Starring: James LeGros, Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm, Paula Irvine, Samantha Phillips, Kenneth Tigar.
Director: Don Coscarelli.
When I was younger, I always like Phantasm II more than the original. Not really sure why: might have had to do with younger me liking way more action in my horror films, might have had something to do with the film's ready availability (frequently shown on cable late at night) or some combination of the two. Maybe I found myself more willing to identify with an older Mike? Not sure. But I did like it more than the original for some time. I doubt that will be the case any longer: I've come to gain an awful lot of respect and affection for the original. But, in the continuing effort to honor the memory of the late Angus Scrimm, I journey onward through the series.
The sequel is certainly more polished(better effects, an orchestra score instead of a seventies pulse, even better film stock), as is the wont of movies made in the late eighties(almost ten years after the original, which seems absurd). But we meet Liz, who is also sharing psychic visions of The Tall Man and, more importantly, Mike...she feels connected to him, and loves him, which in any other film series would be downright sloppy but for Phantasm it makes so much sense it's ridiculous. We jump back to the end of the previous film, with Mike and Reggie under attack from The Tall Man and his creatures, only not really since the sequence is revealed to have never happened. Or maybe it did. In another timeline. Or another dimension. Or something. Because Phantasm.
It doesn't matter, though: the shot of Angus Scrimm walking calmly away-without flinching-from an exploding house. Then Liz recaps who The Tall Man is, what he does, and mentions she's in danger. Then we find Mike, now much older, is in a mental hospital for the past seven years and is looking to get himself out so he can go save Liz. Once again, Coscarelli has found inspiration from other genres: Mike seeking to save Liz is right out of fairy tale stuff(hell, she may as well be locked in a tower). Add to that revenge-drive action movie(weapons building montage, driving around in a muscle car with butch outfits), road movies, and even a Post-Apocalyptic bent(finding small towns Tall Man has been to completely hollowed out and destroyed). Then, finally, some Gothic Horror: lots of Catholic imagery and old colonial houses. Such a fantastic mash-up of genres and motifs.
This time we're more direct: It's outright stated that Mike, and Liz, have some sort of spiritual or psychic connection to The Tall Man, and Tall Man has it out for him. I truly do wonder how long Mike has been facing this enemy in some incarnation. It certainly does seem like there's a history there that Mike doesn't understand, possibly because the battle has been waging on in a linear fashion for TTM but starts and stops across time and space for Mike. Maybe the first time Mike met Tall, Tall had been tangling with him for years? Probably best to accept things as presented, though, otherwise I'll get a headache. So, Mike only technically knows TM from dreams and premonitions that...well, again. Doesn't matter.
I think one of the reasons I loved this film as a kid was the weapons-making montage. Four-barreled shotguns and flamethrowers...loved that stuff. Still do. Fictionally, anyway: guns actually make me really nervous in real life.
I wonder how much of the TV series Supernatural was inspired by this film? Two guys driving around in a muscle car with weapons to small towns looking to do battle with otherworldly monsters. Granted, neither Sam or Dean are aging ice cream truck drivers on a revenge kick, but...who else would dare to utilize that character sketch than Don Coscarelli, really?
The weird vestigial creature coming out of the back of faux-Liz is pretty rad. "You play a good game, boy." Then we jump back to Liz's narrative: Grandpa is dead, Grandma is bummed, The Priest is terrified, and things are getting weird. Nobody came to Grandpa's Funeral. I wonder if he was kind of a dick, or are we to assume the town is already losing it's population?
I'm sure Father whatshishead had the right idea, but maybe he should have waited until after the grieving widow had gone home to desecrate her Husband's corpse? It makes for some good imagery and dramatic tension, though. Then Tall Man licks embalming fluid off of a small needle through his finger in one of the best visuals in the whole series. Angus Scrimm really was a treasure in this role.
A character named Alchemy. That is all.
I kind of like that Liz is having her own horror movie around the fringes of the story. Like, her version of Phantasm has been going on and we've reached the point where Mike's story intersects with Liz's. But we have the idea that Liz's family has been dying off, she's been having her own visions, and the side bit with the Priest and all his weird stuff implicating the town's destruction. But Liz walking to the mortuary on her own(along with The Priest, who has his own apparent narrative) has the feeling of being the climax of another film. Mike stars in his own sequel, as well as hers. It's clever.
Priest being choked by an upside down cross is a great image. Tall Man staring the guy down and saying "You think that when you die, you go to heaven? You come to us" is great, too...and then out come the balls. Three of them, because sequels always gotta go bigger. The poor Priest really did mean well...but he was doomed from the start. He gives a great death scene, though and kicks the second act into gear.
They really give The Tall Man a lot more to do with the sequel: more lines of mocking dialogue, tossing people around, psychically choking dudes with crosses...lots of fun. It'a a lot sillier and definitely a product of it's time, but this movie really is a lot more fun than it probably should be. The connection between Mike and Liz would be a fun device to revisit: psychically connected across time and space only to be united when everything falls apart...it's a nice device. Especially talking in dreams and stuff. I really think it's a fun element. Then we have Alchemy telling Reggie "I love your head" while they have a weird, rough sex scene...it's a nice contrast and a very cute scene. My research tells me that Samantha Phillips-starring here as Alchemy-went on to a decent career in exploitation and soft core porno films. Good for her.
Mike's summation of their situation is a great one: "I'm a nineteen year old kid, you're a bald, middle aged ex-ice cream vendor!" Then Liz is re-taken, Reggie gives a macho goodbye to Alchemy, and we're off for the climax. Not a lot of wasted motion in Phantasm II. Small bits of character work spliced into action sequences and scare scenes. Great pacing.
There are a lot of explosions, too: Two houses have gone up, and now that muscle car. Coscarelli likes him some fire, clearly. And why shouldn't he? Fire is always interesting to look at.
Not many movies would say "Uh, yes, we should have a chainsaw duel." But this one did. It also made the decision for one of the floating balls to explode a rat, and then bury itself in the back of one of The Tall Man's minions. Not to mention Chekov's Four- Barreled shotgun(you introduce one in the first act, you better use it by the third) used to blow away four midget monks all at once. Some seriously great gags in this movie. We get another nice view of The Tall Man's world(if that is indeed what it is), this time with weird vocal distortions and a view of the slimy little midget bodies crawling out of their little tubs, and The Tall Man melting via acid...Coscarelli really went all out with this sequel.
I like how every entry into this series ends with everything basically being utterly doomed, and then the next one, well...everything is kind of bad but nobody is as bad off as it seemed previously. Well, okay, maybe just Reggie.
Final Thoughts: So much wild and crazy fun. One of the strongest sequels in Horror. Crammed full of various fictional tropes and themes and lots of action and excitement. It may not have the artistic quality or the cultish elements of the original, but Coscarelli ups the ante anyway. Good show.
Final Rating: Three Stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment