Phantasm Ravager

Hey folks we are back. Man, I remember Hellraiser scarier than that. Must have been Hellbound that creeped my shit. Moving right along, I couldn't help but notice the idea of further Phantasm didn't seem to interest some of you. Shame! Shame! It had been 18 years since Oblivion so surely we can look in on Mike and Reggie. Jody might even still be a sphere. With a new director at the helm, the waters could get choppy. This is Phantasm V: Ravager.

Tall Man and his fabulous dance team!

With a children's TV director and Art Department guru David Hartman (My Friends Tigger & Pooh, Super Duper Super Sleuths, Transformers Prime, and Transformers: Robots in Disguise) taking the lead and co-wrote the story I was a bit skeptical. Don Coscarelli has been handling this franchise since 1979 so sharing those ideas, characters and world seemed odd.

When last we saw Reggie (Reggie Bannister of Kenny & Company, Phantasm, Survival Quest, The Demolitionist, Wishmaster, Bubba Ho-Tep, Satan Hates You and Bloody Bloody Bible Camp), he went through a dimensional gate after the Tall Man because that seems sane. In the search for Mike, Reggie seems to have landed back on the world out in Death Valley.  Can't seem to find his car or other such weapons. Makes me wonder if it has actually been 18 years too.  That would be a nice addition to the story.   The gates are temporal based as well as dimensional too so why not.

Finding his car being bad touched, Reggie fixes that by stripping the thief down and leaving on the two lane blacktop. With a few killer spheres chasing him, they are no match for the 'Cuda or a 9mm. This ain't Reggie's first rodeo with these round mounds (yeah I wanted that one to sound dirty) and he is taking none of their crap. With the open road, behind the wheel of his 'Cuda, he has a mission. To find Mike, battle the Tall Man and put an end to this crazy shit.

Who doesn't love some Rocky?

No idea what happened to Jody or where Mike (A. Michael Baldwin of Kenny & Company, Eight Is Enough, Phantasm, Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead, Vice Girls, Virtual Girls 2:Virtual Vegas, Brutal, It Came from the Dead and The Pick-Axe Murders Part III: The Final Chapter) is, we flash...to a mental insitution? Well hey, there's Mike. What's that? You saying that The Tall Man, his army of grave diggers, killer dwarves and menacing the dead from another realm is all my dementia. Well, when you put it that way.

Popping in and out of these different realms, Reggie is having the hardest time figuring out which is which and is any of it real or not. I would reference the multiple realms of Silent Hill as a basis of comparison and yet...this is done vastly better.

Reggie meets a girl on the road where the world is relatively untouched by the spheres, dwarves and Tall Man so it's gotta be the really real world, right? A girl Dawn (Dawn Cody of Computerman, Twigger's Holiday, Cold Case, The Call of Echo Mountain, Your Magic Touched Me and Stop It) is stranded by the road and Reg's grease monkey powers could easily get the land rover up and running buuuut he'd rather give her a ride back to her place with the potential dirtier ride later. For those that didn't get that subtle joke, I was talking about sex.

Whoops, Reg mixed up his sleep aid and Viagra again.

Of course this being a Phantasm film, Reggie and women folk go horribly awry. SPOILERS! Reggie and the pursuit of the female tends to end in tears. Quick interaction with Dawn annnnd... well balls will be balls. Sorry, killer spheres will be killer spheres.

A quick blast to another realm confuses and makes Reggie question life as a whole. What about Jody? Is he alive? Is he dead? Is he Memorex? See that? I did a thing there. With...with the jokes. Meh.

Reprising characters such as the Lady in Lavender from the first film brought to us by the lovely and talented Kat Lester, musician, actress and writer and Gloria Lynne Henry a.k.a. Rocky of Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead

Our Tall Man gives Reggie a chance. He could have his family back. His life before all this madness of the undead, crazed grave digging minions and dwarves of unspeakable butt ugly. Can he agree to this Faustian deal that will most likely destroy his very soul?

Jody ( Bill Thornbury of Summer School Teachers, Sarah T.- Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic, Secrets of Midland Heights, The Lost Empire and Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead) seems to be a distant memory or is he? Is the struggle against The Tall Man wore him down or has he regained some humanity in this battle?

'Cuda got an upgrade. Awesome.

 

A further notion, what if the world isn't even that well off as Reggie thinks but is actually a barren wasteland and The Tall Man and his minions are already in possession of the world. They're just mopping up the last pockets of resistance, perhaps?

A few comments now. The spheres are completely CGI which has me at mixed feelings. On one end, that is a ton of post work getting those buggers flying about, so you feel for the editor. On the other hand, it looks really good and similar to a lot of the practical FX from the second movies so again, mixed bag.

 

Ultimately this is a love letter to the fans. A final confrontation perhaps and even resolution to several questions...possibly. We are dealing with anything from a man's total madness brought on by the loss of some many loved ones or the quite distinct probability of multiple dimensions rubbing against each other creating this rift between them. Whatever the case may be, this is sadly the last time we will see Angus Scrimm don his Tall Man appearance as he passed away. Described as a fun, good natured and kind hearted man by cast and friends, he will be missed by his family, friends and of course, his phans. 

'Sup man?