Post by wilburwhately on Apr 19, 2008 17:53:42 GMT -5
Hello all, I'm new to the bored but a longtime fan of Phantasm. I'm also a lover of HP Lovecraft's short stories. If you don't know Lovecraft, he was responsible for Ctulhu, Dagon, Herbert West - Reanimator, and other bits of horror goodness. Anyway, as I've gone back and watched the Phantasm series I couldn't help but notice some definite similiarities between the movies and Lovecraft's stuff, and I've decided to write up a comparison between the two. You don't have to know Lovecraft to follow along (but it sort of helps). Anyway, hopefully this is interesting to someone besides me. And with no further ado...
This is about the Tall Man, the villainous mortitian of all four Phantasm films. It's also about HP Lovecraft's mind-blasting alien horrors, the Great Old Ones. What do these two subjects have in common, other than existing solely to scare people? Perhaps a lot. I don't know if Mr. Coscarelli had any interest in Lovecraft's works, or even knew who the man was for that matter, but regardless I think that the Tall Man would fit right in with Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, or Yog-Sothoth. Below I will explain the connections, as I see them, that exist between Tall Man and Lovecraft's eldritch creations.
-The Unkowable: Lovecraft's monstrosities are, for the most part, beyond human understanding. They exist so far beyond our meager level of consciousness that we couldn't begin to comprehend their motives, thoughts, desires, or even appearnace. They often ignore humanity entirely, and even when they do deign to interact with us, we are like insects to them. I suspect the same is true with the Tall Man.
When it gets right down to it, the Tall Man is as ambiguous as they come. Even his name is little more than a title given to him by his enemies. Throughout four movies you gain only a hint of his origins, only an idea of his goals, and barely a glimpse of his true form. He is the antagonist, yes, but what else can you say about him with any certainty? Perhaps he is an alien intelligence, using the shape of Jebediah Morningside to harvest humanity for resources. Or maybe he is Jebediah, having once moved beyond the limits of time and space as we know them, only to return vastly changed. He could be a demon, or a spirit, or some kind of extraordinarily complex computer. He could be almost anything.
-The Unstoppable: Throughout Lovecraft's stories, we see normal men and women (...okay, not so much women) facing off against things that are vastly more powerful, intelligent, and deadly than they. On the distant plains of Pluto, even fungus has grown to be sentient and technologically superior to humanity. So what chance do we, mere mortals, stand against such foes? In a word, none. The greatest victory we can hope for is to delay the inevitable.
The Tall Man seems much the same. Our heroes, Reggie the Icecream Man and Mike, along with allies such as Tim and warrior-woman Rocky, clash with their foe repeatedly. They track the Tall Man from town to town, slaughter his minions by the dozens, uncover and thwart his schemes, and have even managed to destroy his phyiscal body. Yet for all their prowess and courage, it seems the good guys do little more than inconvenience the Tall Man. Every lost undead soldier is quickly replaced, there are thousands of the infamous Spheres just waiting to be unleashed, and every time the Tall Man is "killed", he simply returns a few moments later none the worse for ware. He also has tremendous physical strength, psychic power, and alien technology at his disposal. Ultimately, the situation seems bleak for mankind. Quadruple shotgun or no.
-The Old: In Lovecraft country, old is bad. Old towns hide terrible secrets, old people are furtive and malicious, and ancient artifacts bring curses and madness. To take it a step further, beings such as Cthulhu and Shub-Niggurath have existed for aeons. That which is fresh or young, on the other hand, is likely harmless.
The Tall Man was played by Angus Scrimm, who was himself in his mid-fiftees for the first Phantasm. Makeup further exaggerated his wizened apperance. The result is a villain who manages to conjure up all the fears of a child faced with a glowering, angry old man (every kid knew one right?), and all the fears of an adult faced with his own mortality. His cover identity as town undertaker further enforced his status as walking, hateful Death. Perhaps it was this persona that ultimately allowed the Tall Man to wander from town to town and carry out his bloody work with almost no resistance; in America we don't want to be reminded of death, we don't want to see the elderly, and so as long as it doesn't bother us we will return the favor. In the Tall Man's case though, ignorance is not bliss.
-The Alone: For all the books and ancient relics, all the rumors and legends, almost no one in Lovecraft's stories knew the horrific truth. People went about their lives, content and oblivious, never understanding just how much danger humanity was truly in. It was only when the protagonist ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time that his eyes were open. At that time, he also became utterly alone; who, after all, would believe his tales of monsters, demons, and alien beings?
Time and again we see Reggie, Mike, and a handful of accomplices in the same situation. They have no one to turn to, and honestly, even if they could confide in someone and maybe gain valuable help in the process, would they want to? Those who tangle with the Tall Man end up dead if they're lucky (and few are so lucky). Mike and Reggie's families and friends are gone for this very reason. It seems that by uniting others against the Tall Man, you are doing little more than offering them a death sentence. And so it is that those who face this evil, face it alone.
-The Technological: Many of Lovecraft's tales revolve around technology gone awry, or technology that is outright evil. Crawford Tillinghast, a scientific genius, pierces the veil of reality in 'From Beyond'. The afforementioned Mi-Go place living, thinking human brains in metal vessels to transport them through space. The Elder Things and the Great Race of Yith were highly advanced alien species.
From what we have seen, the Tall Man has technology that can reanimate the dead, allow him to travel through time and space, and create his deadly Spheres (themselves equiped with laser weaponry). For that matter, it was Jebediah Morningside's skill as an inventor that led to the Tall Man's genesis in the first place. Tall Man is also a skilled surgeon, able to custom-make unique servants such as Alchemy, and possibly even transforming Mike into one of his own kind. In all cases though, advanced technology in the Phantasm series is, quite simply, bad. Maybe that's what makes Reggie's shotgun, chainsaw, and classic car such an excellent foil to the Tall Man's arsenal.
Well there you have it. So do I think that the Tall Man and Cthulhu are one in the same? No. They are, however, both iconic, fascinating, and terrifying creations of wonderfully twisted minds. And while I could no doubt find countless more similarities between the two, I would never be able to make any definite conclusions. Not that I would want to, because after all, isn't the best part of the Tall Man not knowing?
This is about the Tall Man, the villainous mortitian of all four Phantasm films. It's also about HP Lovecraft's mind-blasting alien horrors, the Great Old Ones. What do these two subjects have in common, other than existing solely to scare people? Perhaps a lot. I don't know if Mr. Coscarelli had any interest in Lovecraft's works, or even knew who the man was for that matter, but regardless I think that the Tall Man would fit right in with Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, or Yog-Sothoth. Below I will explain the connections, as I see them, that exist between Tall Man and Lovecraft's eldritch creations.
-The Unkowable: Lovecraft's monstrosities are, for the most part, beyond human understanding. They exist so far beyond our meager level of consciousness that we couldn't begin to comprehend their motives, thoughts, desires, or even appearnace. They often ignore humanity entirely, and even when they do deign to interact with us, we are like insects to them. I suspect the same is true with the Tall Man.
When it gets right down to it, the Tall Man is as ambiguous as they come. Even his name is little more than a title given to him by his enemies. Throughout four movies you gain only a hint of his origins, only an idea of his goals, and barely a glimpse of his true form. He is the antagonist, yes, but what else can you say about him with any certainty? Perhaps he is an alien intelligence, using the shape of Jebediah Morningside to harvest humanity for resources. Or maybe he is Jebediah, having once moved beyond the limits of time and space as we know them, only to return vastly changed. He could be a demon, or a spirit, or some kind of extraordinarily complex computer. He could be almost anything.
-The Unstoppable: Throughout Lovecraft's stories, we see normal men and women (...okay, not so much women) facing off against things that are vastly more powerful, intelligent, and deadly than they. On the distant plains of Pluto, even fungus has grown to be sentient and technologically superior to humanity. So what chance do we, mere mortals, stand against such foes? In a word, none. The greatest victory we can hope for is to delay the inevitable.
The Tall Man seems much the same. Our heroes, Reggie the Icecream Man and Mike, along with allies such as Tim and warrior-woman Rocky, clash with their foe repeatedly. They track the Tall Man from town to town, slaughter his minions by the dozens, uncover and thwart his schemes, and have even managed to destroy his phyiscal body. Yet for all their prowess and courage, it seems the good guys do little more than inconvenience the Tall Man. Every lost undead soldier is quickly replaced, there are thousands of the infamous Spheres just waiting to be unleashed, and every time the Tall Man is "killed", he simply returns a few moments later none the worse for ware. He also has tremendous physical strength, psychic power, and alien technology at his disposal. Ultimately, the situation seems bleak for mankind. Quadruple shotgun or no.
-The Old: In Lovecraft country, old is bad. Old towns hide terrible secrets, old people are furtive and malicious, and ancient artifacts bring curses and madness. To take it a step further, beings such as Cthulhu and Shub-Niggurath have existed for aeons. That which is fresh or young, on the other hand, is likely harmless.
The Tall Man was played by Angus Scrimm, who was himself in his mid-fiftees for the first Phantasm. Makeup further exaggerated his wizened apperance. The result is a villain who manages to conjure up all the fears of a child faced with a glowering, angry old man (every kid knew one right?), and all the fears of an adult faced with his own mortality. His cover identity as town undertaker further enforced his status as walking, hateful Death. Perhaps it was this persona that ultimately allowed the Tall Man to wander from town to town and carry out his bloody work with almost no resistance; in America we don't want to be reminded of death, we don't want to see the elderly, and so as long as it doesn't bother us we will return the favor. In the Tall Man's case though, ignorance is not bliss.
-The Alone: For all the books and ancient relics, all the rumors and legends, almost no one in Lovecraft's stories knew the horrific truth. People went about their lives, content and oblivious, never understanding just how much danger humanity was truly in. It was only when the protagonist ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time that his eyes were open. At that time, he also became utterly alone; who, after all, would believe his tales of monsters, demons, and alien beings?
Time and again we see Reggie, Mike, and a handful of accomplices in the same situation. They have no one to turn to, and honestly, even if they could confide in someone and maybe gain valuable help in the process, would they want to? Those who tangle with the Tall Man end up dead if they're lucky (and few are so lucky). Mike and Reggie's families and friends are gone for this very reason. It seems that by uniting others against the Tall Man, you are doing little more than offering them a death sentence. And so it is that those who face this evil, face it alone.
-The Technological: Many of Lovecraft's tales revolve around technology gone awry, or technology that is outright evil. Crawford Tillinghast, a scientific genius, pierces the veil of reality in 'From Beyond'. The afforementioned Mi-Go place living, thinking human brains in metal vessels to transport them through space. The Elder Things and the Great Race of Yith were highly advanced alien species.
From what we have seen, the Tall Man has technology that can reanimate the dead, allow him to travel through time and space, and create his deadly Spheres (themselves equiped with laser weaponry). For that matter, it was Jebediah Morningside's skill as an inventor that led to the Tall Man's genesis in the first place. Tall Man is also a skilled surgeon, able to custom-make unique servants such as Alchemy, and possibly even transforming Mike into one of his own kind. In all cases though, advanced technology in the Phantasm series is, quite simply, bad. Maybe that's what makes Reggie's shotgun, chainsaw, and classic car such an excellent foil to the Tall Man's arsenal.
Well there you have it. So do I think that the Tall Man and Cthulhu are one in the same? No. They are, however, both iconic, fascinating, and terrifying creations of wonderfully twisted minds. And while I could no doubt find countless more similarities between the two, I would never be able to make any definite conclusions. Not that I would want to, because after all, isn't the best part of the Tall Man not knowing?