Phantasm II is a 1988 horror film directed by Don Coscarelli. Picking up where the original film leaves off, Phantasm II finds Reggie (Reggie Bannister) and a teenaged Mike (played by James LeGros of Point Break and Mildred Pierce fame) on a quest to hunt down The Tall Man and banish him to his dwarf-rendering hell world for ever. Aided by the elphin Liz, with whom Mike shares a psychic, as well as romantic, connection, Mike and Reggie criss-cross America in their beefed-up Hemicuda, armed with a flamethrower and a quadruple-barrelled sawed-off shotgun. Along the way they pick up sultry hitchhiker Alchemy (Chemmy, for short), who quickly takes a shine to the love-starved Reggie. The three eventually track The Tall Man to a mortuary where Liz's grandparents have recently been interned and, naturally, enslaved to dwarfdom. After battling the elderly dwarves, as well as several robotic "Gravers," Mike and Liz manage to ensnare one of the deadly metallic spheres, using it to unlock a portal into the hell-world. However, before they can torch this portal room, The Tall Man intervenes, tossing them like rag-dolls, before Reggie injects him with a lethal concoction of embalming fluid and hydrochloric acid. Having dispatched The Tall Man, the three burn down the building and escape, catching a ride in a hearse with Chemmy. However, just when you think the thrills are over, Chemmy pulls like half of her scalp off and The Tall Man rips Mike and Liz through the back window. Fin.
Phantasm II is a worthy predecessor to the excellent original film. Delivering the same winning mixture of gore, scary flying objects, and strange dream-logic, Phantasm II, while not breaking tons of new ground, is satisfying viewing for fans of the series.
No comments:
Post a Comment