Reviews: Phantasm (1979) Movie Review
Subgenres: Aliens, Featured Supernatural, Supernatural, Body Horror, Cult Classic, Mind Bender, Mutants, Sci-Fi
Our take on Phantasm (1979) explores its plot, scares, and horror highlights to help fans decide if it deserves a place on their watchlist.
While spying on his older brother at a friend’s funeral, Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) notices strange things happening at Morningside Cemetery. He witnesses a Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) picking up a full coffin and placing it back into his hearse. Unable to convince his brother Jody (Bill Thornbury) and the local ice cream man Reg (Reggie Bannister) about what he saw, he heads out to do a little investigating on his own.
But beware, because around every corner flying spheres, fingers that turn into killer insects and midget monks are waiting for our three heroes as they try to figure out what the Tall Man is doing. It ain’t a simple case of necrophilia, my friend, but rather a calm, cool, and calculating "grave robber from another world." His calling is much higher, for he is replenishing the workforce of his desolate world (?), but damn, the benefits suck! Not only are you brought back to life, then crushed down to three feet, pumped full of some yellow fluid, and dressed to look like a "Jawa", but worst of all you become a slave on some hot a** planet without any vacation time. Was it all a dream?
This is a true "scary movie". Not a lot of gore (some tho), not huge special effects, but a tall freaky looking guy who can do anything it seems. That’s what makes this such a scary movie; it’s the fear of the unknown, I mean the little kid in this has got some balls to go to the funeral parlor and look around and take on the tall man. For some reason, this reminds me of a Stephen King style book, which is probably why I like it so much. If you wanna get scared, rent this, but make sure you pay attention, you might get lost if not.
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Sources Used to Shape This Review
Insights in this review are drawn from director interviews, fan commentary, production notes, and long-form breakdowns across genre-specific platforms. Content is written uniquely and reviewed for accuracy.
- Phantasm Rating Scores
- Our Score: 7/10
- Overall Score: 7.02/10
- IMDB: 6.6/10
- MetaCritic: 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 7.3/10
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