Plenty of horror movies can be described as “nightmarish,” and plenty evoke the sense of non-sequiturial unease we feel in our strangest nightmares; and while there’s an entire history of surrealist and expressionist film dating back well before it’s time, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that recent weirdness like We Are the Flesh wouldn’t exist, or be half as potent, without Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm.
Blending comedy and horror under the umbrella of uniquely dreamlike mood, Phantasm pits a boy, his older brother, and his uncle against a supernatural mortician known as The Tall Man (played by the late Angus Scrimm) and his hordes of cloaked dwarves. Even a shoestring budget and the limited acting abilities of its cast can’t get in the way of Coscarelli’s singularly weird imagination, or Mr. Scrimm: with his bulldog face, imposing height, and a gravelly, authoritarian voice, he’s an instant horror icon from the moment he locks eyes with protagonist Mike Pearson (A. Michael Baldwin) from across the street, through a cloud of vapor from a nearby ice cream cart. And like every good horror icon, he has a signature weapon: his flying death balls. These shiny, silver, blade-equipped orbs whizz through the air to latch onto the faces of the Tall Man’s enemies, and while they’re used less sparingly in future Phantasm installments (oh yeah, it’s a franchise), there’s nothing quite like that first death-by-ball. Nothing at all.
Phantasm recently got a full 4K blu-ray restoration overseen by none other than J.J. Abrams, if you needed anymore proof of the legacy of this underground horror gem. No shelling out for overpriced bootleg DVDs or scrounging around pawn shops in hopes of a lucky find--Phantasm is more widely-available than it ever has been before, and looks the best it ever will, so go watch it!
-Brian L.
Blending comedy and horror under the umbrella of uniquely dreamlike mood, Phantasm pits a boy, his older brother, and his uncle against a supernatural mortician known as The Tall Man (played by the late Angus Scrimm) and his hordes of cloaked dwarves. Even a shoestring budget and the limited acting abilities of its cast can’t get in the way of Coscarelli’s singularly weird imagination, or Mr. Scrimm: with his bulldog face, imposing height, and a gravelly, authoritarian voice, he’s an instant horror icon from the moment he locks eyes with protagonist Mike Pearson (A. Michael Baldwin) from across the street, through a cloud of vapor from a nearby ice cream cart. And like every good horror icon, he has a signature weapon: his flying death balls. These shiny, silver, blade-equipped orbs whizz through the air to latch onto the faces of the Tall Man’s enemies, and while they’re used less sparingly in future Phantasm installments (oh yeah, it’s a franchise), there’s nothing quite like that first death-by-ball. Nothing at all.
Phantasm recently got a full 4K blu-ray restoration overseen by none other than J.J. Abrams, if you needed anymore proof of the legacy of this underground horror gem. No shelling out for overpriced bootleg DVDs or scrounging around pawn shops in hopes of a lucky find--Phantasm is more widely-available than it ever has been before, and looks the best it ever will, so go watch it!
-Brian L.
Archival details
- Original URL
- https://metallifestyle.weebly.com/curtains-movie--tv-reviews/31-nights-of-horror-night-twenty-nine-phantasm
- Recovery source
- live-weebly
- Recovery date
- 2026-07-22
- Stewardship polish
- 2026-07-22
- Preservation status
- restored
- Missing assets
- None recorded
Preserved by Bloodsoaked Media · The Archives