Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead

"It's never over!!!"


This is said as only Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man could. Look, trying to comprehend a Don Coscarelli Phantasm film is a waste of time. I have learned to take each film in the Phantasm series, in regards to the wacky plots, with a grain of salt. I think you could watch each film individually and they sort of function within their own universe. Certain elements and characters tie the series together, but the first film and the third film, the second film and the fourth film, mixing and comparing them, each one has its own unique way of portraying The Tall Man and those trying to stop him.

What I found particularly fascinating and amusing in equal measure is the progression of the Reggie character, with Bannister becoming a more crucial and important factor in the war against The Tall Man, although at the end of the first two films, he didn't fare too well. Yet, as each new Phantasm opened, Reggie, who seemed to be doomed as each preceding film closed, would persevere, once again getting back on the saddle (or in this film's case, back in the bad ass 'Cuda, driving it in style, double-barrel shot-gun in tow) to fight The Tall Man.

The "chrome brain drains", as Reggie calls them, also return time and again in the Phantasm series, and a couple of victims get their skulls drilled. Even cooler, a gold sphere (exploding from the frozen skull of The Tall Man!) chases after our heroes towards the end of the movie.
Liz from the second film gets her face eaten off by one of the shrunken dead human trolls (I didn't realize they were cannibals, oh well...), perhaps maybe because Paula Irvine was no longer desired since A Michael Baldwin was returning to the series (James LeGross filled in for him in the second film). When The Tall Man kidnaps Baldwin's Mike, Reggie is knocked cold, awakening to follow after him (wherever he may be), driving through desolate towns in Western US. The film's main stop spots are ghost towns Holtsville and Boulton, both of which show the trail of The Tall Man, for some reason his plundering of humans for mindless slave labor hasn't yet made the news and drawn the curiosity of the media. Mike's bro, Jody (Thornbury), reduced to a sphere that has its own share of amazing power (Jody can transform from sphere to human and vice versa, trying to motivate Reggie, and guide Mike away from The Tall Man), even spitting out the jagged lightning bolt-shaped cutting blades when the troops need help fighting the zombie corpses of a trio of obnoxious hellraisers who have been obviously holding up folks and causing mischief right after towns are left barren and emptied.

 "I'm too old for this shit."


What I thought was amusing about this film was how often poor Reggie spends knocked unconscious.  He gains some friends, a kid handy with a pistol (his pops, before Tall Man got him, was sheriff of Holtsville, having set booby traps, and had weapons on his person, equipped to stop anyone passing by posing as threats to him) and a tough-talking Army gal often bringing out the nun-chux to work over the ghouls and spheres that threaten to take her out. The kid, Tim (Kevin Connors), becomes like a surrogate son to Reggie, helping him from time to time when the gang encounter heavies of The Tall Man (they even run into a bunch of minions driving hearses and wearing Hasmit gas masks!!!). He spends a lot of his time trying to get into Rocky's (Gloria Lynne Henry) pants, but she wants nothing to do with him. These three travel together, fight, and eventually come face-to-face with The Tall Man.

"Let me release you from this imperfect flesh that ties you to time and space...all that is unknown will be known to you."

The film does elaborate a little on the spheres, why little brains are inside them, and how The Tall Man enslaves those unfortunate enough to live in a town he's entering, using the cover of Undertaker, as a means to work his evil magic, once done moving to the next hunting ground. Mike is of special interest to The Tall Man. The Tall Man mentions more than once that he has great plans for Mike, like freeing him from his humanity as if allowing him to gain a greater being of existence than living in the flesh that limits him. This all is of little consequence to me and it takes up patches of screen time while Reggie and company fight with the creatures The Tall Man puts in their way, halting progress in rescuing Mike from his always-returning, never-ceasing supernatural pursuer. A constant, certainly from Jody, is the fact that you cannot trust what you see and hear necessarily; perhaps this is Coscarelli telling us that all that has come before us could be a trick, a dream, something not quite accurate, maybe fictitious, just a figment of adventures playing out in either Reggie's or Mike's imagination, within deep sleep.

Who knows? I try not to dwell too hard on plot details because they would just create and contribute to a frustrating head-ache. I just enjoy all the unpredictable nonsense Don tosses at us, including those truly enjoyable spheres (those damned little balls do some really cool things; one of them even releases an eyeball that records images for The Tall Man!).

The film closes as Mike runs off, telling a bewildered Reggie to stay away from him, a sphere implanted in the kid's head, his eyes almost mechanical. Reggie goes back into the mausoleum (this third film spends a lot of time in mausoleums, let me tell you...) in Boulton with Tim to try and find something that might explain Mike's situation, only discovering more terror from The Tall Man (Rocky gets her fill with the trio of zombies and decides to scoot, leaving Reggie, who never got the piece of ass from her he fantasized about), including an army of spheres and the gold sphere (once submerged in cryogenic fluid) missing.

What about The Tall Man? Oh, he shows up now and again, the menace a little older, still just as tall, and just as hard to kill. No matter what you do to The Tall Man, he just keeps coming back, a thorn that seems so embedded, there's nothing to pluck him from the lives of the heroes. Each film puts a different spin on The Tall Man, slight alterations in what he's after, his ultimate goal, and how it pertains to Mike. You think you have a read on what he's up to next, and something different happens, other aspects of him are introduced (even in the fourth, and most underrated, of the films, Oblivion explores his character in more detail). In this film, Baldwin's character has reduced involvement, important, especially to The Tall Man, but simply not of significance over the running time of this specific film in the series. As was often the case, some good gore (including an ax to the head, a slit throat thanks to a boomerang with razor blades, and the sphere violence, including some zombies turning up) and a few explosions for good measure. And, ultimately, Reggie once again providing some much needed comic relief to keep the film loose and fun. He really had emerged as a go-to character to hold the fort as the zany horror plots unfolded, a reliable presence that meant a whole lot more to the franchise overall than first realized...