Rating of
3/4
Phantasm II
Drive-In Massacre - wrote on 10/09/11
Man, this series is going to have to be a main-stay for every Halloween to follow. They're basically exactly what I'm looking for when I want to watch something "Halloweeny", they've got graveyards, dead people, blood, autumn, funeral homes, and all sorts of paranormal, what an interesting horror series to come out of the 70s, during a time when it was all psychotic killers and devils.
I think Phantasm is a very underrated series, having a great blend of humor and horror, and in a much more low-key, less gore/slapstick oriented way like the works of Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi. Seriously, Don Coscarelli is an overlooked filmmaker,if there ever was one, and as much as I love Sam Raimi, he never once made a movie as poignant and equally hilarious as Bubba Ho-Tep (which is truly one of my all-time favorite films). And although, I usually go for a franchise's passionately low-budget, original film, I really think the extra budget assists in Coscerelli's vision and really opens up the world that he was trying to get in the first one, but didn't have the means to. He's got some real great atmosphere and fun shots, that create such an off-beat weirdo-horror world. Completely unlike anything else and yet a PHANTASTIC use of the Halloween trappings (pun very obviously intended).
Yeah, the dialogue is clunky, lots of it is cliche, predictable, and corny (sometimes I think intentionally so), but that perfect musical score added with the orange lighting, flying silver balls, and grave digging, makes for what is almost the dream movie to be playing at midnight when you come home from your Halloween night.
C+/B-
