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Explain Phantasm

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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 Boxer’s Omen

The Dead Pool: Director Peter Swan’s movie clip is from Phantasm.

A Nightmare On Elm Street

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

https://samplelist.fandom.com/wiki/Phantasm

https://samplelist.fandom.com/wiki/Phantasm

CHILLER THEATER MONTH: The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe (1974)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe was first on Chiller Theater on Saturday, October 22, 1977 at 11:30 p.m. It also aired on July 3, 1982.

Edgar Allan Poe’s (Robert Walker Jr., Evil Town, Hex) love Lenore (Mary Grover) was nearly buried alive after a coma made it appear as if she were dead and now, she’s insane. Poe’s friend Dr. Forrest (Tom Drake) advises him that Dr. Grimaldi (Cesar Romero) will take proper care of her, but then Poe starts to worry. That place should be strange but it seems truly odd.

There’s someone who thinks that they are a werewold, an axe murderer and a watery tomb filled with snakes that you just know that Poe will get stuck in. Plus, you also get Dennis Fimple and Carol Ohmart.

It all looks as cheap as possible and that’s why I love it, as Mohy Quandour was the director, writer and producer and tried to do all he could with the limited cash he had on hand. He also made the movie Yanco, which is one of the 95 films on the Church of Satan film list.

I hope that lots of schoolkids who watched this movie tried to use it for their book reports.

You can watch this on YouTube.

THE IMPORTANT CINEMA CLUB’S SUPER SCARY MOVIE CHALLENGE DAY 16: Man’s Best Friend (1993)

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October 16: A Horror Film That Involves a Killer House Pet

John Lafia also made The Blue Iguana and co-wrote Child’s Play and directed the sequel. He also made The Rats, the American made-for-TV movie adaptation of the books of James Herbert.

It starts with the death of Judy Sanders (Robin Frates), an employee of the EMAX genetic research facility. She has been talking to television personality and animal activist Lori Tanner (Ally Sheedy) about the abuse she’s seen at her lab. Before Lori can get to their meeting, an animal under the control of the company’s owner, Dr. Jarret (Lance Henriksen). Nonetheless, Lori and her camerawoman Annie (Trula M. Marcus) break in and free one of the dogs, Max.

Max becomes Lori’s protector — he goes a bit far, chasing down and killing a mugger — and the nemesis of her boyfriend Perry (Fredric Lehne).

Jarret tells the cops that Max is a genetically altered dog that has the DNA of big cats, snakes, chameleons and birds of prey. He’s also given to berserk freakouts, which means that he needs to be on drugs that he hasn’t received in some time. Max is, however, super rad. He does all sorts of insane things like bite through Perry’s brake lines, kill a mailman, eat a parakeet and make sweet love to a collie, knocking her up with the puppy that Lori will adopt when this is all over.

He also gets sold out because Perry wants her to get rid of him. She finds who she thinks is a kind junkyard guy (William Sanderson) but that weirdo is soon hitting Max with shovels and burning his face with a blowtorch. Max does what you hope he does. He decimates that guy and then comes back home to a new dog taking his place. He responds by pissing acidic urine all over Perry.

Max forgives Lori and comes to rescue her from Jarret, giving up his life in the process. I hate this. I am all for Max and none of the humans in this movie. He’s a good boy all the way to the end, even if he does eat a cat.

2023 Scarecrow Psychotronic Challenge Day 16: The Chain Reaction (1980)

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16. OZPLOITATION: Maximize your wander with some thunder from down yonder.

Director and writer Ian Barry made this Australian film that has a lot of the cast and crew from Mad Max, including Mel Gibson appearing as a blink and you miss him mechanic* and George Miller serving as associate producer and filming the car chase scenes. They didn’t hide that this movie had ties to that film as the tagline was “Mad Max meets The China Syndrome.”

An earthquake causes a dangerous leak at a nuclear waste plant known as WALDO (Western Atomic Longterm Dumping Organisation). Heinrich Schmidt (Ross Thompson), an engineer near-death after the incident, is trying to warn people that the groundwater will be contaminated. He’s rescued by a married couple on vacation, Larry (Steve Bisley, Jim Goose from Mad Max) and Carmel Stilson (Arna-Maria Winchester).

Toss in an electronic score by Andrew Thomas Wilson and bad guy costumes that look like they came from The Crazies and you have an Australian film perfect for the drive-in.

*Hugh Keays-Byrne, Roger Ward, Tim Burns and David Bracks are also in this.

 

UNSUNG HORRORS HORROR GIVES BACK 2023: Rome Against Rome (1964)

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Each October, the Unsung Horrors podcast does a month of themed movies. This year they will once again be setting up a fundraiser to benefit Best Friends, which is working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across America, giving pets second chances and happy homes.

Today’s theme: The undead

Also known as War of the Zombies, Rome Against Rome was the second to last film from the Galatea production company (some of their other films include Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, Mill of the Stone Women and Ghosts of Rome). It was directed by Giuseppe Vari, who used the name Joseph Warren, and also made The Last Killer, Shoot the Living and Pray for the Dead, Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why?, Sister Emanuelle and Urban Warriors. Its story came from Ferruccio De Martino (who usually was a production manager) and Massimo De Rita (Violent City, The Valachi Papers, Street Law) with a script from Piero Pierotti (who directed Hercules Against Rome and Marco Polo) and Marcello Sartarelli.

In a remote part of the Roman Empire, cult leader Aderbad (John Drew Barrymore, Drew’s father) is working with the governor to create their own land using the corpses of Roman soldiers brought back from the dead. Centurion Gaius (Ettore Manni) is sent to protect the interests of the senate.

Most of the production money probably went toward making Aderbad’s secret rooms look like something out of Bava, because the actual fight scenes are taken from Hannibal. Susy Anderson (Black Sabbath, Thor and the Amazon Women) and Ida Galli (The Psychic, Arabella: Black Angel, The Sweet Body of Deborah, The Whip and the Body) are also on hand.

American-International Pictures played this movie as a double feature with Senkichi Taniguchi’s Samurai Pirate, which they named The Lost World of Sinbad. When it was time for Rome Against Rome to air on TV, it was renamed the completely incredible title Night Star: Goddess of Electra.

I wish that there was more to recommend this movie than just as a curiosity. Peplum was giving way to the western, so anything was being tried at this point. According to Mondo Esoterica, two other horror and sandal hybrids are Goliath and the Vampires and, of course, Hercules in the Haunted World.

CHILLER THEATER MONTH: Kronos (1957)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Kronos was on Chiller Theater on Sunday, September 29, 1963 at 11:10 p.m. It also aired on April 18 and August 16, 1964; December 30, 1972; September 28, 1974 and November 1, 1975.

A glowing bit of energy is launched from a UAP from deep space. The energy lands on our planet and takes over the brain of a man somewhere in the Southwest and sends him to a research facility where scientists have been tracking the object.

It soon takes over Dr. Hubbell Eliot as astrophysicist Dr. Leslie Gaskell and Dr. Arnold Culver track the UAP. They fire three nuclear missiles at it, because that’s what humans do, and it survives the attack. They leave for Mexico, along with Gaskell’s girlfriend Vera Hunter to see Kronos, an energy accumulator that is going to take everything we have and bring it back to its planet. That’s why when the U.S. military drops an atomic bomb on it, Kronos gets even bigger.

Dr. Eliot breaks out of alien control and kills himself to keep them from learning more from him. At the last minute, Gaskell reverses the polarity and drops nuclear ions on the robot and saves the day.

Director Kurt Neumann also was the man who made She Devil, the movie that this played double features with. Kronos was written by Lawrence L. Goldman and Irving Block. Block was an effects man who also wrote the story for Forbidden Planet.

It’s also the first movie for Richard Harrison. The same man who Godfrey Ho would use in movie after movie, often the same footage, until it seems like he was in twenty or more ninja films.

AIMEE: The Visitor (2023)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

The press information for director Charles Band’s AIMEE: The Visitor proclaims that “This is the first film in history to feature a character not portrayed by an actor or designed using digital special effects, but entirely created using modern A.I. technology.” With the Hollywood strikes occurring partially because of studios considering replacing writers and actors with AI, the film drops at an interesting time. 

The core of this cautionary fable is nothing new: computer technology becomes self-aware and attempts to destroy the life of the person(s) using it. In this case, Scott Keyes (Dallas Schaefer) is a supposedly high-end computer programmer who makes a lot of money from corporate espionage, yet he is holed up in the type of questionable apartment for which cinematic hackers are known and stays inside watching porn and eating fast food when not doing his shady work. He rents out space in the building to brother-and-sister hacker duo Hunter (Felix Merback) and Gazelle (Faith West), who help him in his nefarious deeds. And for some reason, Gazelle is crushed out on the misanthropic Scott.

Enter AIMEE, a beautiful (of course) AI creation who can help Scott however he wishes — professionally or personally, which leads to a fantasy three-way sex scene and a jealous rivalry between AIMEE and Gazelle. All manner of deadly hijinks ensue, with FBI agents and a pet dog involved in the mix along with our main three human protagonists. 

As a Full Moon Feature, the special effects are on the low budget side of things, and the AIMEE effects should relieve most human actors of any worries about AI taking their places soon. The performances are fine, with the main cast members not treading into scenery-chewing territory. 

If you’re in the mood for a The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, or Black Mirror style of “beware technology” science fiction tale combined with erotic thriller elements, AIMEE: The Visitor should have what you crave.  

AIMEE: The Visitor, from Full Moon Features, is currently available on https://www.fullmoonfeatures.com/

Dark thriller THE G to have its World Premiere in Official Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on November 11

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A mysterious older woman seeks revenge on the corrupt legal guardian who destroyed her life.

London/Toronto/Tallinn, October 13: THE G, from writer/director Karl R. Hearne and 3Buck Productions, starring Dale Dickey (Hell or High Water, Winter’s Bone, True Blood) has been Officially Selected for the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. In competition, it will celebrate its World Premiere on November 11th.

In further news, levelFILM has acquired all rights for Canadian distribution with a release date scheduled for 2024.

Ann Hunter (aka “The G”, played by Dale Dickey) and her husband retired to an unnamed American suburb 10 years ago to be near his family. But one day out of the blue they are snatched from their home by a corrupt legal guardian who believes they have hidden wealth. Their home and assets are legally stripped from them and they are put in a prison-like “eldercare facility,” victims of an exploding old age industry. Trapped in a corrupt and terrifying system, THE G begins to show her true mettle as she and her loyal granddaughter fight to get them out… and get revenge on the people who did this.

 A “winter-noir” based on real events/inspired by the filmmaker’s own family experience, THE G is an original portrait of a fierce older woman in the kind of role that a woman is rarely cast in. A highly atmospheric blend of suspense, dark humor, and moving human relationships that confronts age-related issues head on, THE G is driven by one astonishing main character, rivetingly portrayed by Dale Dickey, “One of Hollywood’s Great Scene-Stealers” (Vanity Fair, Fall 2022).

THE G also stars Romane Denis (True North, Slut in a Good Way), Roc Lafortune (Beastly, I’m Not There, Pluto Nash), Bruce Ramsay (Alive, Collateral Damage) and Jonathan Koensgen (FUBAR, Reacher).

The film is line-produced by José Lacelle (Enter The Void, Racer), edited by Arthur Tarnowski (Bestsellers, The Sacrifice Game) with music by Philippe Brault (The Fireflies are Gone, Maria Chapdelaine) and sound design by Pierre-Jules Audet (Arrival).

Writer/director Karl R. Hearne says, “This film is a “winter-noir” based on real-world elder scams, and inspired by my own grandmother’s story and character. It’s about a woman who- regardless of her age or situation- refuses to accept that her life is over. In a world where the elderly are frequently marginalised, neglected or abused, I think of this film as a revenge story against old age itself… old age being a condition that my grandmother once said she “would not tolerate.”

“At levelFILM, we strive to partner with talented creators and share their stories like this one to ensure they find their Canadian (and beyond!) audiences,” said Olivier Gauthier-Mercier, VP of Distribution at levelFILM. “THE G speaks to an unfortunately all-too-common human experience through incredible performances driven with heart.”

THE G will celebrate its World Premiere at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on November 11

WATCH BRET MCCORMICK ON THE DIA LATE MOVIE

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This week, we were joined by Bret McCormick, director of The Abomination and Repligator. We watched 1956 Freudian madness in movie form Daughter of Horror (which you can watch on YouTube and the Internet Archive) and learned so much about how Bret made his films, some surprising movies he worked on and the history of Texas independent horror.

To learn more, check out this interview I did with Bret. You can also get a signed copy of Texas Schlock, Bret’s book on Texas films, right here. To see all of Bret’s books, check out his Amazon page.

Perhaps most importantly, don’t forget to grab his movies from Visual Vengeance.

MVD: The Abomination, Repligator

Diabolik: The Abomination, Repligator, promo of both films with limited edition sunglasses

CHILLER THEATER MONTH: Dynasty (1977)

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Dynasty was on a special Chiller Theater on Friday, July 16, 1982. It was on the Money Movie set instead of inside the castle. 

Qian Dao Wan li Zhu AKA Super Dragon AKA Dynasty was the first Hong Kong/Taiwan 3D film, as well as using the Sensurround 8-track stereophonic sound system. That way, the things you’ve come to expect from martial arts films — punches, kicks, swords and flying guillotines — mix up with things you will in no way expect — flying heads, crushed skulls, metal umbrellas as weapons and even a man battling with his amputated knubs — while flying directly at your face.

The prince of the Emperor is accused of treason against the throne by an evil eunuch and his sword-wielding henchman and must fight for his life, which is all the set-up you need for 94 non-stop minutes of fighting. It’s not the best martial arts you’ve ever seen, but it is one of the few that made it into the third dimension.

Director Mei-Chun Chang*also made Young Dragons: Kung Fu Kids and understood that we want to see 3D bust our eyeballs. And serving as the 3D advisor on this? Michael Findlay. Yeah, the very same.

In 1982, Chiller Theater showed three 3D movies. Along with this film, they also showed Revenge of the Creature and Gorilla at Large.

Kino Lorber has released a special edition blu ray of this film, working alongside the 3-D Film Archive to create something that be viewed with either BD3D polarized or traditional red and blue glasses (it comes with one pair). That’s because this blu ray was made with Adaptive Multi-Band Anaglyphic Encoding, which they claim is a vast improvement over any previously used process for red/cyan 3D imaging. I’ll be honest, in my trial of this, it worked perfectly. The disk also features a restored comic book, some 3D slideshows and a 3D music video.

*Chang also directed another 3D martial arts film, Revenge of the Shogun Women.