|
Post by gopher in heat on May 26, 2009 14:19:02 GMT -5
I got to thinking... what if Don hadn't waited 10 years to make a sequel to Phantasm?
He likely would have been able to ensure the whole cast returned, plus it might have been more successful given that the original Phantasm was a smash hit and would've still been fresh in viewer's minds.
And perhaps the biggest plus about it would be that we'd likely have another time-capturing nostalgic film just like the original.
What are your thoughts? Do you wish Phantasm II was made immediately following Phantasm?
|
|
|
Post by xscrimshotx on May 28, 2009 17:30:32 GMT -5
I was going to reply to this earlier, but I was a bit too busy. Actually, this is a very interesting thought...The upside is yes, we'd more than likely have a P2 more similar to the original, depending on how long after you mean the sequel was made after the original, because I think the difference between making it in, say 1982 instead of 1985 could have been a huge difference in style, etc. from each other, much less from the existing P2 a lot of us love, which is where the downside of this would come in...we wouldn't have that P2 today if that were the case. The other way I look at it is...what if Don had waited until 1993 to make Phantasm 2, using the same script, instead of getting as far as Phantasm 3 at that point in time? It's interesting to think how that would've turned out.
|
|
|
Post by bigphan1990 on Aug 23, 2009 18:20:33 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by DustinM on Aug 23, 2009 18:54:43 GMT -5
A very cool post on the Secrets blog. Old timers will recall that this was posted years ago on the original Phantasm Secrets website. Nice to see Dusk dusting off old treasures.
More about the 1980 sequel can be found in the following excerpt from my HorrorHound Phantasm Retrospective from several months back. Angus has since mentioned to me that part of the film was set in an abandoned movie theater.
From the mini-article on unproduced sequels:
After the runaway success of Phantasm, distributor AVCO Embassy was practically begging Don Coscarelli for a sequel but the filmmaker had no desire to write or direct a follow-up so soon. His mother, future best-selling novelist Kate Coscarelli, was interested and wrote a script called Phantasm 2, not to be confused with the later produced Phantasm II. The script centered on Mike and Jody's young cousin who was to be played by child-star Kristy McNichol (whom at that time bore more than a passing resemblance to Michael Baldwin). The story called for the cousin to investigate the events of the first film and eventually run into the Tall Man who was alive and well. An advertisement announcing pre-production on the film was taken out in trade publications but nothing ever materialized beyond that and it has since vanished into oblivion.
|
|
|
Post by gopher in heat on Aug 23, 2009 20:10:30 GMT -5
I actually wish the 1980 sequel had been filmed. That's not a knock against the Phantasm II we got, it's just that I think it might have shared more with the original Phantasm, which to me, would have been heaven.
|
|
vitaman2007
Sentinel Sphere
"Be de be de be de...f#@ you Buck!"
Posts: 698
|
Post by vitaman2007 on Aug 25, 2009 8:58:33 GMT -5
Timing is everything. I agree with Kristen, in that, Phantasm 2 would have been huge. Plus the fact Kristy McNichol did go on to have mild success during the 80's. The SFX would have been managed correctly since they had a decent amount of money to pull it off right. Plus the music coming out around 80' - 82' (probably my favorite time period) was metamorphosing into a more atmospheric, keyboard influenced feel. I'm sure some popular band would have offered their services. (Another possible promotion angle) From what I've read and watched on the subject, Don for artistic reasons, wanted to do something entirely different. You gotta respect that. Anyway, there's no reason to kick yourself in the pants about something that might or might not have happened over 30 years ago. Learn from the past, don't get caught up in it. I often do battle with that notion. Good topic.
|
|
MrsLeGros
Zombie
OOHLALA LEGROS
Thats About The Safest Sex We'll Ever Have
Posts: 350
|
Post by MrsLeGros on Aug 25, 2009 9:03:58 GMT -5
No James prolly in 1980 . .........Less than a month kiddies !
|
|
|
Post by bigphan1990 on Aug 26, 2009 10:51:01 GMT -5
Coscarelli himself comments on that famous trade ad!: phantasm.com/secrets/?p=329I might as well get this off my chest. If Phantasm II was made earlier, we would have the DVD by now, from Anchor Bay of course.
|
|
|
Post by bcg1969 on Aug 26, 2009 11:28:44 GMT -5
Coscarelli himself comments on that famous trade ad!: phantasm.com/secrets/?p=329I might as well get this off my chest. If Phantasm II was made earlier, we would have the DVD by now, from Anchor Bay of course. that link is infected with a virus
|
|
|
Post by bigphan1990 on Aug 26, 2009 13:37:16 GMT -5
That's impossible. There is no way that link has a virus.
|
|
|
Post by DustinM on Aug 26, 2009 14:07:58 GMT -5
That's impossible. There is no way that link has a virus. On the contrary, bigphan. The official website has been hacked on more than one occasion, the lovely side effect of said incidents being a trojan or worm, etc. It's terrific that John managed to get Don to comment on the early Phantasm II incident. Peculiar that I've heard it personally from two different cast members that were WAS an early script written by Don's mother. Perhaps Don meant that HE hadn't written anything at that point.
|
|
|
Post by OblivionGoon on Sept 1, 2009 11:30:29 GMT -5
While my love for the P2 we have is endless, I have to agree that an earlier film would have been superb. It is rather sad to think of the "what migh have been" scenario. Waiting ten years to make a sequel didn't help the films following, instead it was most likely a "oh, I remember that" type of thing. If P2 would have been made shortly after Phantasm, it's a guarantee that the films we have today would have never been made, instead I imagine a big budget affair with a massive following. So I ask the question, would any of us be as big of fans of the series? It seems that a good deal of us love cult and niche films and it's possible that this series would have become a very mainstream entity.
On a side note... Mrs. LeGros... that is some avatar!
|
|
|
Post by floyd on Sept 29, 2009 11:05:45 GMT -5
Well that P-2 is made in 9 years after P-1. And if P-5 is will be made in 20 years after P-4 too well. Only actors grow old....
|
|
|
Post by feedmont on Jan 23, 2010 15:39:38 GMT -5
I wish Phantasm 2 had been made back then because I think it would have become the next great horror franchise like Friday the 13th & A Nightmare on Elm Street - plus unlike those franchises I think Don could have made things even more interesting with the overall plot & effects, with each sequel that followed unlike the other 2 franchises that just recycled the same plot over and over again. I'm not digging the proposed plot of P2 with Kristy but I'm sure Don could have made it interesting.
|
|
|
Post by gopher in heat on Jan 24, 2010 16:55:04 GMT -5
I'm actually sort of glad it didn't explode into a big horror franchise like F13 or NOES.
|
|
|
Post by slamminsam333 on Apr 15, 2010 4:18:43 GMT -5
Well here is my opinon. They could have done quick sequels, and some would have been good, some would have sucked. They would probablly made more money in the long run. But I liked the fact that Don has taken his time with the Phantasm Movies. While he did lose out on money, but by taking his time he ensured that all Phantasm Movies are Unique and Great. So I'm glad they didn't rush into sequels like the Friday, Halloween, or Nightmare Franchises. Even thouh some of those sequels were good, half of them sucked. Phantasm is the only Series where I fell all of them are Great.
|
|