Phantasm 3: Lord Of The Dead
The origins of the Phantasm Horror Franchise are really quite remarkable as it basically involved a bunch of working class friends in the rural Northern California region who all knew each other and hung out together so one day they all decided to make a low budget horror movie. In the process, writer and director Don Coscarelli shot a lot of footage (most of it unused) and discovered that the film itself was really coming together in the editing room as he went along in post production and as a result wound up creating one of the great abstract horror movies of all time, a nail biter where nothing was what it really seemed and had his efforts deemed visionary while the film was immediately labeled a stone cold classic. In 1988, Coscarelli would make Part 2 of the series, retaining the original atmosphere but also drawing inspiration from Sam Raimiās Evil Dead Franchise in the concept of comedic horror offset by gratuitous amounts of gore, even transforming the character of Reggie (Reggie Bannister) into the goofiest and coolest horror hero ever second only in many peopleās eyes to Bruce Campbellās Ash himself (a far cry from the idiot ice cream vendor in the first movie who would turn out to be easy prey). But something was amiss here, particularly to Coscarelli himself. A. Michael Baldwin, who as a little kid had created the role of central protagonist Mike in the original film, was rejected by Universal Studios (who had supplied the budget and distribution for Part 2) in favor of James LeGros in the part. While LeGros had not done a bad job as Mike, Coscarelli almost felt as if he had betrayed one of his oldest and dearest friends by not taking a stand for casting him again and when Universal declined the option for making a third film, Coscarelli was once again able to secure the financing independently, leading to this (Part 3) being released in 1994 with Baldwin once again ensconced as Mike alongside Reggie as they pursued and battled Angus Scrimmās Tall Man across The Pacific Northwest and upper mid American countryside with the story taking stock in the notion that those areas are sparsely populated (or outright abandoned) in real life by just explaining that The Tall Man cleaned them all out to be that way. Unfortunately, we can immediately see why the part was recast with LeGros as Baldwin still has that awkward screen presence that he had as a kid (while LeGros displayed more action hero confidence) and maybe Coscarelli realized it too, as he physically establishes Baldwin as being back playing the part and then just as quickly removes him from the story (via being kidnapped by The Tall Man) for literally over half the movie, thus placing the job of carrying the whole thing squarely on the shoulders of Reggie (which is a good thing). The film opens by recapping the cliffhanger finale of Part 2 (carefully edited so as not to show LeGrosā face) but still letting us see the character of Liz (Paula Irvine) who had been portrayed as a hybrid soulmate / romantic interest for Mike since she seemed to share many of the same abilities as he did (which appears to be the abilities for which The Tall Man has ātargetedā Mike for in the first place). Unfortunately, Liz winds up dying in the maelstrom that concluded the previous film (a shame) and the newly revived Tall Man (having disposed of the destroyed Part 2 incarnation of himself) takes her head as a trophy. After Mike is grabbed up, itās up to Reggie to continue the quest, but with a surprise companion: Jody (Bill Thornbury), Mikeās long dead brother from the first film who has returned in the form of one of the spheres (which seems to house his soul) and is guiding Reggie onward and upward towards the next expected warzone against The Tall Manās minions, the most recently cleaned out small town where Reg is waylaid by three looting scavengers (including an extremely gorgeous hot blonde) who in turn are taken out by a little kid who appears to be a weapons expert (Kevin Connors) and then they in turn are joined by a ridiculous kung fu loving black woman with a butch attitude and Mr. T haircut named Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry). Now while one might think that saddling Regman with two such outrageous sidekicks as he continues his search for Mike is a bit extreme, it also continues to reflect the Raimi influence as Army Of Darkness had just come out a couple of years before this and had successfully steered Ash and the Evil Dead Franchise into the land of straight up comedy gold and while this installment of Phantasm also went heavily in that direction without quite striking gold itself (the three scavengers later come back as goofy zombie henchmen), perhaps it’s easy to say that Phantasm also deserved to have its āfunā chapter as well (a quality shared by almost all the major horror franchises including Elm Street who nearly made the comedic angle into its permanent tone with all of the Freddy wisecracks). While the overwrought black female character (complete with nunchakus) was cited by many as being the worst, most over the top aspect of the sequel with her Grace Jones on steroids look to her, that still doesnāt stop Reggie from turning on his sloppy ladiesā man charm in his desperate as usual attempts to bed her down (and be repeatedly rejected since itās implied that sheās a lesbian). But Reggie is still great fun to watch in these scenes as well as in his bits developing the relationship with the kid whom he doesnāt approve of taking along as a sidekick even though heās a crack shot and even capable of setting elaborate booby traps. But the kid has a habit of showing up at the right times when Reggie tries to move along without him and saving his life, so eventually he relents. For the record, Angus Scrimm is still playing his Tall Man as deadly serious and imposingly stiff, not injecting any more (or less) humor into the character than he did in the previous two outings. The real mystery remains as to what exactly The Tall Man actually WANTS from Mike and what it is about that character that makes him so damn important in The Tall Manās plans (and reportedly at that point in the franchise even Coscarelli himself wasnāt too sure as to which direction he was going to take things creatively). We do get that The Tall Man is intent on going to mostly small towns (so he wonāt get noticed too much in what heās doing from the outside world) and after first taking out any possible threatening authority figures (namely law enforcement), he then takes the other residents down in a rather rapid manner and does so in such a way that nearby communities can chalk up the events as being the results of a āplagueā. Perhaps the mission is to kill all living humans and then enslave their souls through having them become reanimated dead (a mission that would likely take him quite a while), but at least Reggie and Mike seem to be able to at least slow him down a little bit if not put an outright dent in his plans. But again, with Mike (and the less than charismatic Baldwin playing him) being sent to the sidelines here for over half the movie, we can at least enjoy Reggie Bannister (whose huge fan following was only bolstered after the release of Part 2) successfully carrying the film with his usual beloved trademarks like his legendary Plymouth Hemi, his four barreled shotgun and his unbridled lust for any even remotely attractive woman who crosses his path keeping us watching and rooting for him to continue taking on any demons / zombies / dwarves that The Tall Man can throw his way, even as The Tall Man himself curiously never seems to grasp the opportunity to actually kill Reggie whenever he has the chance (as itās clear that he has little to no use for him in his plans unlike with Mike), preferring instead to be satisfied whenever Reggie is either knocked unconscious and / or incapacitated and then just walking away and leaving him. But Reggie nonetheless is still seemingly the only one with either the strength and / or natural ability to close The Tall Manās magical portals that allows him to cross between worlds which in many ways anoints him with a sort of āchosen oneā status (similar to Ash) in much like the way Mike is supposedly made out to be so special. The Jody angle (a major thing at that time since Thornbury was returning to the series after 15 years) also raises the question of slaves (and spheres) possibly rebelling against The Tall Man and the ending of course whets our appetites greatly for the next chapter, a trademark of this quality horror seriesā¦
7/10