Amazon.com Customer Reviews
 Rated 5 out of 5!
Old Skool horror classic, not to be taken TOO seriously.
Yeah, before "Alien" came along and people actually spent MONEY in the making of horror movies, this is pretty much the way it was done. You’’d have the same guy that wrote the screenplay be the director and probably the producer as well. There wouldn’’t be any kind of a budget involved, so you’’d have actors that were more likely the writer/director’’s film school (or drinking) buddies, and these actors would have varying degrees of acting skill, usually ranging from sub-par to non-existant (Shakespeareans need not apply). What special effects that could be afforded generally tended to be home-made and as simple as possible. With any luck the writer/director would already have a distribution arrangement in hand by the time shooting began, with most of the run to be held at drive-in movies over the summertime. All that you needed to make this dream a reality was a good story.And that’’s what makes "Phantasm" so good. The acting isn’’t all that, there are absolutely dreadful moments for pretty much all of the main characters. But the characters themselves are endearing enough so that you DO make the connection; Reggie with his ponytail and his ice cream truck, Mike with his very real fears of abandonment (instilled first by the loss of his parents and then by the possibility of his older brother leaving town), and of course Mike’’s older brother Jody with his Plymouth ’’Cuda (not actually a Hemi Cuda, as sadly confirmed in the magnificent DVD commentary track) and that "I’’m-really-doing-all-I-can-to-look-like-Han-Solo" ’’70’’s blow-dry haircut. The story is original enough for its time...beings from another dimension are posing as morticians and stealing and reanimating dead bodies from a small town in Anywhere, USA to use as slave labor in their home world. Our heroic trifecta discover the plot and attempt to stop them. The embodiment of the plot, "The Tall Man" possesses supernatural powers (including a form of mind control as well as a telepathic link to several metallic spheres which perform work similar to that of the ancient Egyptians who removed organs from bodies slated for mummification). Our heroes have only their own friendship, a few small arms, and a bad-ass car. And that’’s it; from that story this drive-in movie flooded its banks and escaped into mainstream release to become one of the top-grossing movies of 1979 and the inspiration for a further flood of sequels (most of which, admittedly, go straight-to-video). This is where I say the movie is worth buying just on the basis of it being an archival example of the 1970’’s horror movie (the only thing separating them from the pornography of the same era was the violence in one and the sex in the other) that actually happens to be a good movie on its own merits. But for the sake of the movie fan who enjoys a well-loaded DVD at a good price, "Phantasm" is really hard to beat. The standard widescreen presentation/5:1 sound ratio would be enough for the offered price for someone who just had a fond memory of the movie itself, but the Commentary track is outstanding, the deleted scenes are entertaining (nice to see I’’m not the only one who appreciates the healing properties of Dos Equis beer), and the interviews with Angus Scrimm at the FantasyFest and with Don Coscarelli by Mr. Miami Leisure Suit are just fantastic. Consider also that there is an audio track including Bill Thornbury ("Jody") singing and playing "Sittin’’ Here At Midnight" in its entirety and a pop/disco take of the movie’’s memorable main theme, you really can’’t go wrong. This is one of the few DVD’’s that doesn’’t need a re-release; they couldn’’t possibly add any more t
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