So, in case you haven’t noticed, I have been on a cheesy horror kick lately. Since Jesusflix has the entire Phantasm franchise, I figured I might as well revisit that. While I would substitute “low budget, but decent” for “cheesy” in regard to the first Phantasm, I would apply the phrase, “utter disappointment” to this installment.
Phantasm II has us watching Liz thumb through a journal, talking to herself in her head, about Mike, whom she has only seen in her dreams. While she is doing this, the film cuts away to the end of the first Phantasm, with Mike and Reggie relaxing after the ordeal that they have just gone through. The flashback reminds us that they decide to hit the road and get a fresh start. However, things go awry when the Tall Man attempts to take Mike and turn him in to a dwarf slave, but is thwarted by Reggie who ultimately blows the house up, but not with the Tall Man inside. We flash forward a bit, and Mike is being released from a mental institution, agreeing that he had imagined the entire events of the first film. Because he agrees to this, he is let go, but the very next time we see him, he is in a cemetery digging up graves checking to see if there are bodies in them. There are not. You no doubt remember that the Tall Man takes dead bodies and turns them in to dwarf slaves. Mike is convinced that this is still happening and eventually so is Reggie, and thus begins their journey to find the Tall Man and stop him, and also save this blonde girl (from the beginning) that keeps appearing in Mike’s dreams. They arm themselves with an arsenal of flamethrowers, chainsaws and a 4 barrel shotgun. As they travel through various towns, they can see that they have been ravished by the Tall Man and left in ruin.
My issues with this film are many, but researching it, I realize that it may not be entirely the filmmaker’s fault. In the original, A. Michael Baldwin played Mike and Reggie Bannister played Reggie. For this film, Universal wanted the roles recast and made them audition for their own parts, but Don Coscarelli (Director, Writer, etc) wanted them for the sequel. I assume because they were cocks, Universal told Coscarelli that he could keep one of them but had to recast the other. He chose Reggie Bannister to stay, and James LeGros was cast as Mike. This did a couple of things: 1. Piss me off, especially since A. Michael Baldwin was in the rest of the sequels. 2. Made Reggie Bannister look like an even worse actor than he already was, because LeGros can act. Also, there were to be no dream sequences and Mike was to have a love interest. All that being said, I do understand that these limitations may have resulted in a final product that Coscarelli had not envisioned. But there was some other wacky shit going on. The pace was UNBEARABLY slow. In addition to that, I found the passing of time confusing at one point. Mike and Reggie are driving all over the place and at the same time, the movie will cut to a funeral taking place. Lines like “We have been on the road for a long time,” are uttered and I swear I saw it change from day to night, but the same funeral service is going on. This seems to be less of a horror film and more of a “let’s show off the huge budget we were given” film. I mean, there are 3 major explosions in this, and a lot of flamethrower and chainsaw action. It is a far cry from the indie spirit of the first one, which I preferred. One random thing I found hilarious, was that Liz shrieked when a rat runs by. However, she remained silent, and did not even look that upset after watching one sphere slice an ear off and drain a priest’s blood, or when a man cut his own hand off. There was also little dumb stuff, like the Tall Man walking by Reggie who was hiding (and not very well) and not seeing him, yet he is able to sneak up on people all the time, and Mike saying he was 19 when he clearly looks 26. It was just not very good. Even the sphere deaths were not as cool. I will say, however, that Angus Scrimm was just as good if not better as the Tall Man the second time around.
This installment is really not good at all, which is unfortunate. Coscarelli obviously loved making these movies and the first one was quite good. If memory serves, the franchise keeps going downhill, which I will either confirm or retract in later reviews. Right now however, I suggest skipping this so as not to sully the memory of the first.
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