phantasm remastered

As a movie Phantasm is almost impossibly hard to describe. More of a coming of age tale with close ties to sci-fi stories like Invaders from Mars and Dune, believe it or not, that didn’t stop it from entering the pantheon of must-see ‘70s horror films right alongside Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes and other drive-in ready shockers. Yet unlike his fellow filmmakers, Phantasm’s director Don Coscarelli never turned that success into much of a career (unless you count endless repeats of The Beastmaster on TNT). And watching the latest 4K incarnation, Phantasm Remastered, a subtly touched up version shepherded by J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot team, it's easy to see why.

Phantasm is a home movie at heart; its flaws obvious but endearing. The cast of amateur actors look and dress like authentic hippies working for free beer and a bag of weed. Not to mention the script, which skips scenes and adds characters with the kind of free-form surrealism borne from budget constraints and artistic choice in equal measure. Still…Phantasm has an unpredictable imagination. And Coscarelli bravely leaves the motivations of his central villain almost completely unexplained. The end result is a film that exists in its own dimension, a mirror-world to our own in which the rules of reality do not apply. That’s quite an accomplishment. And one that Coscarelli was unable to repeat in the rigidly controlled studio era that hit right after his film’s release.

In the “grindhouse” world of filmmaking you really only needed one hook to market your product and Phantasm had a doozy: the ball. A shiny silver, self-propelled orb that sprouted sharp utensils and drilled in your brain, it is the signature icon of Coscarelli’s film, even overshadowing Angus Scrimm’s performance as the “Tall Man,” a sinister mortician who squashes corpses into “Jawa”-size slaves and shoots them into another dimension. The ball is what people talked about on their way from the theater, and its entrance is still just as jaw-dropping today as it was back then. The rest of the film is a series of car chases, dream sequences and bizarre jam sessions.

For all its faults, Phantasm encapsulates everything that made ‘70s filmmaking so exciting. And obviously, with the release of the latest film in the franchise, Ravager, premiering simultaneous with this remastering, there are still quite a few fans who agree. So is it worth upgrading from previous DVD editions? Well, there are certain limitations in the original photography, but this hi-def version is overall very satisfying, digging much deeper into the blacks and providing a significant enhancement to both color and details (I never noticed that poster for Coscarelli's first film on Michael's bedroom wall before!). But you might want to hang onto the previous Anchor Bay set just for the extras as this one only includes the old audio commentary, TV interview, deleted scenes and a segment from the show Graveyard Carz focusing on the classic Barracuda used in the film. The Phantasmagoria documentary and several other behind-the-scenes footage didn't make the cut, but a new 5.1 surround mix has been added that really makes an impact.