On the latest episode of The Cannon Canon, Geoff didn’t just ask for someone to explain what Phantasm is all about. He specifically gave me an assignment to do this.
This feels like something I’ve been preparing for my entire life.
As I said back when I covered every single Phantasm movie, I probably watched Phantasm II every single day once it came out on VHS. Imagine my surprise when the first movie doesn’t have anything from the second one, instead being one long nightmare without cool preparing for battle scenes and quad shotguns.
Now, I can draw on my knowledge and my untold watches of these films to do some good for the world. It all pays off, all that time in my room when other teenage boys were fumbling around in the back of cars with girls.
I mean, it pays off. I think it does.
Here’s what I think this series about in question and answer format.
What is Phantasm about?
Each of the movies in the series is very much a different film so this is a difficult question to answer.
But for a very basic overview…
After the death of their friend Tommy, Jody and his brother Michael discover that their small town’s mortician is actually an otherworldly villain known as the Tall Man. They attempt to stop his harvesting of dead bodies with the help of their best friend, Reggie.
Sure, that makes sense. But as you probably already know, this is a really confusing series.
What is the first Phantasm really about?
In Cameron Gorman’s Collider article Phantasm Makes No Sense – and That’s Why It’s Great, there’s an interesting theory: It’s a movie about grief. Jody and Michael have lost their parents, so the only way that the teenage Michael can deal with their loss — and the idea that his brother will soon be leaving town — is by inventing his own villain, the Tall Man, whose unexplained nature is less frightening than the idea that death can happen at any time.
By the end, however, the darkness goes even more dim as it turns out that Jody has been dead all along and the events of the movie have all been Micheal trying to use horror to make sense of why he’s lost his entire family and is now alone.
Or maybe not.
Seriously, throughout, I feel like there are so many ways to see these movies that the explanation I offer is just mine. You’re going to see your own film your own way.
Because if it’s not a dream, then explain why the Tall Man reappears at the end.
Mike tells Reggie that he’s worried the Tall Man will come back. The ice-cream-selling guitarist replies, “Hey, you had a dream. Just a nightmare. Mike, that Tall Man of yours did not take Jody away.” And then the Tall Man really is real.
Each movie seemingly ends like an old movie serial. We see the heroes surely die, the bad guy is still alive and that’s it. And then, there’s a sequel. It may take a decade. But there’s always another story. If you go with the dream logic theory, that covers you.
Who is the Tall Man? What’s he all about?
According to the Phantasm wiki, the Tall Man is either:
Jebediah Morningside, who started as a mild-mannered 19th-century mortician. After years of burying dead people, he became fascinated by the connection between our world and the world of the dead. He made a machine that allowed him to travel through time and space. After his first journey, he came back changed forever and became the Tall Man.
The Red Planet, a living planet twenty times bigger than our sun that exists out and above time, space, reality, gravity and narrative lines. He takes on a human form to go to Earth to kidnap people for the purpose of transforming them into monsters.
His weaknesses are cold and tuning forks. The reason for the latter being harmful is because he travels to our world via the Dimensional Fork. It consists of two short chrome poles standing right next to one another that are humming at all times. The sound of another tuning fork disrupts him. That said, when the Tall Man dies, he is instantly replaced by another one. He also has a disease inside him which can kill humans on contact.
So who is the Lady In Lavender?
Tommy, whose death starts this whole thing in motion, was killed by a gorgeous blonde known as the Lady In Lavender. Well, she’s the Tall Man. Or some aspect of him. Yes, the same Angus Scrimm can transform into the much more pleasing form of actress Kathy Lester. She usually seduces men, then stabs them. In the first movie, she’s knocked out by a tuning fork, which is also the weakness of anyone from the Tall Man’s adopted home dimension.
In Phantasm V: Ravager, Reggie goes back in time to the 19th century and meets the Lady In Lavender, who is co-joined to Jebediah Morningside, the dude who will become the Tall Man. He later finds her inside a mausoleum and her face becomes demonic when he doesn’t sleep with her. He then shoots her with a shotgun.
So maybe she’s part of the Tall Man. Or maybe not.
When people are fucking the Lady In Lavender, they’re fucking the Tall Man. Right?
Let’s not kink shame. But yeah. Totally.
What’s Reggie’s deal?
Don Coscarelli wrote that Reggie is “every guy’s guy, every man’s friend, the guy that would throw himself on the flames to the door of hell to save a friend.”
He’s an ice cream seller who will just drop in to write a song.
I’ve always through that Reggie sells more than just ice cream, which is how he can so easily roll with the wildness of these movies. He’s also one of those weed friends that will hang out just to see what happens and also has strange skills that seemingly do nothing to help anyone, like being able to make four-barrelled sawed-off shotguns. Where does one gain those skills? Vo-Tech?
In the first movie, Reggie dies when he finally gets to get laid. That Lady In Lavender again. But then he’s alive and takes Mike on a road trip, because after all this, why not? The same thing happens in the second movie, because Alchemy ends up being another of the women that the Tall Man uses to attack men. Somewhere in here, Reggie got married and had a child, but the Tall Man’s Lurkers blew them up real good. In the third movie, Reggie goes it alone for a long time before reuniting with Mike, just in time to get trapped by one of the Sentinels, the steel balls. The fourth movie has the Tall Man playing a final game with Reggie as they chase each other for the entire movie. And in the fifth film, there are two Reggies. One is dying in a nursing home and the other is in a post-apocalyptic future where the Tall Man has won.
As they say on The Cannon Canon, we’ll get into that.
Tell me about Jody.
Jody and Reggie had a band with Tommy. They learn that the Tall Man has turned their dead friend into a Lurker, one of his smashed-down Jawa-like servants. By the end of the first movie, it comes out that Jody has been dead all along and Reggie promises to be Mike’s brother.
After being dead in the second movie, Jody returns as a damaged silver ball in the third movie. He can speak to Reggie and tells him “Seeing is easy. Understanding takes a little more time.” He promises to return when he can. In the fourth movie, he reveals that he died in the car wreck after being stabbed by his brother. And in the fifth, Jody is said to be dead, but shows up for Reggie’s funeral while he has transformed the Hemicuda into a Battlecuda and rescues Mike and Reggie, happy that they are a threesome again.
And Mike?
Mike survives the end of the first movie and ends up being a second actor for the sequel, James Le Gros, instead of A. Michael Baldwin, who is in the other films. He’s destined to find Liz, a girl who dreams of him, but she dies at the start of the third movie. By the end of that movie, the Tall Man’s miniature maniacs have eaten Liz and Mike has yellow blood like the Tall Man, as well as a sphere inside his head.
According to the Phantasm wiki, Mike discovers he has powers such as telekinesis and the ability to conjure dimensional forks. He attempts to commit suicide but then he learns that in 1979, he and his brother were going to hang the Tall Man and Mike saved him.
When Mike goes back in time in the fourth movie, he inspires Jebediah Morningside to create his machine that turns him into the Tall Man, who early said that his life is the main dimension of the Tall Man and that they are connected forever. He’s able to kill the Tall Man with a bomb but another one soon arrives and removes the sphere, killing Mike.
In the last movie, Mike wheels Reggie around the nursing home yet can remember being in the post-apocalyptic world.
What are the silver balls?
The Sentinels are the weapons that the Tall Man uses to suck out brains. They come from a dream that Don Coscarelli had. There are several varieties:
Silver ball: Made from the brains of dead human beings — which are inside the ball, the bodies are turned into the mindless crushed Lurkers — these are the guardians of the Tall Man and also keys that he uses to open doorways.
Gold ball: The two gold balls in the movies have had the Tall Man and Mike’s brains in them. They have much better defenses and are much smarter.
Black ball: When Jody’s brain is put inside one of the Sentinels, it becomes black, which is a symbol that he is independent.
Red ball: A bomb.
Giant ball: Used in the last movie to blow up cities.
Do any of these movies actually work together?
During the third movie, Don Coscarelli said that he had run out of ideas after finishing the script and had no clue which direction the story would take in case there was a fourth edition. He jokingly added that if a Phantasm IV was ever filmed, it would actually be just to make money out of it.
There are two more movies. Fill in your own blank.
Break down your theories — in short a way as possible as this is already eighteen hundred words — on each movie.
Phantasm: A low budget film that gets magic right the first time. Nothing has to make sense — it’s very Italian in that way — and you can either watch it as a horror movie with a straight-ahead story fo trying to stop an evil undertaker or a movie that tries to make sense of death. What is strange about it is how many scenes just feel thrown in — the bug that comes flying around, the magic trick finger with yellow blood, the Dune fortune teller and her granddaughter who never show up again, the song that everyone chills out and jams on, even the ending — but it’s the rough edges that make it so great.
Phantasm II: Universal wanted a new franchise that had the things they saw that worked. Not the dreamy artiness, but the gory balls and the improvised weapons. That’s what they got. And in 1988, well, this was what I wanted so badly. It’s got so many wild and bloody moments, metal anti-religious moments and the Tall Man saying, “You think that when you die you go to Heaven… you come to us!”
I was beyond obsessed with this movie.
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead: Sadly, this feels like running in circles compared to the first two movies. Liz getting killed ruins a lot of the second movie, ala Hicks and Newt being dead when Alien 3 kicks in. It’s not a bad movie, but there’s not much here that you need to see again. I do like Rocky, who is the only female character that doesn’t become evil.
Phantasm IV: Oblivion: The third film was not well thought of, so Coscarelli went back to the low budget weird horror of the original. There was also a lot of lost footage that was found, so that all added up to make the fourth movie.
I wish we had gotten the Roger Avery-written Phantasm’s End AKA Phantasm 1999 A.D, which has this awesome summary: “The year is 2012 and there are only three U.S. states left. Between New York and California is the wasteland known as the Plague Zone. Unfortunately, the evil Tall Man controls that area. Since many people are dead, the Tall Man is able to make thousands of dwarf slaves for his planet daily in the Mormon Mausoleum. Besides him, the other residents are “baggers,” human-like creatures that are infected by the Tall Man’s blood, the dwarves, and, of course, the silver spheres, all trying to break out of the barrier that contains them and into the real world. A group of hi-tech troops are sent in to destroy the red dimension where the Tall Man gets his power. Reggie follows so he can find Mike after a series of nightmares he had. Will they be able to finally destroy the Tall Man for good?”
Bruce Campbell would have been in that.
The scenes with Jennifer’s breasts being silver balls and Mike ends up in a deserted future Los Angeles where Jody tells him it’s not safe to be out too long due to a disease come from the Avery script.
This movie feels like it’s trying to find an explanation by confusion. It’s all one unending over and over again reality where the Tall Man causes Mike to spend his life trying to stop him and he ends up creating him.
Phantasm V: Ravager: I think that there was such a demand for a final film, it just had to be made. According to the book Phantasm Exhumed, it was originally a spin-off web series that was titled Reggie’s Tales. This footage was eventually expanded with new footage that featured appearances by main cast members and became the fifth movie.
When I watched this again, it felt like it had too many echoes of Bubba Ho-Tep. It makes me question if we want to see our heroes become old and infirm, as I had to watch it happen to my father and spent years trying to talk to someone who was no longer there.
Anyways, I feel like this is some ancient parable.
Here’s how it works.
Phantasm is a kid trying to make sense of death while over the course of the other movies trying to do everything it can to stop death from claiming him, his family and friends.
By Phantasm V: Ravager, it’s now an old man, looking back on life and accepting the inevitability of death.
Are the movies connected at all?
Other than the fact that the same characters are in all of them, it feels like the main connection is using the same footage. They are all in their own subgenre:
Phantasm: Surreal dream logic art horror
Phantasm II: Action horror
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead: Comedy horror with some Raimi
Phantasm IV: Oblivion: Low budget return to the surreal dream logic horror but made by someone who isn’t in the same place they were 20 years ago.
Phantasm V: Ravager: Fan film with a budget.
Have the Phantasm characters shown up anywhere else?
Angus Scrimm did this Adult Swim ad.
Farewell to the Alamo Drafthouse: In this short video, footage between the Tall Man and Mike was teased years before the last movie. It may have actually been footage from the Steven Romano scripted Phantasm Forever that would have had Mike waking from seemingly being in a coma for years with Dr. Morningside at his side. Rocky was to return and Ashley Laurence from Hellraiser fame would have appeared. But how about this: A. Michael Baldwin’s Mike and James LeGros’ Mike would have faced off.
Mike Tyson Mysteries: The episode “Mystery On Wall Street” has one of Mike’s drivers get abducted by Phantasm (Jeff Bergman), who is the Tall Man.
What movies reference or are influenced by Phantasm?
Arrebato has a movie theater advertising this movie.
The Dead Pool: Director Peter Swan’s movie clip is from Phantasm.
Troll 2: The dream feel and mirror smashing at the end feel way too close to be not an influence. Also Claudio Fragasso is not above just taking things from movies and I say that with peace and love.
In the Mouth of Madness: The tagline for Sutter Cane’s book The Hobb’s End Horror is “If this book doesn’t scare you to death, you are already dead. ” Phantasm‘s tagline was “If this one doesn’t scare you, you’re already dead!”
Spider-Man 2: Doc Ock’s pincers in one scene are shot to look like one of the Sentinels. Maybe that’s payback for Sam Raimi’s ashes showing up in Phantasm II.
In the Strangest Places: A character is named Phanni and the fortune teller scene is remade.
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens: The silver Captain Phasma is named for Phantasm.
Psycho Goreman: PG calls Luke boyyyyyyy.
Satan’s Slave: This Indonesian movie is a loose remake.
Supernatural: The Winchester brothers driving in a Chevy Impala chasing demons feels a little bit indebted.
Charmed: In the episode “Wrestling With Demons,” Mr. Kellman (Ron Perlman) shows up to use the Sentinels and Buff Bagwell, Booker T and Scott Steiner wrestle in Hell.
What songs sample the Phantasm theme or parts of the movie?
S’Express – “Coma II”
Entombed – “Left Hand Path”
Mr. Bungle – “Squeeze Me Macaroni” has the Tall Man saying, “Boyyyyy…”
The line “The funeral is about to begin” is in Marduk’s “Hearse,” “Mortician” by Mortician, “7th Angel” and “Funeral Procession” by the Electric Hellfire Club, Splatterhouse’s “Maggot Sermon” and Cold War’s “Scars Left As Evidence.”
“Stomp the shit out of the Tall Man” is in “Guilty of Being Tight” by Municipal Waste
3 Six Mafia – “Late Night Tip”
Doug E Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew – “Play This Only At Night”
Mobb Deep – “The Nighttime G.O.D. Pt. III” and “There That Go (Alchemist Remix)”
Russian Meatsquats – “Let’s Hang Out”
White Throne – “Vengeance Rising”
Tormentor – “Intro”
Iron Maiden – “Mother Russia”
Tommy Wright III – “Don’t Start No Shit”
Reggie Banister – “Have You Seen It?”
Buckethead – “Mausoleum Door”
King Louie – “Difference”
What’s your Phantasm theory?
Let me know in the comments.
References in this article
Phantasm.com. The Complete History Of Every Time The PHANTASM theme has been Covered or Sampled.
Phantasm.com. RON PERLMAN used a PHANTASM SPHERE on CHARMED?! (and WCW wrestlers were there too).
https://samplelist.fandom.com/wiki/Phantasm
https://samplelist.fandom.com/wiki/Phantasm
https://samplelist.fandom.com/wiki/Phantasm
https://samplelist.fandom.com/wiki/Phantasm
https://samplelist.fandom.com/wiki/Phantasm
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