Skip to main content

Forgotten Film Friday: Phantasm

 A retrospective by Brooks Rich

Borderline whether this film is forgotten or not. I will call it a forgotten film as while I think it's a horror classic, I don't think it's held up on the level of films like Halloween or Night of the Living Dead or Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But 1979's Phantasm is a fantastically creepy independent horror film with one of my favorite horror boogeyman, the terrifying Tall Man, played by the immortal Angus Scrimm. 

I don't want to give away too much. Basically the Tall Man is a creepy undertaker at a mortuary who is up to some sinister acts. He is discovered by young Mike, who attempts to stop the Tall Man and save himself and his friends. That's not really it but I'm not giving anything away. Just know the stakes are high. Young Mike has a lot to contend with as far as The Tall Man goes.

I love the use of the location in this film. Shooting at a real funeral home and mortuary really adds to the story. There's just an inherent creepiness. Add in the Tall Man and his minions and you've got a horror classic. There is a surreal dreamlike quality to this film. It's very seventies and there's some cuts I would usually find jarring but it works for me here. There is something doesn't feel quite right as you watch. As if the Tall Man himself is bending reality. 

The Tall Man is the main reason to see this. He is a totally frightening character and right up there for me with the legends like Michael Myers, Freddy, Jason, and the Universal Monsters. He's truly a monster and there's nothing likable about him. He's pure evil and a horror antagonist who deserves more love. The film is on Peacock right now. Check it out. I think it's worth it. 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Forgotten Film Friday: Absolute Power

Clint Eastwood stars as Luther Whitney, a jewel thief who works in the Washington DC area. One night while he is stealing from a mansion he is forced to hide in a secret compartment with a two way mirror. From there he observes a sexual rezendevous with the wife of a powerful man and the President of the United States Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman) Suddenly the president gets aggressive and while defending herself the woman is shot to death by two Secret Service agents. Luther manages to get away with a letter opener the woman stabbed the president with. At first Luther plans to flee the country. But when he is disgusted by a statement the president makes, Luther decides to expose the crime. I miss these kind of films. The nineties was a great time for thrillers exactly like this. They are not the flashiest films but they are also not obsessed with big action scenes. It's all plot and character with them. Sure this plot might be a little out there but Eastwood makes it work. He's...
1 comment
Read more

John Candy month

 What can you say about John Candy? He was a comic genius who was taken from us too soon. There were a lot of comedic heavyweights of the eighties and nineties but Candy stood above most of them. If there is a Mount Rushmore of comedy I imagine John Candy would be on it. For the month of July we are honoring this comic genius. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Oscar bait month

 The Academy Awards. That time of the year when everyone debates what movies are truly the best and there is never a consensus and no one is ever happy. A movie can be incredibly popular and then it wins a bunch of Oscars and suddenly it's overrated and not very good or downright bad. It happens every year. But for the month of April let's take a look at those films that had Oscars on their mind and instead fell flat on their faces. Now Oscar Bait is a term that can also be applied to winners or films that did score a bunch of nominations. For example Bradley Cooper's film Maestro is very much an Oscar Bait movie even though it had a decent awards season. I want to talk about the films that did nothing. That were early contenders then either faded away eventually or just plain crashed and burned. Oscar Bait's biggest failures. What wrong here with these? Was the movie poor? Did something else just have a dominant run? Or were politics involved? Maybe all of the above. S...
Post a Comment
Read more