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Plot: Armed with his lethal band of flying silver spheres, the deadly mortician known as the "Tall Man" returns to wreak more murderous havoc as he seeks new recruits for his grisly army of the undead.
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:July 30, 2008In some instances you could almost call this a re-make of part one...a tad loose, but was a welcome sight after waiting 13 years for the sequel. James LeGross as Michael....somewhat miscast for the part.
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MCT:July 9, 2008
In the uninspired sequel, the dreams continue to be nightmares for anyone caught by those silver balls the Tall Man carries. More melodrama than horror, but it has moments.
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MCT:May 24, 2008
More of the same carried over from the first Phantasm. The characters have aged badly however quite humourously Reggie the Ice Cream Man still appreciates that despite chasing zombies from another world there is always time for shagging. It lacks subtlety however it still has an appeal.
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MCT:May 6, 2008Cheese with a capital C, but an interesting bad guy and lashings of old school gore. I miss latex and bad effects.
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MCT:March 27, 2008
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MCT:December 23, 2007
Not bad but I was surprised to see James LeGros as the new "Michael." I happen to like him as an actor but it took a while to adjust. The metal balls became a whole new terror. The "Tall Man" was his usual bizarre self but not as creepy as the original film. Descent plot but not enough horror for my taste. I love this franchise though so I give it an above average rating.
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MCT:November 22, 2007
This one scared the crap out of me as a little kid. I've yet to rewatch it....mostly because it's a hard one to find on video. I will someday.
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MCT:October 24, 2007So this is my 2nd movie for my Halloween week 2007.
The movie picks up right from where Phantasm finished and that was a good thing because the end of Phantasm is a bit...well meh, so this makes the first movie better. (see the first movie before seeing this)
This movie is funny and has some great sfx work, Reggie Bannister now stars in the movie and has one of the best scenes (the my chainsaw is bigger than yours bit...class!)
Top Horror movie
oh, lookout for the Sam Raimi cameo :) -
MCT:October 20, 2007I saw the pt. 1 but I'm not sure if I saw that second part... hm.. I guess i have to put 'I want to see that one' option.
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MCT:August 29, 2007In the tradition of other horror movie franchises, Phantasm takes the action route for this sequel. The horror and sci-fi are still there but there's more combat, stuff blowing-up and gore than there was before. I suppose it does keep things fresh but it does get a bit too tongue-in-cheek sometimes. Kinda like Evil Dead II, I'm not sure if this really fits in with the tone set by the first film.
Phantasm II begins right after where the first film left off. The freaky dwarfs have invaded Mike's home and Reggie must foil the Tall Man's attempts at kidnapping him. Flash forward seven years and Mike is in a mental institution. He is released upon admitting that the whole Phantasm experience was made up only to find that in his absence the Tall Man has been plundering many of America's small towns and thousands of graves are empty.
After the Tall Man kills Reggie's family in a gas explosion, Reg teams up with Mike to hunt him down and kick his head in...again. All they have to do is follow the trail of dead people, right? And this time they are ready for whatever outlandish tricks he's ready to play on them, armed to the teeth with quadruple-barrelled shotguns, flame-throwers and chainsaws. Complicating matters are Mike's inexplicable visions of the future and psychic connections to a mysterious girl he has never met before.
As before, the Tall Man is the best thing in the film. Angus Scrimm is so wonderfully silent and unholy that no matter how slick and entertaining the rest of the film is he'll come out on top.
Don Coscarelli was given a budget 10 times that of the original by Universal, but they did interfere with production quite a lot, much to his annoyance. They said that only one of the original cast members could return, so he chose Reggie Bannister and re-cast Mike with James LeGros (after turning down Brad Pitt!). It does kind of ruin the continuity a bit but it's not terribly distracting.
They also demanded a more simple and linear story, so don't expect any of the bizarre dream sequences and flashbacks. If you're a big fan of the first this might seem disappointing but you know how studios love to think less of their audiences.
The higher budget helps Phantasm to have a bigger scope than the original. The first half of the film feels like a road movie with lots of pretty scenery while the rest is kind of like a low-rent Ghostbusters/Lost Boys clone. Which sounds like a negative point, but the hokey tone of the film vanishes when it heads off into HP Lovecraft territory.
If you're looking for answers as to what the first film was all about then you won't find many. In fact it raises more questions than anything else. But it's still a fun ride. I'm just kind of annoyed that the music took the more generic synth approach that was common in the 80's instead of the funky 70's beats we got before. The main Phantasm theme is still there for your enjoyment however and gets a great finish on the end credits. -
MCT:August 21, 2007"Armed with his lethal band of flying silver spheres, the deadly mortician known as the "Tall Man" returns to wreak more murderous havoc..."
Reiterates- "the deadly mortician"
XDDDDD -
MCT:August 20, 2007
I liked this sequel better than the original. The Tall Man is seen more and the spheres come into play more. The dwarves are even creepier. The higher budget is obvious as the gore factor turns up a notch.
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MCT:July 26, 2007One of my favorite movies of all time. I love the possibilities of the story, even if they did kill it with the sequals.
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MCT:July 14, 2007
Two guys break into a Wal-Mart gathering supplies for a MacGuyver-esque battle prep against silver spheres with blades. Gory and humorous (very very dark humor) cult classic.
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MCT:June 9, 2007
An inferior sequel lacking both the surreal horror and brilliance of the first film. Ignore the sequels and enjoy the original horror film.
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MCT:May 29, 2007
I take a star from it because the original Mike wasn't in it....otherwise...
scary movie! Chilling and good. -
MCT:May 4, 2007
Released and set nine years after the first film, Phantasm II is a very worthy sequel, in fact I'd say it's even better than its predecessor.
With a budget roughly six times that of Phantasm, Don Cascarelli has crafted a more focused film with a tighter script that works because its a direct follow on from the first film, rather than a retread. (And you'll need to be familiar with events from the first instalment if you have any hope in following this one, as aside from the clunky flashback-heavy prologue, there's very little exposition.)
The silver spheres, the dwarves (now even more creepy) and the Tall Man all make welcome and inventive returns, the story finding new and imaginative uses for them.
Phantasm II builds on the atmosphere of dread adding new kinks with a fixation on some of the more gruesome aspects of the mortuary business (formaldehyde, incinerators and scalpels are some of the additions).
Inevitably, letting the side down somewhat is the acting - the two female leads are pretty dreadful, though James LeGros (November, Scotland, PA) is an interesting choice as Mike. Reggie Bannister, reprising his role as 'Reggie' from the first film, seems to be doing some sort of aged Bruce Campbell impersonation, which is frankly a little embarrassing. Speaking of which, if I were to compare this to another horror sequel then Evil Dead II definitely springs to mind; there's even some 'camera on a stick' sequences that are recognisable from Sam Raimi's film.
A great sequel to an undisputed classic.
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MCT:April 30, 2007
More fun, yet consequently more stupid than the first outing. There are several scenes that simply don't make any sense at all. One is led to wonder whether Cascarelli was interested in making a comedy or a horror movie. I know...same complaints from first film. Neither works because the horror still barely sticks its head out among all the wild action and the comedy is borne from the fact that this film is simply TRYING TOO HARD.
One scene in particular which falls into the nonsensical category is when a priest, trying to prevent the tall man's assimilation, stabs a...corpse in the chest, after a funeral ceremony. To prevent someone from coming back to life; does one stab his corpse before he comes to life? Who's to say that the Tall Man won't just pull out that knife and revive him anyway (which he does)? The wife of the dead man faints from the site of this atrocity, but in the next scene, she's fine. The dead corpse shows up at the priest's door, but in the next scene he's gone and the priest has gone exploring...NONE OF THIS MAKES ANY SENSE!! This wouldn't be so bad if Don didn't play it all for serious...yet he does; and the results are laughable.
As a horror film, it fails miserably. As a sci-fi film, it fails miserably. As a meaningful and well executed piece of art, it fails miserably. The only potential this film has is in the category of a fairy tale.
But the Tall Man is still a wonderful creation and the film is fun. -
MCT:April 25, 2007
The Tall Man is back again with his balls... of silver, emptying out more graveyards, and making more of the mutants from the corpses he has gathered. Our heroes are also back to make an attempt to finally stop The Tall Man.
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Comments
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LPB66posted 282 days ago
