Just saw Phantasm, fucking awesome film, how do the sequels hold up?

>>85179220

Some hold up better than others, but there's a large overarching narrative that you'll appreciate if you see all of them.

The thing is that none of them are like the original, as they each parody a different genre.

>Phantasm II is an action movie
>Phantasm III is a comedy
>Phantasm Oblivion is a western
>Phantasm Ravager is a post apocalypse survival film

Your mileage will depend on your preferences. Personally, I think II and Oblivion are the best, but I've met people who love III. Nobody likes Ravager.

It's also impressive how big a story they tell with such little budget, mainly by zooming in on a small cast of central characters and giving the story a POV from small towns in the mid west.

>>85179403

I loved how the sci-fi elements took me by complete surprise when I was expecting pure horror, that was genius and I love how we never really learned about The Tall Man other than his motives.

I'll watch II tonight then maybe III tomorrow if I feel like I'm in the mood for more.

2 is pretty great, but different sort of like texas chainsaw massacre 2 was more gonzo with a bigger budget

the rest are kind of meh

>>85179555
oh and they recast the kid in part 2 with some chad who cant act :(

>>85179220

Phantasm II is the shit. It doesn't have A. Michael Baldwin in it, which is a bummer, but the guy they got to play Mike was still pretty good (wish he'd gotten a cameo in Ravager during the shifting/alternate timeline stuff; could've been cool).

Oblivion is when the budget falls out of the franchise, but it's neat to see how creative they get to keep the story going. That one is about 50% deleted or alternate scenes from Phantasm 1, but edited into a framing device that makes revisiting those moments really poignant.

III is... ugghhh. I like it better than Ravager, but the comedy relief characters are overbearing and obnoxious. A lot of important story stuff happens in it, so you can't skip it, but Rocky and the Home Alone wannabe kid and those slapstick zombies are just the worst.

The ice cream man is the most ridiculous, creepiest main character I've seen.

>>85179682
>It doesn't have A. Michael Baldwin in it, which is a bummer, but the guy they got to play Mike was still pretty good (wish he'd gotten a cameo in Ravager during the shifting/alternate timeline stuff; could've been cool).

James LeGros actually recorded dialogue as Mike for the Phantasm web series that got aborted then cannibalized for parts to use in Ravager. Unfortunately, all of LeGros' scenes as Mike got cut because they no longer fit the story.

>>85179403

I liked Ravager. It was way better than it could have been.

>>85179220
Just watch all of them and then come back and tell us about it.

>>85179822
>I liked Ravager. It was way better than it could have been.

I think that's the slogan for a lot of the Phantasm sequels. Coscarelli is a genius at taking nothing and making it work. Ravager was sloppy and the seams showed worse than even Oblivion, but it held together well-enough to give a satisfying send off to the series in the only way that it could.

Comedy relief suicide midget fucking sucked, though, and ruined Scrimm's last moment in the series.

>>85179682
i read that oblivion was just placeholder footage they shot to raise money for a awesome version with bruce campbell but they didnt get it

>>85179715

I got the impression he was a40 year old trying to play a 20 year old and it just came off as slightly paedophilic.

>>85179715

Reggie's great because he's not supposed to be the protagonist/hero. He was a side character in the first movie, then a sidekick in the second movie, and then begrudgingly became the lead in the later movies even though the story was never about him and he was always an outsider to deeper conflict occurring just beyond his grasp.

That's what makes him so endearing. He's not The Chosen One (that's Mike) and he's not handsome, charming or cool. Reggie's very much just "some guy" who gets caught up in things. The one thing I liked most about Ravager was the Tall Man finally acknowledging Reggie as an individual worth noticing.

>>85180234
>>85180234

I liked how the Turing fork really came back as a giant clue how to destroy the ship.

>>85180234
>>85180310

For all of Ravager's faults, I loved how it was finally "Reggie's movie". The narrative revolved around him for a change and instead of the story being about Reggie's pursuit of his friends, it was about everyone giving a shit about Reggie. It was gratifying as Hell to see the Tall Man actually approach Reggie and try to bargain with him, like after so many years of dismissing him as a stupid ice cream man he finally realized that Reggie was a legitimate hindrance to his operations.