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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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?
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| '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.
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| 'Sup man? |
