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Phantasm II manages, within a minuscule budget, to nearly outdo the original film's atmosphere and scares while sticking to a more linear storyline. Despite Universal's interference and insistence on a less dreamlike narrative (the backbone of all the other Phantasms), director Don Coscarelli manages to give this installment the most polished look and measured, exciting pace of the series.
While being stuck telling a more on-the-surface story than the first film, he manages to plant extremely frightening, original, surrealistic images throughout the film that stick in the viewer's mind forever(I first saw this when I was 12 in a theater, and have never forgotten it). A priest's worried look over his shoulder at his empty town; a writhing, screaming parasite burning to death.. auto parts hanging from a burning tree after a car crash..gasmasked beings carting exhumed coffins across a porcelain hallway; an abandoned mortuary..full of freshly lit candles! The stark simplicity of the doorway to the villain's homeworld. Hooded creatures storming Reggie's kitchen in the dark. And on, and on..
The story is simple enough, seven years after the original a teenaged Mike (now played by James Le Gros) is released from an asylum and is immediately drawn back into the Tall Man's game, traveling through an emptied America into a nightmare that could very well all be in his mind. This early in the series, the mysterious Tall Man is just that.. he probably has ten minutes screen time in the film, and yet the mood and pacing always make you nervous that he'll appear behind you and cart you off to be part of his experiments. Where IS he? What is he doing when we do not see him? This lack of resolution actually works for the picture's benefit, and not against it. Indeed, though Phantasm spawned an additional two intelligent, emotional sequels, as we learned more about the villain Mike and Reggie are up against, we're much less frightened of him.
Angus Scrimm is at his creepiest in this installment. Reggie begins to take his place as audience favorite, a reluctant hero on par with Ash (Evil Dead) and Dr. Loomis. Le Gros does well as the buff but still doubtful Mike. Kudos to character actor Kenneth Tigar for his role as the tortured priest, who "can't close his eyes to the things he's seen", who manages to draw us in with his nuanced, emotional performance. He could have easily shown up to give exposition and get killed, instead he manages to keep the viewer hooked AND meet his untimely end.
Full of suspense, scares, and action, Phantasm II may not be the mindbender of the original, but it's no a less worthy chapter of the most surrealistic, thought-provoking horror series ever created.
score 10/10
hauntedwoods 1 February 2005
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1011792/ |
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6-4-2021 02:03:05