Phantasm 2 (1988)

Director: Don Coscarelli

Starring: James Le Gros, Reggie Bannister, Angus Scrimm

Mike, now released from a psychiatric hospital, meets with Reggie, and discover his dreams (the events of the original film) are real, and they both journey to find and stop the evil Tall Man from his grim work.

I must be honest, I wasn’t exactly a big fan of ‘Phantasm’, yet here I go again. Before you start reading, note that there are spoilers here.

After the events of the first film, Mike was sent to a psychiatric clinic. Now, seven years later, he pretends the events were merely his imagination, and is finally being released.

Mike immediately goes to Reggie, telling him his dreams warn him of a girl named Liz being drawn to the Tall Man, and that he must be stopped. The first few minutes of the film were so fast-paced and rather thrilling actually, it almost felt as if it was the third act.

As the film showed us more about Liz, it became less interesting. I couldn’t understand what her connection to the Tall Man was, or why he was after her in the first place. Also, what was the connection between Liz and Mike? When they finally meet for the first time, they embraced in a kiss as if they knew one another, and possibly even were lovers previously. But why? The Liz character needed better explanation.

And speaking of characters that need better explanation: The Tall Man. My biggest issue with the first film, was the fact I knew nothing about the Tall Man. Who was he really? Where did he come from? Unlike villains like Freddie Krueger, Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers and Pinhead, The Tall Man has no back story. We actually know nothing about him. He steals corpses and turns them into zombie-like hideous dwarves, but why? Is he a demon from hell and the dwarves are his disciples? Then why not tell us this? I was hoping this second installment would give more information on the character, but alas, it doesn’t.

The Tall Man also hardly features or does anything scary – or anything at all! – during the first two acts, making him a rather poor antagonist. The killer spheres were the film’s highlight, and far more interesting and a much deadlier force that the Tall Man. These were friggin’ excellent!

There’s much to love about ‘Phantasm 2’, though and the film’s final act and incredible climax definitely redeems the film’s shortfalls. Interestingly, the Tall Man even took a back seat during the finale and only appeared for the grotesque final minutes. Speaking of grotesque, the film is loaded with fantastic practical effects the 80’s horror films are so renowned for.

An interesting thing about the Tall Man – and I wonder if the creators of the franchise even gave this a thought – is his inclination to have sex with men. WHAT, you may ask?!! Well, let me explain. The first ‘Phantasm’ opens with a guy having sex with a woman in a cemetery, and then being killed by her. Only, it is revealed the woman is actually the Tall Man. Does this mean the guy in fact had sex with the Tall Man and he only imagined it to be a woman? In ‘Phantasm 2’ Reggie picks up a hitchhiker and he later has sex with her, but later in the movie it is revealed she is actually the Tall Man!!! Interesting, very interesting…

‘Phantasm 2’ earned $7.3 million on a $3 million budget.

Would I watch it again? Well, the final 30 minutes were quite stunning, actually, so maybe.

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