Never saw the movies either... Funny, besides Freddie, Evil dead, Jason I remember watching some movies like, Critters, Goblins, Shocker, and lots of others... Never heard of this one though, But from Wikipedia, what is described seems interesting, to the to-view-one-day pile!

Well, that fucking sucks!

As I understood it, Coscarelli already has "Ravager" done, but got sidetracked by a 4k version of the original (just put it out already god damn it! *froths*), so Angus having died doesn't ruin the 5th being released. In theory...
If you like those movies you listed, you absolutely owe it to yourself to watch the Phantasm series. Opinions vary on whether which is best, but the 2nd is largely considered by many to be the best, myself included. Watch them in order to get the full effect. Man, I envy you, getting to see them for the first time...

Damn. RIP Angus, RIP.

For those of you looking to get the collection, I got them off amazon several years back for a decent price. There was some brew haha around Phantasm 2 here in the States at the time, because the main character is a different actor than the one in Phantasm 1,3, and 4, and there was some sort of royalties issue, but it is (or was when I bought it) available in the States nowadays.

If you ARE going to watch them, start with 1. There shouldn't be any skipping in the series if you can help it. If you watch 4 first (Like I did) it's going to confuse the hell out of you, especially if you happen to be drinking adult beverages. HOWEVER it will make you want to see the whole series just to figure out who the hell this Tall Man is, and why his midgets strike fear into the hearts of everyone.

~Leucius

I suspect that it's more a matter of not being in the right mood the first time I watched it. I'm going to be making a horror movie with a group of local film makers and viewing various horror films is pretty much mandatory for that.

I wonder if it's on Netflix.

One of the impressive things about the series is that it started out as an indie film that turned into a more commercial series. That explains a lot. He probably was exceedingly nice. People who involve themselves in horror films tend to be generally nicer. Horror writers are some of the nicest people.

I think it's because they have an outlet for the baser thoughts that other people try to repress. People involved with horror media appreciate the dark thoughts and put them to more productive use.
Indeed. Love them or hate them, they were pretty well known by the 3rd iteration. Perhaps it's because I live in the US, but I have a hard time imagining people that are into slasher flicks that don't have at least some familiarity with the Phantasm series.

Especially folks old enough to have rented VHS tapes.

Thank you hedwards. :P

The horror links go back a long way with me. I have the same birthday as Poe, lived next door to one of the stars of the original Friday the 13th, went to the same High School as Vincent Price, and have a guitar named Linnea. :D

That's really sad. I thoroughly enjoyed the (earlier) Phantasm movies. Perfect setting for a horror movie-- creepy mausoleums/funeral parlors, and the unexplained phenomena added to the mystery. Great low budget film. RIP Angus Scrimm!

Does anyone know how they filmed the spheres in the first couple movies without getting the reflection of the camera to show up?

"Old," huh?... I've see the first 3. I didn't realize that there was a fourth or there is going to be a fifth ones. I'm obviously dating myself, but I remember seeing Kenny & Co. on and [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ONTV_%28pay_TV%29]OnTV. This was the movie Don Coscarelli directed right before the first Phantasm, that featured both Michael Baldwin and Reggie Bannister.

I think part of it might be that just because an American low budget horror series is well known in the US doesn't necessarily mean that it's well know outside North America. Even in the UK it might be largely unknown because of the public media storm during the '80s against what was referenced as "Video Nasties." It's been less than 10 years since VHS videocassettes stopped being widely available. I'm old enough to recall when consumer VHS (& Betamax) VCRs were brand new products and single channel subscription television (note my references to SlecTV & OnTV above) previous to the advent of cable & satellite television.

I have the movies on DVD and was just thinking the other day of watching them again. I am sorry that he is no longer among us. I found his character and the Phantasm movies not only to be frightening but also intriguing (great characters/great plot). However, I would not say it is the absolute end for Phantasm. A Hollywood remake would not surprise me, considering the amount of movies that get remade, whether one likes it or not. If that does ever happen I hope it will not be trash. BUT--we will always have the original Phantasm movies!

Each film in the series is quite different, actually. And with the fourth one, they basically went full circle, since it's a smaller production like the first one and also features more of the weird ideas and subtleties of the original Phantasm, unlike Part 2 & 3 which focus more on action and special effects.

I never got to meet him in person, but based on what I've seen and heard he was incredibly kind and charismatic, and a true gentleman, the type of man which is nearly extinct in this age. Great sense of humor as well, and he still went to Horror conventions at age 85+ or so, to chat with his fans, sign autographs, take pictures with them and so on.

If you get the chance to watch Phantasm again, try watching the version with audio commentary by Don Coscarelli, Angus Scrimm, and the other actors. Once you've watched that, it's hard not to fall in love with them and their little Horror film series.

Perhaps, and I think it's also because Horror has always been a niche genre, so there's less money involved, and people are mostly in it because they love it. It's the same with most things really, once there's absurd amounts of cash involved, it all sooner or later goes to hell.
And on top of that, you may or may not be a human(?) manifestation of Cthulhu. And you have donkeys! Let's be friends!

I don't remember that particular detail, but on the DVD ( Anchor Bay release ) they explain pretty much all of the special effects. It's actually hilarious how simple most of them are. You can probably find some of it on youtube, if you don't have the DVDs.

Let's not forget the references in the game Blood :

http://www.blood-wiki.org/index.php/References_in_Blood
B-Movie horror is a niche genre. Horror as a general genre is extremely popular. Stephen King is worth $400 million on the basis of horror alone.

Just ordered the first one from ebay. Not sure it was the anchor bay version since I couldn't find it on the cover art (it only said "horror classics").
Thanks for all your help.

Laurie Bartram

I see she died too .