When their friend Tommy (Bill Cone) is mysteriously murdered at a cemetery, Reggie (Reggie Bannister), Jody (Bill Thornbury) and Jody’s 13-year-old brother, Mike (A. Michael Baldwin), decide to investigate. They get more than they bargained for when they encounter The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), an imposing figure who possesses unnatural strength and vague psychic abilities. The Tall Man knows why Tommy was killed, but he’s not telling, so it’s up to the three men to find out what he’s up to, why his mortuary might be a portal to another dimension and how the hell he can control two silver flying spheres that can kill people in an instant.
It’s a compliment to say that watching Phantasm feels like a bad dream you want to wake up from, but can’t. While it has its share of blood, the film is less of a slasher and more of a horror movie about the unknown. Nothing really makes sense or is explained, which makes Phantasm even scarier — you’re not given the comfort of an explanation. And for a movie made in 1979, the special effects still hold up — those flying spheres look real and deadly.
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