A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

this film made shivers in the marrows of my bones like a rash of jelly? This long man is the pig spit of my uncle Callie - a repulsive fellow who used to laugh at me until I literally cried my eyes out. As you can imagine, the affect this fiml had on me was tenfold!. After viewing this film for the tenth time, I finally plucked up the courage to ring my estranged uncle. "Callie" I gobbled down the line. "Why did you used to mock me so? Why?" But of course the line was dead and I realized I never had an uncle Callie and the film had reawakened my other personality, archdeacon bubbles.

Sometimes, a film or song wedges itself in our minds because of a certain point in time or occurrence in our lives. That's what happened for me with Phantasm.It was October 1981, close to or on Halloween. My girlfriend and I were in college, both with full course loads and both working near full time. I ended up at her studio apartment late one night, and she was too tired to do anything, so she crashed early. The wind was slightly chill and rustled through the dying leaves on the trees, sounds which came through the open windows. She had a comfy Lazyboy, I had a cold beer, and the room was very, very dimly lit. With nothing else to do, I settled in for a little boob tube action.Near the beginning of the movie, there's a scene where one of the lead characters, Michael, catches fleeting glimpses of dwarf figures scurrying between tombstones. That scene FREAKED ME OUT that night, and I was hooked for the rest of the film. Hooked on the film for the rest of my life, as it seems.I recently revisited Phantasm for something like the twentieth time and started thinking about what makes this movie a critically acclaimed horror fan's favorite. Here's some observations:The basic story line is fairly solid and easy to follow, though the script is nothing to write home about. The acting is average to mediocre but, yet, we actually care what happens to these characters. Kudos to writer/director Don Coscarelli for creating some backstory to the two main characters, brothers who lost both of their parents and are now all the family they have left. Michael, the younger, exhibits the insecurities and awkwardness of adolescence, while his older brother shows the confidence and fearlessness of the man he has become. Their best friend, Reggie, adds a feel good camaraderie indicative of many 1970s films.There are certain visuals in the film that stand out, though the cinematography is an exercise in contrasts. For me, the stark, pure white Morningside mortuary building lit by full force sunshine is emblazoned in my mind. Also, the black and white faux marble interior scenes are harshly lit, while the rest of the film's exterior shots are dark and murky. The silver sphere rounding corners is a hallmark of the special effects, as are the scenes of the other world.The soundtrack is subtle, eclectic, but superb. Although not as recognizable as John Carpenter's Halloween or Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells from The Exorcist, Fred Myrow and Malcolm Seagrave use synthesizers, electric guitars and bass to compliment scenes and heighten tension, without being overbearing or obvious. And then there's, of course, The Tall Man - Angus Scrimm, who's presented as the malevolent evil foil to the love of the brothers and their friends. Though he's in the film a limited amount of time, each appearance is larger than life. For example, his relishing the coldness of Reggie's open ice cream truck is absolutely eerie. And the way he pops up when you least expect him. You cringe when he growls, "BOY!"I also remember a few "firsts". Phantasm was the first film that I can recall that successfully married the horror and sci-fi genres. Also, the scene where Michael is looking at an old photograph and The Tall Man begins to move is the first such device I can recall in modern horror, a full 23 years before the Harry Potter movies did the same thing.All in all, Phantasm scores while many contemporary films fall off. Maybe they're trying too hard.

A small town sees the arrival of the Tall Man, a mortician, who carries with him an air of mysterious evil. There are an increase of deaths in the town and it seems the Tall Man has something to do with it. Mike, a 13 year old boy follows his older brother Jody and his girlfriend into the cemetery at night and is frightened out of his wits by some kind of robed monster. This sparks off a journey into terror of which Mike could never have imagined.Phantasm is undeniably a cult classic. It is a strange film in the way that it has some fantastic, iconic moments yet is very shallow in script and direction/development of the story line. This is somehow echoed in the visuals when showing us the stark wasteland that is the alternate universe where the Tall Man is from. Dwarfs are enslaved, snaking across a desolate wasteland, which mirrors the emptiness of the script. This somehow feels fitting.For me I enjoyed the visuals of the Tall Man striding through the town, knowing he was being watched and stopping to stare back. As kids we all had a creepy person we were scared of but liked to watch from a distance and then run away if the person got wind of you. The Tall Man is the epitome of this. The silver orbs are fantastic, absolute class, I love everything about them. Got to be my favorite weapon of all time.This movie has an air of Stephen King about it which I say as a compliment. It's one of those films you watch and are not particularly impressed with at the time but it stays with you and plays out in your mind.Every horror freak must watch this franchise, be part of it and enjoy the honor of knowing the Tall Man.

I saw this first in the mid 80s on a VHS. Was terrified by the Tall man. Revisited it recently on a DVD. Don Coscarelli (his episode- Incident on n off a mountain.. from Masters of horror is my fav), did an awesome job with this film. His direction, writing n cinematography were all very good considering the tiny budget. The film has a very eerie music adding to the tension. The plot is about two brothers, one of em a teen, dealing with the recent death of their parents n how they are pulled back to the mortuary when one of their friends turns up dead. It gets weird when the teen brother sees the frightening mortician single-handedly lift a coffin into the back of a hearse. The film is creepy, fast paced n inspite of low body count there is enuff violence n scares. It is full of surreal images – the drilling spheres were scary n tension filled, the entire film n its characters r isolated with just the mortuary. The scariest part bah the film is the sinister figure of the Tall Man, always walking in slow-motion with the accompanied sound of the drumbeats n his shoes.