By Geno McGahee
“Burn you son of a bitch.” – Reggie (Reggie Bannister)
One of my favorite horror icons is the Tall Man, played the Angus Scrimm. The key to the success was a bunch of different factors, but the biggest reason was the actor that played him. Scrimm owns the role and is a lot of fun to watch. Other factors include the aura of mystery that surrounded the character and the incredible way that these films are shot. There is incredible artistry in the cinematography and the visuals are part of the reason why this series is so successful.
The original PHANTASM came out in 1979 and was a huge success and rightfully so, but it took 9 years and the popularity of series like FRIDAY THE 13TH and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET to revisit the PHANTASM storyline. Returning from the first is Reggie Bannister as “Reggie,” and I really liked the way that he played the character here. Unlike the third and fourth entries, there wasn’t any painfully forced comic relief. Bannister was allowed to play it seriously and that helped this movie maintain the scare factor. He was afraid when he should have been, rather than making silly comments or smiling for the camera. A disappointment was bringing in James Le Gros to play Michael, a role that initially belonged to A. Michael Baldwin. I’m not sure why the change was made but it may have been the studio trying to launch Le Gros. Whatever the reason, the movie lost a few points right there. The character didn’t feel the same at all.
Michael has been sitting in an asylum ever since the Tall Man incident, but he is about to get released. It is especially urgent because he is getting contacted telepathically by Liz (Paula Irvine), a girl that has a connection to both Michael and the Tall Man. Michael teams up with Reggie and they hit the road looking to save the girl and take down the evil Tall Man and all his little helpers. They run into a love interest for Reggie too in “Alchemy” (Samantha Phillips). I don’t know why Reggie always gets chicks…and in this case, a hot young one. Good for him. Who cares why they go for him. He’s getting them.
In the meantime, we have a priest that is sick of what the Tall Man is doing with all the dead bodies. Father Meyers (Kenneth Tigar) is conflicted and sees how the dead are being reanimated. As he sees over a funeral, he can’t take anymore and stabs one of the corpses through the heart and that did it for him. He crossed the Tall Man. When the ball smashed into his head and killed him, I felt no sympathy for the guy. He made a stupid decision. Why not let the Tall Man just have the dead bodies? Let it be Father Meyers.
Reggie, Mike and Liz team up to go after the Tall Man and stop him once and for all. They have no issues taking down the helpers but defeating the boss proves difficult. Another thing I want to mention about portrayal of Michael, which was wrong, was how strong he played it. With A. Michael Baldwin, there was a balance of strength and softness. He was easy to root for because you were there as he conquered his fears. You could relate because that’s how everyone feels. Nobody would kick in the door on the Tall Man and try to kick his ass without a care, but James Le Gros’s “tough guy” approach didn’t feel right. Without question, it was a mistake not getting back the original actor. The only props that I have to give Le Gros was his delivery of “suck on this” to the Tall Man. The Tall Man actually looked confused. “How dare he say that to me” was the expression and rightfully so. He’s the Tall Man. He deserves respect.
We begin to see a little bit more into the world of the Tall Man and we have a pretty good climax to this film. There is room left for a follow up and Hollywood was ready to follow up. This is the prime time for horror titles and franchises. It would take six years before we saw the Tall Man back again, but even in a mediocre movie, it’s worth a watch just to see that character.
PHANTASM II is a pretty good film. It’s not great, but it definitely is worth a watch. I think the biggest issue that this film has is the casting of Le Gros. He was not right for this and the movie suffered over all. I wanted the Tall Man to say “wait a minute, you’re not Michael,” but it never happened. There are parts of this that drags on and there’s some repetition, but it delivers. It was a good follow up all those years later and I recommend it.
Rating: 7/10
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