Phantasm (1979)

★★★★★

Director: Don Coscarelli
Studio: AVCO Embassy Pictures

Synopsis:
Phantasm (also released as Never Dead in Australia) is a low-budget horror film produced in 1977 and released in 1979. The film was directed, written, photographed, co-produced and edited by Don Coscarelli.
PHANTASM is the horror shocker that started it all.
Michael Baldwin and Bill Thornbury star as two brothers who discover that their local mortuary hides a legion of hooded killer dwarf-creatures, a flying silver sphere of death, and is home to a sinister mortician known only as the Tall Man. This nefarious undertaker (with an iconic performance by Angus Scrimm) enslaves the souls of the damned and in the process, "digs" his place into the pantheon of classic horror villains.
As the two brothers explore bizarre events unfolding in their small town, the mystery of The Morningside Mortuary unfolds. PHANTASM remains unlike any fright film that’s come before. Is it reality or a dark phantasm?
Reggie Bannister co-stars as the intrepid ice cream vendor (named Reggie, would you believe?) who would lay his body down on the fires of hell for his friends.

Phantasm shall forever remain “A provocative blend of science-fiction, horror and fantasy, the Phantasm films continue to haunt the consciousness long after the Halloweens and Friday the 13ths have faded from memory.”
- Rue Morgue Magazine

Mike's Thoughts:
This film embedded itself into my psyche from a young age. There has never been a time that I have been in a cemetery, mausoleum, at a funeral, or caught the foreign scent of formaldehyde, where I have not thought of this movie. The villain (Angus Scrimm, The Tall Man) is looming, mysterious, memorable and just plain creepy. Though several follow-ups have been produced, the initial film takes the cake. A cult-horror classic that will forever remain a King in it's genre.

Look For:
The sphere scene in the mausoleum and the über acting of Reggie Bannister, who definitively proves that a bald man CAN and SHOULD always remain comfortable and sound in his ponytail rocking abilities!