Phantasm

Directed by Don Coscarelli, Phantasm follows two brothers (A. Michael Baldwin’s Mike and Bill Thornbury’s Jody) as they set out to uncover the secrets of a mysterious cemetery and mausoleum run by an exceedingly malevolent figure (Angus Scrimm’s The Tall Man). It’s a relatively promising set-up that’s employed to persistently (and increasingly) underwhelming and uninvolving effect by Coscarelli, as the filmmaker, working from his own screenplay, kicks Phantasm off with an off-puttingly deliberate (and often egregiously abstract) opening stretch that contains few elements designed to capture the viewer’s interest – with the arms-length vibe exacerbated by a mostly impenetrable storyline and proliferation of wooden, one-dimensional protagonists. (Scrimm’s justifiably iconic work here remains an all-too-rare bright spot within the otherwise interminable proceedings.) And although Coscarelli has admittedly peppered the picture with a very small handful of compelling elements, including a very welcome and brutal appearance by the series’ infamous ball, Phantasm progresses into an exceedingly meandering midsection that’s far too spare and padded-out to make anything even resembling a positive impact – with the head-scratching and seemingly endless climax, in the end, cementing the movie’s place as a disappointing misfire that rarely, if ever, lives up to its place as a horror classic.

* out of ****