Post by jperez9011 on Oct 24, 2011 23:52:45 GMT -5
Hello Phamily,
I am relatively new to this website. I am Jayson and it's nice to meet all of you. I am glad we all share a common interest of this spectacular movie series known as Phantasm. Being twenty-five, I remember the sequels appearing on VHS at video stores and also remember the commercials to the videos appearing on television. The sequels are another story, the original has stuck with me for years.
I consider the original the best and most well written of the franchise. People may argue with me that it is too slow or takes too much time to get started. I do not believe this. I think the pacing is excellent. There is just something about the atmosphere in this movie that doesn't seem quite right. I really can't describe what it exactly is, but it's claustrophobic and dreary. There is always a sense of foreboding, as if there is something lurking around the next corner. It also gives us time to adapt and accept our main characters. We get to learn what haunts them and in effect it haunts us as well.
I also consider the music a main character as well. The music on the first Phantasm film is top notch, blanketing the film in a omnious, bleak, gloomy, and downright despair. Every scene that accompanies the original Phantasm has music that goes quite well with what's going on. Whether it be Jody and Reggie sitting on the porch with a bottle of Dos Equis or Mike narrowly escaping the Tall Man, just out of his reach, every scene has music that embodies the situation, with the best tune saved for The Tall Man akwardly walking down Main Street.
This isn't just another blood and guts story. No. Phantasm smartly tells us the story of two brother's grief over loosing their parents and the younger brother is also afraid of loosing his brother, to death or abandonment. It fares way better than "babysitter left alone in house while manic rampages through the streets". This film was way ahead of it's time. It also weaves it's tell in a disjointed fashion (I know it's because of all the editing that Don had done on it), much similar to a dream. The film actually does feel like you are watching someone else's nightmare. To me, that makes it one of the scariest, most visceral films ever marketed. Unlike other horror, this film can actually label itself as a progenitor to psychological horror like Jacob's Ladder.
Now, to get into what's actually scary about this film. Well, the music and The Tall Man of course! I believe The Tall Man is at his most dark, gritty, and calculating in the original Phantasm film. In no other Phantasm film have I seen TTM so driven, motivated, and focused. He downright scared me watching this film to the point where if I were Michael Baldwin, I would be scared on the set with him (I've heard and saw videos where Angus is a good guy and all but... he plays the role so well!). I've also seen a few clips here and there of deleted scenes where TTM scales a tree after Mike and his walk down Main Street where he is incapacitated briefly by the cold, scary stuff. He was also very fast and seemed to paly a weird game of cat and mouse with Mike, hence the scene in the mortuary when Mike walked towards him and TTM walked towards Mike, following his footsteps. To me, the original Phantasm just opened a layer of TTM that we haven't seen in the sequels. He was just different on the original, more alien or something.
With that being said, I don't want you guys to think I am a blabber mouth or anything so I will end this speech now. I enjoy the original Phantasm the most and it is the creepiest, most well done horror film ever IMHO. I wish Don would release a special edition of the original Phantasm with ALL of the deleted scenes restored, or just in the extras section. I would gladly pay upwards of one hundred dollars for it. It's very enigmatic that this movie was originally three plus hours long, yet we only see a quarter of the movie in the theatrical release. What happened in the other hour and a half?
I am relatively new to this website. I am Jayson and it's nice to meet all of you. I am glad we all share a common interest of this spectacular movie series known as Phantasm. Being twenty-five, I remember the sequels appearing on VHS at video stores and also remember the commercials to the videos appearing on television. The sequels are another story, the original has stuck with me for years.
I consider the original the best and most well written of the franchise. People may argue with me that it is too slow or takes too much time to get started. I do not believe this. I think the pacing is excellent. There is just something about the atmosphere in this movie that doesn't seem quite right. I really can't describe what it exactly is, but it's claustrophobic and dreary. There is always a sense of foreboding, as if there is something lurking around the next corner. It also gives us time to adapt and accept our main characters. We get to learn what haunts them and in effect it haunts us as well.
I also consider the music a main character as well. The music on the first Phantasm film is top notch, blanketing the film in a omnious, bleak, gloomy, and downright despair. Every scene that accompanies the original Phantasm has music that goes quite well with what's going on. Whether it be Jody and Reggie sitting on the porch with a bottle of Dos Equis or Mike narrowly escaping the Tall Man, just out of his reach, every scene has music that embodies the situation, with the best tune saved for The Tall Man akwardly walking down Main Street.
This isn't just another blood and guts story. No. Phantasm smartly tells us the story of two brother's grief over loosing their parents and the younger brother is also afraid of loosing his brother, to death or abandonment. It fares way better than "babysitter left alone in house while manic rampages through the streets". This film was way ahead of it's time. It also weaves it's tell in a disjointed fashion (I know it's because of all the editing that Don had done on it), much similar to a dream. The film actually does feel like you are watching someone else's nightmare. To me, that makes it one of the scariest, most visceral films ever marketed. Unlike other horror, this film can actually label itself as a progenitor to psychological horror like Jacob's Ladder.
Now, to get into what's actually scary about this film. Well, the music and The Tall Man of course! I believe The Tall Man is at his most dark, gritty, and calculating in the original Phantasm film. In no other Phantasm film have I seen TTM so driven, motivated, and focused. He downright scared me watching this film to the point where if I were Michael Baldwin, I would be scared on the set with him (I've heard and saw videos where Angus is a good guy and all but... he plays the role so well!). I've also seen a few clips here and there of deleted scenes where TTM scales a tree after Mike and his walk down Main Street where he is incapacitated briefly by the cold, scary stuff. He was also very fast and seemed to paly a weird game of cat and mouse with Mike, hence the scene in the mortuary when Mike walked towards him and TTM walked towards Mike, following his footsteps. To me, the original Phantasm just opened a layer of TTM that we haven't seen in the sequels. He was just different on the original, more alien or something.
With that being said, I don't want you guys to think I am a blabber mouth or anything so I will end this speech now. I enjoy the original Phantasm the most and it is the creepiest, most well done horror film ever IMHO. I wish Don would release a special edition of the original Phantasm with ALL of the deleted scenes restored, or just in the extras section. I would gladly pay upwards of one hundred dollars for it. It's very enigmatic that this movie was originally three plus hours long, yet we only see a quarter of the movie in the theatrical release. What happened in the other hour and a half?