After the death of his parents young Michael can't seem to let his brother Jody go anywhere without following him. One day, at the funeral of one of Jody's friends, Michael witnesses the funeral home's not-so-human undertaker do something no human man can do, which makes him suspicious, and for good reason.
The movie starts out in a cemetery one night as this guy Tommy is getting some action from a hot blonde. Well one thing leads to another, during the sexual act, and as he finishes she finishes him off, knife to the gut. A little time later were at Tommyís funeral and are introduced to Jody and Reggie, two of our stars, who happen to be friends of Tommy. So during the funeral Jodyís brother Michael shows up and hides in a bush, watching the funeral from afar. After the funeral everyone leaves and Tommyís casket is laying on the ground outside his burial plot as an undertaker known only as ďThe Tall ManĒ comes up and single handedly lifts the full casket with Tommyís body and places it in the back of his hearse and drives off. This raises some suspicion to Michael but he runs off and goes about his business.
We find out earlier that Jody and Michaelís parents were dead and about this time we find out that Michael is really concerned that Jody will leave him, which explains why heís following him to places like Tommyís funeral and whatnot. So one night Michael follows Jody to a local bar where he picks up a girl, ironically enough the same girl that stabbed Tommy, and they go off to the cemetery to get it on, with Michael hot on their tracks.
In the cemetery Jody and the hot blonde are starting to do their thing, while Michael watches, when out of the woods a strange little Jawa looking midget in a cloak jumps out at Michael, who freaks out and starts running past Jody, who notices and chases after him. Jody stops Michael a little ways away and after Michael explains about the creature Jody tosses him his keys and tells him to go home, obviously not believing his story.
 
So Michael goes home and periodically the little Jawa midgets show up a couple times, nearly crushing him with his brotherís car. So Jody walks in on Michael right after the accident and yet again Michael explains and Jody just brushes it off. So later that night Michael breaks into the funeral home to get some hard evidence when heís attacked by the caretaker after dodging a metallic orb, which turns around and goes at him again, only to protrude a couple blades that bury into the skull of the caretaker after Michel breaks free of his grasp. The orb then pulls out a drill that buries itself in the forehead of the caretaker and sucks out brains and guts which shoots out the other side of the orb. Freaked out Michael starts to run but is confronted by The Tall Man. He narrowly escapes, after chopping off a few of The Tall Manís digits and runs back home, this time winning Jody over when he shows him one of the fingers he had cut off.
Now itís up to Jody, Michael, and their pal the guitar strumming, no shit taking, badass ice cream man Reggie, to save the day and find out what The Tall Man is up to.
Now it goes without saying that this movie is a timeless classic that has lived past all the bullshit that the mainstream media had presented since itís release. With a solid cast, an eerie score and a more than perfect story, this movie delivers. Rarely is there any downtime in the story which I personally liked and in all the FX were excellent for being filmed at the end of the 1970ís. The only thing I wasnít too happy about was the fact that Reggie Bannister didnít have enough screen time, being that he was my all time favorite character, even over the excellently spooky Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man. Luckily Reggie came back into the series and became the star that we all know and love as the wild, perverted, rocker ice cream man, Reggie.
Phantasm spawned off three more movies and itís rumored that Phantasm V will be in production shortly so look forward to that. In the mean time check out this classic flick and enjoy it like I did. Highly Recommended!
Phantasm is one of the greatest horror flicks to hit the shelves in the entire history of the genre, definitely watch and own this movie, it's top shelf material.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 1979
DIRECTOR: Don Coscarelli
WRITING CREDITS: Don Coscarelli
GENRE: Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy
CAST: Reggie Bannister, Kathy Lester, A. Michael Baldwin
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 88 min
RATING: 10/10
Phantasm Website/IMDB Click here
Phantasm Trailer Click here
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