props used in motion pictures to date. And this coming from the guy who has the Anchor Bay Limited Edition which is housed in a replica made to look like the ball of steel.

The acting is typically cheesy and in many ways makes the film a successful genre film. A young Michael Baldwin in a weird little town works well here. The overall meaning and message of the film is a little confused, and whilst watching it I felt like it was the work of three directors all incorporating random scenes to a movie that appears to be outdated and a bit of an outlandish 'mash-up'.

Having said that I did enjoy it and it does feel truly chilling during the scenes involving the Tall Man. I also liked the claustrophobic visuals. Still very watchable, but I expected a lot more.