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The ball is definitively back! And I’m feeling particularly hot as love!
The restored version of the original 1979 film, entitled Phantasm: Remastered, will be released on September 24. The fifth, and supposedly final, installment, Phantasm: Ravager is headed to theaters and digital HD on October 7.
Entertainment Weekly broke the story.
The Phantasm series is a remarkable achievement in cinema.
The original tells the tale of a resourceful boy, Mike, his older brother, Jody, and their friend, an ice cream vendor by trade named Reggie, who stumble onto an evil sect led by the terrifying Tall Man, which preys on small towns, digs up dead bodies, and transforms the living, to fulfill their mysterious purpose.
Shot in ’79 on a shoestring budget, directed by Don Coscarelli, the film has a gritty independent feel that gives it its sense of realism. A dream-like pace and surreal imagery add a psychological component to a tactile, tangible world, with a physical horror that plays out before our very eyes.
J.J. Abrams is a particular fan of Phantasm, so much so that he named Captain Phasma from The Force Awakens after the series, and lended his support to meticulously oversee a frame by frame restoration of the original piece. To this day, even the most die hard “Phans” of the series, as they are affectionately referred to, haven’t seen the original presented with such clarity. As much as we are excited for Ravager, September 24 marks a true reawakening of the series, allowing a further exploration into the work that inspired a cult-like die hard phan-base over the years.
The sequel, Phantasm II, is crisper, more polished, a respectful homage to the original, with the budget and backing of a studio behind it that allows the vision of the story to be forwarded and expanded upon. Sets are bigger, visual effects are better, stakes are higher.
The action ramps up big-time.
As a consequence of having studio support, the executives felt the role of Mike needed to be recast with a bigger name. James Le Gros took over for A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister returned to his character, as did Angus Scrimm as the dreaded Tall Man, but up against stiff summer box office competition, its funeral was relatively immediate. The franchise, no pun intended, was dead and buried.
From there, it was that persistent phan-base that inspired the low budget follow-ups, Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead and Phantasm IV: Oblivion. Both of these saw the return of A. Michael Baldwin to the character he started. The latter was released in 1998, and from there, the series has remained dormant until now.
In the 18 years between Oblivion and now Ravager, Phantasm continued to remain in the conscious of those dedicated Phans, through the convention circuit, through social media. Oblivion created even more questions, and an undeniable desire to see one last adventure with Mike and Reggie.
At last, Phans are going to be treated to what we’ve been hoping to see for so many years now. The filming of Ravager has been almost as mysterious as the Tall Man himself. Rumors of “test shoots,” of playing around with cameras and technology, led to tales of entire scenes being shot. There were never any big studio press releases announcing the beginning of principle photography. There was never an advanced marketing and publicity buzz.
As if minding your own business only to suddenly be attacked by a brain-shucking sphere, an unexpected teaser for Ravager was released in 2014. The teaser is 1 minute and 2 seconds of pure “holy shit!” moments. It’s incredible.
And it was confirmation. Phantasm: Ravager lives. It breathes. It’s a real thing.
And yet, no official release date was announced.
One year later, 2015 brought a Christmas treat in the form of a “sneak” of Ravager with an additional few seconds of complete batshit craziness.
Once again, since then, no further announcements, no release date. More secrecy.
The beginning of January 2016 brought the unfortunate news that Angus Scrimm had passed away. His portrayal of the sinister Tall Man is as singular and vital to the franchise as Robert England‘s Freddy Krueger was to the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. We saw what happened when they tried to replace Englund.
Similarly, while history and the business of cinema dictate the realities of an inevitable eventual reboot, no one, and I mean, no one, can replicate what Scrimm brought to his portrayal of the Tall Man.
Fortunately, as revealed by Coscarelli himself, Scrimm shot his scenes for Ravager while he was still healthy and vibrant. When Ravager is released on October 7, we will be treated to one last performance, bringing a true sense of finality to this incarnation of the franchise.
A. Michael Baldwin and Reggie Bannister, along with Bill Thornbury as Jody, and other returning cast members from so many years ago are all reunited in Ravager, co-written and produced by Coscarelli, and directed by David Hartman.
It is a rare and special achievement in Hollywood to be able to bring back a cast and crew spanning 37 years. 37 years! Think about that!
There were 27 years in between Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
And 22 years between the first airing of Star Trek the Original Series in 1969 and the final voyage of the Enterprise crew in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991.
With Phantasm, we have a series that takes place over close to 40 years!
What makes this journey even more impressive is its non-mainstream path, its independent roots, the fact that the sequels are conceived not out of a corporate studio conveyor belt churning out product, but out of pure “hot as love” passion.
Ultimately, it’s all about the horror.
Within the films, we’re witness to something subversive, dangerous, unapologetically evil.
There’s a kind of “brush with death” one feels when watching this series.
We know it’s just a movie, and yet, there’s more to it than this.
When we settle in to watch Phantasm: Ravager, we’ll know the Tall Man will be watching with us…
…just behind us there…
…in the shadows.
BOYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!
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