Review of Phantoms (1998) by Allan C — 13 Dec 2015

Here's another critically panned film that I've always kind of liked. What surprised me watching it all these years later is how similar the film felt to the "Silent Hill" video game franchise.

Based on a Dean R. Koontz, a town is mysteriously abandoned except for a few police officers (Liev Schreiber, Ben Affleck, Nicky Katt) and couple civilians (Rose McGowan, Joanna Going) and a couple government types called in to investigate (Bo Hopkins, Peter O'Toole).

The dark abandoned town looks very Silent Hill-like, which quiet whips snow falling and later featuring (spoiler) some unusual monsters. There's some decent suspenses, some solid performances, particularly form Schreiber as a creepy cop.

Director Joe Chappelle never made much of a mark in films, but he did on Television as a regular director on "The Wire" and "Fringe." But to sum up the film quite nicely, I'll quote from "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," so in the words of Jay, "Word, b----h, Phantoms like a motherf----r.