[filmmaker2]

Oh my....I'm so lazy....it's about two orphaned brothers who discover strange goings-on at a local mortuary, which is haunted by some kind of demon--a frightening tall man who they come to know as "The Tall Man" (of course) and who crushes and reanimates dead bodies to use as dwarf slaves. This sinister figure also controls a wicked flying metal ball with spikes sticking out of it whose job it is to impale intruders and drill into their heads so it can suck out their brains. The graphic scene in which the "Silver Sphere" demonstrates what it does freaked lots of people out when this film came out in 1979!

What's it all MEAN? This very dreamlike, surreal film is not designed to make sense, but is very frightening and very funny, too--a good combination for summer popcorn audiences.

PHANTASM also features the groovy Reggie Bannister as the ice-cream-van-driving, guitar-playing friend who gets sucked into the mystery. He has a crazy "What We Gotta Do" speech, about two thirds of the way in. Later in the sequels, he becomes a dwarf-killing, bad-ass mo-fo. PHANTASM also features obsessions with beer drinking, fast cars, and chicks. An extremely quirky, atypical horror film that redefined the genre in many subtle and insidious ways.