Note: This review does assume you have seen Phantasm and Phantasm II - if you haven't, then you might like to do so before proceeding.

 

The Film

When a cult film has multiple sequels, we usually reach a point, somewhere around number 3 or 4 (sorry, III or IV), where it feels almost appropriate to add a label that says 'for fans of the series only'. It seems unlikely that too many newcomers are going to start with III and work backwards, but with every film you also run the risk of losing a portion of your original core audience who just don't like where you're taking something they once loved. It can happen to the best of films and film-makers - witness the general reaction (and mine, as it happens) to the much maligned The Godfather, Part III.

There is also the perceived cheapening effect of multiple sequels, with overlong film franchises being the butt of many a movie joke, the general opinion being that if you get to VII or VIII then you really are in trouble. If you want to keep credibility for yourself and your series, get out while you're ahead. And yeah, I'm including Star Wars in that.

For Don Coscarelli's Phantasm series, III marked the point that many I know deserted the series, not for its content of execution, which they never even got as far as judging, but because the IDEA of a third film in a horror series had, in the UK at least, a somewhat straight-to-video air about it. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the film, it's just how it was perceived by an audience already weary of tawdry Friday 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and, yes, Halloween sequels. Thus it's rather nice to have the opportunity to properly evaluate the third and fourth of the Phantasm films - packaged together so nicely together by Anchor Bay, they ask to be appreciated, without prejudice, on equal standing with their predecessors.

As with Phantasm II, Phantasm III picks up the story pretty much from the moment the last film ended. Once again this requires a couple of minor cheats of the sort found in 'to be continued' movie serials of years past, where you were shown the lead character plunging to his death at the end of one episode and then a week later see him jumping clear of the car before it made its fatal, over-the-cliff dive, and you just KNOW he was in that bloody car when it plunged to earth the week before. The Phantasm series have never been so explicit, but at the end of each film the clear suggestion is that although the characters believe they have defeated the Tall Man and escaped with their lives, he always comes back in the final seconds and gets them. Yet come the next film it turns out he didn't COMPLETELY get them and they are able to struggle to their feet, break free of their captor and carry on the fight.

And so it happens here. Reggie wasn't killed, just bashed about a bit, and Mike is OK because the car he was yanked through the rear window of mysteriously explodes just up the road, throwing him some distance but leaving him dazed but relatively unharmed. Telepathic girlfriend Liz is somewhat less fortunate, as a bunch of dwarfs have turned up to eat her face off. When Reggie arrives on the scene he quickly recovers his treasured four-barrel shotgun (which he threw away in the previous film but has no doubt made its way back to further delight the fans) and starts sorting the creatures out (including an amusing shoot-in-the-air gag), but soon finds himself surrounded by more, plus a newly restored Tall Man, who he forces to back off by threatening to blow himself and Mike up.

The expansion of ideas and action movie structure that marked Phantasm II clearly signaled that Coscarelli intends to give each film its own specific identity, and the first clues regarding where Phantasm III will head are supplied here. We've been led to believe up to this point in the series that although The Tall Man (who has really beefed up the telekinetic powers he discovered in part II) enjoys what he calls "the game," his only real interest in Mike is killing him. Now it seems that it's not so simple - he wants him alive. Uh-oh. This set off little warning bells for me, as someone who actually screams when in a sequel it is revealed that X is actually the son of Y or the brother of Z and that everything that has happened up until now is the result not of chance but destiny. I'll never forgive Lucas for starting the trend for that crap. Thus this implication, however slight, of a special relationship between Mike and his Tall nemesis got me twitching. Never mind, store that and move on.

Then we get to my second issue, Mike's brother Jody. Yep, we know Jody is dead and although there is no twist to suggest that he survived the fatal car crash and has just been hiding out all these years, having him appear in almost spiritual form as a sort of guardian angel is almost as bad, moving us further from the science fiction explanations of the first film and towards a more religious reading, something first hinted at in Phantasm II. For many fans this did not represent a problem, as they felt it built on the strong relationship between Mike and Jody that was at the centre of the first film, but this narrative shift from the physical to the metaphysical can't help but dilute the threat by abstracting it further from the real world.

As with Phantasm II, Coscarelli switches pace on us and throws a few curve balls along the way. Having Michael Baldwin (now A. Michael Baldwin) return as Mike must have whetted fan appetites, but he's not conscious for too long before he's kidnapped by The Tall Man and effectively drops out of the story for some considerable time, leaving Reggie, at last, to take centre stage. Reggie's cross-countryside hunt for Mike is handled at a surprisingly unhurried pace, interrupted by a series of encounters with others en route. These include three murderous looters, who kidnap him but are themselves slaughtered in a dark flip side of Home Alone's improvised house defence, courtesy of young Tim, a kind of Rambo-ised replacement for the first film's young Mike, but without his charisma, nervous energy or screen presence. Completing the ramshackle team is Rocky - a black female nunchaku-swinging ex-army girl, she expands the film's potential demographic and provides an object of lust for Reggie's loins. At the same time, though, she kicks against generic expectations by being tougher than all the guys and never giving in to Reggie's pestering - the only way he can get intimate with her is in a Nightmare on Elm Street and Dreamscape influenced unconscious world, where he is interrupted by Jody and more pressing tasks.

Characterisations aside, there are plenty of familiar touchstones here, some coming across almost as obligatory - the sphere that drills a forehead, the car chase that ends in a flip (it is a good one, though) and explosion, for example. Inevitably there is further expansion of themes and ideas, with the inside of the spheres revealed, suggesting that they are miniature flying Daleks, a brain encased in a fighting machine (a similarity emphasised by the eye-on-a-stalk appendage on some of them), a concept that is also reversed for murderous drones that have golden spheres embedded in their heads.

Whether it all works is a matter of taste, of course, but for my money Phantasm III misses as often as it hits, but it does hit, and sometimes with considerable style. Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, is that just for once the low budget starts to show in a negative way - the corridor to a white light Heaven has too clearly been constructed from draped sheeting (you can see the creases), and the vast army of spheres that turn up later, a potentially terrifying concept, is rendered almost silly by their resemblance to Christmas baubles wobbling in the wind.

Sound and Vision

Anamorphic 1.85:1, the third of the series should logically look even better than its predecessor by way of being younger, but is in fact the weakest transfer so far. It's still pretty good, with sharpness, colour and contrast respectable, but the black levels tend to wander a bit, and darker scenes lack the punch they had in the first film.

Similarly, the soundtracks - Dolby 2.0, 5.1 and DTS, though perfectly good, lack the bowel-trembling wallop of those on parts I and II. They're good, but not outstanding.

Extra features

As with all of the disks in this set we get a Commentary Track, this time from returning actor A. Michael Baldwin and a very tall Angus Scrimm. It's a quite lively, anecdote-peppered chat, though Baldwin does come across as a tad cynical and takes the piss in places, though is also occasionally critical of his own performance - "I sound like William Shatner on a bad day," he says of one scene. Scrimm appears to know the name of every actor who has ever appeared in even the smallest part in a Phantasm film, and we do learn that he's a huge fan of zombie movies.

The Theatrical Trailer (1:11) is 4:3 and has a rather peculiar stereo mix with Trailer Voice Man emerging from the left speaker only, a little disconcerting if your speakers are widely spaced.

Photo Gallery consists of 10 iffy quality frame grabs and 3 stills of marketing artwork.

The usual Biographies pretty much repeat those found on the disk for the first film, plus Chris Chontyn.

Summary

It's not great but it's not bad - the shift in pace is interesting but the metaphysical drift doesn't work so well for me. Fans will probably argue over this one more than they did number II (though not as much as they did over part IV), while non-fans will probably find little to convert the here. The disk does the job without showing off in any way, the main plus being the commentary which, though also not one of the series' best, has its moments. And so to Phantasm IV...