Movie Review: PHANTASM: REMASTERED (1979)

The first horror movie I ever went to see in the theatre was PHANTASM II, prior to this I had never even heard of PHANTASM, but my friends and I ascended on the $2 theatre to get our summertime scare on in 1988. The Tall Man, terrifyingly portrayed by the late Angus Scrimm, scared the crap out of me and at this point I HAD to find out about the first movie… Don Coscarelli’s PHANTASM.

The copy I found in the Music+ rental area was terrible. Bad audio, bad video – but the movie! Unholy crap, The Movie! What I watched was brilliant! It even had Evil Jawa’s! How could you not love Evil Jawa’s?! (Hush, I was raised a #starwarsnerd, and there are totally Evil Jawa’s!)

Fast forward thirty-seven years…

J.J. Abrams has teamed up with Don Coscarelli to release an absolutely beautiful restoration of this classic and it’s truly breathtaking. The picture is clear, the audio (and that excellent soundtrack) sounds crystal clear, and The Tall Man’s voice shook me to my core!

If you have never seen PHANTASM, do yourself a favor, go see this in the theatre when it’s released this week, you deserve it! Then, make sure to check out the rest of the series and the stunning conclusion, PHANTASM V: RAVAGER from director David Hartman, which also comes out this week.

PHANTASM: REMASTERED will be in theaters October 7th and available On Demand & Digital HD October 4th.