Phantasm(1979)

'If this one doesn't scare you, you're already dead!' Remember that? Then you must also remember the film it is from, Phantasm, directed by Don Coscarelli. This movie is another classic, which spawned quite a few sequels. I will deal with them in other posts. Now, I want to talk about the original. It all begins with a young teen called Mike Pearson(A.Michael Baldwin) and his brother Jody(Bill Thornbury). Jody is 24 and taking care of his younger brother since the death of their parents. There have been many mysterious deaths in their town. Mike is afraid that his brother is going to leave him and he follows Jody to a funeral where he sees The Tall Man(Angus Scrimm) lift a coffin into a hearse by himself.

Mike, Jody and their friend Reggie(Reggie Bannister) decide to investigate the eerie funeral home which is home to The Tall Man. The funeral home has many dangers, one of which is a metal sphere which flies towards the intruders with murderous intent. Then, there is another horrible discovery, the Tall Man has minions of dwarf-like slaves which are the reanimated bodies of the recently deceased. He uses them to pursue Mike, Jody and Reggie. They lure the Tall Man to a mine shaft where they trap him inside. Suddenly Mike wakes up and is in house with Reggie sitting beside him. Was it all a dream??? Reggie tells Mike that Jody had died in a car crash and that this was all in his dreams and Mike was trying to stop Jody from leaving him. He goes into his bedroom where The Tall Man is waiting for him. He grabs Mike through the mirror and the movie ends.

I was a bit surprised by the ending really. I hadn't expected that. But, I guess that was good. It's not very often you get a surprise ending. I hear that there is going to be a fifth sequel coming out this year, so that is going to be good. I like this movie series and I will be waiting for that one to come out. It's called Phantasm V but there are doubts about it being made, so we will wait and see. Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of them! Watch out for the metal spheres!