Phantasm IV Oblivion
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| Phantasm IV: Oblivion | |
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| Directed by | Don Coscarelli |
| Produced by | A. Michael Baldwin |
| Written by | Don Coscarelli |
| Starring | A. Michael Baldwin Reggie Bannister Bill Thornbury Heidi Marnhout Bob Ivy Angus Scrimm |
| Music by | Reggie Bannister Steve Morell Fred Myrow Malcom Seagrave Christopher L. Stone |
| Cinematography | Chris Chomyn |
| Editing by | Scott J. Gill |
| Distributed by | Orion Pictures (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) |
| Release date(s) | 1998 |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $650,000 |
Phantasm IV Oblivion is a 1998 horror film, a sequel to the Phantasm film series written and directed by Don Coscarelli, starring A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister and Angus Scrimm.
The other films in this series are Phantasm, Phantasm II, and Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead.
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[edit] Plot
The film opens where its predecessor left off. Mike flees from Boulton mortuary in the hearse, while Reggie is trapped inside by The Tall Man's spheres. Rather than kill Reggie, The Tall Man inexplicably lets him go.
Mike's spherical brother Jody persuades a reluctant Reggie to go looking for Mike. On the way, Reggie is attacked by a mysterious psychopathic demon disguised as a police officer. Reggie escapes only after shooting, stabbing, and blowing up/burning the demon. Later, Reggie rescues a woman named Jennifer from her overturned car and takes her to the next town. They stay the night at an abandoned motel where Reggie tells her the story of The Tall Man. A disbelieving Jennifer rejects his advances before Reggie falls asleep and dreams of Mike. Disturbed, Reggie seeks solace from Jennifer and discovers she has two spheres where her breasts should be. The spheres attack Reggie, who manages to destroy one with a sledgehammer but is pinned to the wall by the other. In desperation he strikes his tuning fork and the sphere explodes. Reggie then dispatches the demon Jennifer with the sledgehammer before leaving.
Mike, trying to uncover the mysteries of The Tall Man in order to escape his transformation, drives through abandoned towns and remembers the last days of his youth before The Tall Man's arrival. The Tall Man appears in the back of the car, assumes control of the automobile, and disappears into a coffin. Mike drives the hearse into Death Valley, where he as he writes his testament, he expresses his intent to force The Tall Man into a "final" confrontation. After attempted suicide and a brief meeting with The Tall Man, Mike passes through a space gate and arrives inside a 19th century, colonial-style house. Outside the house, he meets someone resembling The Tall Man: however, the man is kind and welcomes him cordially, introducing himself as Jebediah Morningside. The man tries to speak to a frightened Mike who flees and passes back through the gate.
Back in Death Valley, Mike realizes that he can move rocks with the power of his mind. Jody appears, but a distrustful Mike accuses his brother of having abandoned him. After defending his behavior, Jody disappears. Mike begins working on the hearse's engine, seemingly using parts to build a makeshift sphere. Theorizing that Jebediah must somehow become The Tall Man after traveling through the space gate, Mike plans to prevent Jebediah's first journey. Mike goes through a gate, but finds himself in a deserted city and escapes The Tall Man only with Jody's help.
Meanwhile, Reggie arrives at Death Valley and fights off a group of zombie dwarves shortly before Mike and Jody appear through a gate. Mike embraces Reggie and tells him not to trust Jody. Taking the tuning fork from Reggie, Mike and Jody pass through the gate and appear in Jebediah's house. Invisible to the old man, they witness how he perfects his craft and approaches the inter-dimensional gate. Mike unsuccessfully tries to stab Jebediah, who vanishes and moments later is replaced by the evil Tall Man who emerges in his place, having taken his form and used his human appearance as a disguise.
Mike escapes through the gate and arrives in cemetery where he is attacked and overpowered by his brother. Awakening on a mortuary slab, Jody holds him down as The Tall Man attempts to saw Mike's head open. A panicking Mike strikes the tuning fork, immobilizing his opponents, and attacks Jody with sphere. The Tall Man quickly revives and telekinetically takes the fork from Mike. Again, Mike escapes through the gate back to Death Valley, this time pursued by his nemesis.
Reggie tries to shoot but is overpowered by The Tall Man. Mike then summons the sphere he built and uses it to impale The Tall Man in the neck. Amused by what he calls Mike's "toy", The Tall Man is momentarily distracted. At this moment, Mike activates the hearse's motor, which turns out to be the true weapon (a strange inter-dimensional bomb) against the Tall Man. The Tall Man is once again supposedly vanquished after the explosion consumes both him and the car. However, a new Tall Man immediately comes through the gate, revealing that The Tall Man is but one of many. Resuming the surgery started by his predecessor, The Tall Man removes the golden sphere before passing through the gate.
Close to death, Mike pleads for help before Reggie arms himself and chases after The Tall Man by passing through the gate. The final image Mike sees is a childhood memory of him climbing into Reggie's ice cream truck as they both drive off into the dark night.
[edit] Cast
- Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man
- A. Michael Baldwin as Mike
- Reggie Bannister as Reggie
- Bill Thornbury as Jody
- Bob Ivy as Demon trooper
- Heidi Marnhout as Jennifer
[edit] Inception and possible sequel
Canadian film maker Roger Avary, a self-confessed hardcore fan of the Phantasm series, wrote an epic screenplay called "Phantasm 1999 A.D." as a sequel to Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead. It was set in a post-apocalyptic near future, featuring Bruce Campbell as a co-star. As the project ran into financing difficulties, Don Coscarelli wrote and directed this fourth installment as a pre-cursor to the project, using numerous outtakes from the preceding films. Avary also appeared in the film as one of the civil war soldiers. Despite these efforts, the budget for the sequel, now retitled Phantasm's End, could not be secured.
Rumours about a sequel were reignited in June 2007 by footage contained in Don Coscarelli's Farewell to The Alamo Drafthouse, featuring Angus Scrimm and A. Michael Baldwin in their roles. However an interview with Reggie Bannister surfaced on Youtube, when asked about the possibility of a fifth film he stated there was no activity or development involving a fifth installment but that anything was possible in the future.[1]
[edit] DVD release
The film was released on Video in 1998 and on DVD in 2000, both by MGM Home Entertainment. In 2008, Anchor Bay Entertainment released a special edition of the film. News reports said it would be the uncut version[2], however, the special edition contains only the R-rated version (as did the MGM release).
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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