Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge

Everybody has a favorite slasher they’ll champion to the end.  The reasons vary:  creative kill scenes, great soundtrack, retro clothes, Pauly Shore, creative use of – wait a second!  Pauly Shore?!  Yes, 1989’s Phantom of the Mall:  Eric’s Revenge doesn’t have a whole lot to recommend it beside an early appearance by the Weasel as an ice-cream slinging mall employee who gets caught up in a mall massacre.

Director Richard Friedman, whose previous genre films Scared Stiff and Doom Asylum were equally inept, can’t make heads or tails out of the re-jiggered script built around the idea of a burn-victim hiding out in airshafts protecting his true love from a corrupt businessman.  While the teens shop, Eric practicing his crossbow and Gymkata skills in the back room hoping for a chance to get revenge…instead of, ya know, revealing he’s actually alive and pressing charges against the guy who murdered him?

 

Phantom of the Mall (the whole Eric’s Revenge thing makes it seem like a franchise) is only entertaining in the worst way.  Has-beens and future stars like Morgan Fairchild and Rob Estes figure prominently while poor Ken Foree’s ironic cameo as a mall security guard was probably lost on everyone.  Almost stealing the show is actor Gregory Scott Cummins, aka Mac’s Dad from Sunny in Philadelphia, who sneers and scowls with the perfect amount of ‘80s bad guy credibility.  There are no scares, no surprises and no reason to watch except to witness the slow death of a genre that simply ran out of steam.

 

But that didn’t stop Arrow Films from putting out one hell of a 2-disc limited edition!  For folks who rank this one high on their slasher list, you get a brand-new 2K restoration of the original theatrical cut and TV cut with standard-def inserts for the missing footage and an integral Fan Cut that combines the best of both!  Extrs include two audio commentaries, a Making Of, interviews, illustrated booklet, fold-out poster and lobby cards.  So relive the ‘80s and put this on your credit card quick!

   

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