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Phantasm (film)
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thumb|You play a good game boy, but the game is finished. Now you die!
Phantasm is a 1979 film about a teenage boy and his friends who face off against a mysterious grave robber known only as the Tall Man, who keeps a lethal arsenal of terrible weapons with him.
Directed and written by Don Coscarelli.
Beware the ball, beware the tall man, beware the never dead. (taglines)
The Tall Man
You play a good game boy, but the game is finished. Now you die!
BOYYYYY!!!
You think when you die, you go to heaven. You come to us!
Mike Pearson
There's this door down here. And I bet there's something behind it.
Reggie
Hi guys. Heh heh, just thought I'd come over and see what was going on before the kids got out of summer school. Hey Mike, you want to ride along with me today? It's pretty warm outside and the ice cream's going to be flying fast and furious. Remember how good you were at crowd control last time? Hey, what's going on here?
Jody Pearson
Now, remember: you don't aim a gun at a man unless you intend to shoot him. And, you don't shoot a man unless you intend to kill him. No warning shots. Hey, you listening to me? No warning shots. Warning shots are bullshit. You shoot to kill, or you don't shoot at all.
I just don't get off on funerals, man, they give me the creeps.
Dialogue
Mike: I know you're not going to believe this, but these things were here, right in the garage, and they were going to get me!
Jody: Aww, give me a break, would you?
Mike: They were jumping on the car and making these weird sounds!
Jody: You're sure it wasn't that retarded kid, Timmy, up the street?
Mike: No, it was the same thing that chased me last night!
Reggie: Okay. I see it, I see it all now. What we gotta do is we gotta snag that tall dude and stomp the shit out of him, and we'll find out what the hell is going on up there. Yeah! We lay that sucker out flat and drive a stake right through his Goddamn heart!
Mike: You gotta be shittin' me, man! That mother's STRONG!
Jody: What's out there?
Mike: I don't know. It was little, brown and low to the ground.
Jody: Ahh, it was probably just a gopher in heat.
The Tall Man: The funeral is about to begin... Sir!
Jody: Okay! Sir.
Mike: First he took mom and dad, then he took Jody, now he's after me.
Reggie: Mike, that tall man of yours did not take Jody away. Jody died in a car wreck.
Reggie: Hey, guys.
Mike: Reggie! You ain't dead!
Reggie: No, and I ain't three-foot-two yet either!
Taglines
Beware the ball, beware the tall man, beware the never dead.
Where the dead are no longer that way...
If this one doesn't scare you, you're already dead!
If you're looking for horror that's got balls...IT'S FOUND YOU.
This ball wants to play with you...for keeps!
About
I had a compunction to try to do something in the horror genre and I started thinking about how our culture handles death; it’s different than in other societies. We have this central figure of a mortician. He dresses in dark clothing, he lurks behind doors, they do procedures on the bodies we don’t know about. The whole embalming thing, if you ever do any research on it, is pretty freaky. It all culminates in this grand funerary service production. It’s strange stuff. It just seemed like it would be a great area in which to make a film.
Don Coscarelli, Happy birthday, Tall Man! ‘Phantasm’ turns 30 (October 16, 2009)
Cast
Angus Scrimm — The Tall Man
A. Michael Baldwin — Mike Pearson
Bill Thornbury — Jody Pearson
Reggie Bannister — Reggie
Kathy Lester — Lady in Lavender
Bill Cone — Tommy
Kenneth V. Jones — the Caretaker
Mary Ellen Shaw — Fortuneteller
Terrie Kalbus — Fortuneteller's granddaughter
Laura Mann — Double Lavender
Susan Harper — Sue
Lynn Eastman — Sally
David Arntzen — Toby
External links
0079714 Phantasm
phantasm Phantasm
37911 Phantasm
phantasm Phantasm
Category:Supernatural horror films
Category:1979 American films
Category:1979 English-language films
Category:American coming-of-age films
Category:American exploitation films
Category:American fantasy films
Category:American independent films
Category:American science fiction horror films
Category:English-language science fiction horror films
Category:Films about brothers
Category:Films about death
Category:Films about grieving
Category:Films about orphans
Category:Films about psychic powers
Category:Films about shapeshifting
Category:Films set in Oregon