Phantasm
Both beautifully engrossing yet thoroughly frustrating, surrealistically amazing yet at times incomprehensible, Coscarelli’s horror milestone is the purest example of filmmaking of one man’s unique vision, leaving it up to each individual viewer to figure out what’s trying to be said. Though it seems at times like a parable of not wanting to let go of the ones you love, all one can do in the end is kick back and enjoy the rollercoaster ride atmosphere, carried along incredibly by the musical score, easily one of the best ever for the genre and as iconic as those for Halloween and Exorcist. It’s a far from perfect experience though: the movie takes nearly an hour before it REALLY gets going and has some pacing problems early on. Some special effects are dated and show the signs of low-budget production values. As for the acting, Baldwin is a bit too whiny at times, and has an awkward screen presence. Every time he has a closeup you start to wonder what crappy 70s Disney movie he wandered in from. Thornbury is good as Jody and makes one wonder why he didn’t pursue acting more in his later years. Bannister is wonderful as Reggie: a completely unconventional hero who is a guitar-playing hippie ice cream truck driver sucked into doing battle with the undead. While Reg wouldn’t develop into an all-time Badass Hero Of Horror until the sequels not unlike Ash, he still has a cool loopy quality that makes you root for him even when he acts like a complete idiot. And then of course, there’s Angus Scrimm making horror history as The Tall Man, one of the best and most underrated great horror villains ever, and who continued to impress as the series went on. In the end, one of the essential horror classics EVERY genre fan should see at least once…
8/10