July 12, 2018
Starring: A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister, Dawn Cody
Quotes: You'll never be safe. I'm always watching you.
Trivia: According to the book "Phantasm Exhumed," filming on Phantasm: Ravager first began in late 2008 where it was originally envisioned as a spinoff webseries about the Reggie character. This webisode footage was eventually expanded upon with new footage that featured appearances by main cast members to become feature-length.
This is it. The final chapter. The last Phantasm movie. It is a bittersweet ending to one of my favorite horror film series. Luckily it ends on a high note. I absolutely loved this film! It had everything I could want in the final chapter of the Phantasm story. Comedy, horror, action, and of course the badassery of Reggie. Reggie is at his absolute best in this film and demonstrates a wider range of acting talent than he had in previous films. There are some epic battle scenes with the Tall Man and we learn a little more about what created the Tall Man. The movie's ending is vague and bleak but with some sense of hope. Coscarelli also includes a lot of the illusionary confusion that make his films so compelling. Finally, we get a couple of great and unexpected cameos that, as a fan, I was ecstatic to see.
In this film, Reggie is living in a hospital for aging persons. Mike, who does not seem to remember anything about the Tall Man, is convinced that Reggie is losing his mind. Meanwhile, Reggie's character oscillates between the hospital, his battles with the Tall man, dream worlds, and a postapocalyptic future where the Tall Man has already destroyed most of the world. If this seems confusing, it is supposed be. Reggie eventually meets up with a version of Mike in the postapocalyptic world and the two, along with a dwarf named Chunk, go out to fight the Tall Man. This version of Mike informs Reggie that he has been in a coma and the Tall Man has pretty much defeated this version of Earth. This leads Reggie, Mike, and Chunk to fight the Tall Man in his world. Chunk blows himself in an attempt to destroy the Tall Man. Flash to the hospital where Reggie and Mike fight off some of the Tall Man's minions and then drive away in a car driven by Jody (awesome!). At the hospital, one version of Reggie dies of old age and the other Reggie, along with Mike and Jody now all reunited, decide to drive north away from the Tall Man.
What makes this film and all of Coscarelli's films (Bubba Ho-Tep and John Dies at the End especially) so interesting is that they all bring forth questions about reality. What is reality and is there such a thing as an objective reality or is it relative to each and every person? The multiple storylines stacked upon each other and spanning dimensions really drives this point home. Where is Reggie in the film? Is he in a hospital? A postapocalyptic Earth? In the desert fighting the Tall Man? All the above? Also, is Reggie crazy? Or, like Bruce Campbell's character in Bubba Ho-Tep, does he really know something that no one else in the movie knows (for Reggie it's that the Tall Man is trying to kill the world and for Bruce's character it is that he really is Elvis)? There is a great scene at the end of the film where it switches back and forth between realities. At one moment Reggie is being followed by orderlies at the hotel and then next moment they morph into the Tall Man's gravers. In these scenes, the entire setting changes between the two worlds. Also, I love the idea that even if we perish in this world, there are numerous other worlds that we survive in.
There are so many great scenes in this movie. We get a great weapon's montage towards the beginning of the film as Reggie arms himself, readying himself to battle the Tall Man. There are plenty of scenes where the metal spheres kill people and even a great one where a metal ball tears apart a horse. The postapocalyptic earth was really cool looking with the gravers wandering the street, spheres flying around and a giant sphere sending bolts of fire destroying the earth.
What really makes this movie so great is the cameos. Kathy Lester, better known as the Lady in Lavender (the topless lady that kills Jody and Mike's brother Tommy before turning into the Tall Man) makes a cameo attacking Reggie at the Morningside Mortuary (the Mortuary makes a cameo too!). Somehow Kathy Lester has become even more beautiful in the forty years since she first appeared in the original film. Jody makes his appearance at the end of the film. He pulls up in a car riddling the hospital with bullets and asks Reggie, "How's it hanging?" to which Reggie (of course) replies, "Uhh, a little to the left I guess." So good! Finally, there is a mid-credit scene where Chunk crawls out of one of the Tall Man's dimension forks and we see Rocky from Phantasm III standing there. It was great seeing her in a Phantasm film again! She was incredible in Phantasm III. Unfortunately, there is no Tommy (Whatever happened to Tommy?). I wonder if this scene was to open up the franchise to a possible spinoff with Rocky and Chunk?
This is also the first Phantasm film to not be directed by Don Conscarelli. Although he wrote the script a new director, David Hartman (known mainly for directed television) directed the film. The film has a tv movie kind of feel to its direction. It neither good nor bad, just different. It is apparent that Coscarelli's directed style is missing. I know very little about cameras, but the movie looks like it was filmed entirely on digital and is missing that warm film feel that only celluloid can provide.
When all is said and done, it was just great seeing Reggie and Angus Scrimm on screen together. Angus Scrimm would die shortly after filming this movie however he would get to see the final version of the film before passing on. It is sad knowing we will never get the Tall Man back, but at least they ended on a good note. Angus Scrimm, you will be missed.
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