Phantasm II
Whereas the original Phantasm excelled in establishing a mood and atmosphere unique to the genre, its 1988 sequel takes the Evil Dead 2 route, mixing the genuine scares with a sense of fun and some humor. It is also the installment where Reggie Bannister came into his own, solidifying himself (second only to Bruce Campbell’s Ash) as one of the great heroes of horror. Roaring down the road in his 1971 Hemicuda, using a chainsaw and his legendary four-barreled shotgun, Reg is a force to be reckoned with, teaming up once again with Mike (played by James LeGros, replacing Michael Baldwin from the original, as he auditioned to reprise his role and failed to get it) to track down the ultimate force of evil known only as The Tall Man. Angus Scrimm returns as well, and brings that incredible menacing presence to one of the most sadly overlooked horror villains, literally murdering small towns and ransacking the graveyards to enslave the dead, and an early shot of Mike and Reg moving through a cemetery where all the graves have been emptied is as haunting an image as you will ever see. Reportedly, director Don Coscarelli (working with a bigger budget than at any other time in the series) endured studio interference while making this entry, bending to Universal’s will of adding a female love interest to the story, but fortunately managed to cast the lovely Paula Irvine in the role of Liz, a teenage girl with a psychic link to Mike and The Tall Man: With her beautiful angelic face and good Christian girl persona, this viewer realized he could watch her all day long and take a real rooted interest in her character; LeGros as Mike is an improvement over the non-acting theatrics of Baldwin, smartly remembering that the character is essentially still a dorky kid but nonetheless instilling him with a badass swagger that matches him up well with Reg; and Samantha Phillips as the sexy, mysterious hitchhiker they pick up brings some sizzle to the table including having a well-timed nude sex scene with the Regman. Indeed, it is the everyday, average guy appeal of Reggie (he’s on a mission to stop a great evil but he still wants to get laid) that helps so many viewers connect with him, even while he’s having chainsaw duels or kicking the crap out of the sinister dwarves that serve The Tall Man’s interests. At times, the film steers wrong with some awkwardly written dialogue meant to serve as clumsy exposition and explain things to the viewer that are probably best meant to be ambiguous, but its major improvement over the original film is with its pacing: While the first film took its sweet time to get going, this sequel hits the ground running and never lets up for 97 minutes, taking the horror fan on a twisted, fun ride that he or she never wants to see end, with another patented cliffhanger in the final scene to boot. Overall, proof positive that a sequel to a quality horror film CAN be the superior piece of filmmaking…
9/10