1994 | Dir. Don Coscarelli | 91 Minutes
"Seeing is easy. Understanding, well... takes a little more time."
Seconds after his apparent destruction in Phantasm II, a duplicate of the Tall Man enters the world through a dimensional fork, kills Liz, and injures Mike. After a puzzling encounter with Jody, Mike's presumed dead brother - now a sentient silver sphere, Mike is abducted by the Tall Man. Guided by the Jody-Sphere, Reggie embarks on a perilous journey to rescue his friend. On the road, Reg is joined by crack shot kid with pistol Tim and nunchuk-swinging combat expert Rocky, warriors with personal vendettas against the Tall Man.
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead blends the surreal supernatural elements of the first Phantasm film with the gory high-adrenaline action and production value of the second film. Reggie's adventure with Tim and Rocky in tow is solid entertainment, showcasing series mastermind Don Coscarelli’s talent for mixing horror, action, and comedy. Running parallel, Mike's metaphysical storyline builds heavily upon the series' mythology, providing intriguing exposition that introduces more new mysteries than explanations. A major plot revelation explains that each of iconic metal spheres contains the brain of one of the Tall Man's enslaved undead victims. Briefly hinted upon in the original Phantasm, the heroes exploit the Tall Man's weakness to low temperatures. During its final minutes, the picture reveals a supernatural connection between Mike and the Tall Man, putting into question Mike's ultimate role in the film series.
For his third appearance in the Phantasm series, Reggie Bannister takes center stage portraying his alter ego, Reggie the ice-cream-man-turned-horror-action-hero, carrying the film with a natural and humorous performance. Replaced by James Le Gros in Phantasm II, A. Michael Baldwin makes a welcome return as Mike disappearing for roughly half the film. Child actor Kevin Connors turns in a fun performance as Tim, most notable in the sequence that introduces character that plays like a dark R-rated take on Home Alone. Gloria Lynne Henry is convincingly fierce as Rocky, hilarious in scenes that play up Reggie's lustiness. Angus Scrimm once commands a dominating presence fully embodying the evil Tall Man. Absent from Phantasm II, Bill Thornbury reprises the role of Jody in brief, enigmatic capacity. The film also features Cindy Ambuehl, Brooks Gardner, and John Davis Chandler as Edna, Rufus, and Henry - comically campy as trashy looters who are converted into a new set of zombified henchmen for the Tall Man, nasty and menacing during the knock-down drag-out fight in the gothic mausoleum during the film's finale.
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead is a fine sequel that heightens every aspect of what made the original Phantasm such a fun ride, including the inscrutability of the series' narrative, driving the plot deeper into a strange but undeniably intriguing direction. Action-packed and operating mostly on dream logic, it exemplifies everything that makes the film series appealing to Phantasm fans and understandably frustrating for viewers who prefer straight-forward storytelling.
FRAGMENTS
- Released straight-to-video and produced without financial support from a major film studio, director Don Coscarelli had more creative control over this film than Phantasm II
- Most of the film's musical score is recycled from Phantasm II featuring a synthesizer-heavy rendition of Fred Myrow’s memorable Phantasm motif by Myrow and Christopher L. Stone
- In the hospital sequence at the start of the film, Angus Scrimm plays the doctor, Kathy Lester (who played the Lady in Lavender in Phantasm) plays the nurse, and Jennifer Bross - A. Michael Baldwin's wife - appears as the nurse behind the desk wearing a walkman
- Two of Don Coscarelli's children appear in the orphanage scene
- At the tail end of the film's closing credits reads these legal disclaimers:
"The characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living, dead, or undead, is purely coincidental. This motion picture is protected under the laws of the United States and other countries. Unauthorized duplication, distribution, or exhibition may result in civil liability, criminal prosecution and the wrath of the Tall Man."
