The film Phantasm is one of the most amazing horror films ever made. In this tightly packed script of horror and fantasy, Angus Scrimm plays the mythical Tall Man. While some sections of the series may be better than others, it’s clear that the Phantasm franchise has maintained its popularity, as evidenced by the release of the fifth picture after an 18-year hiatus.
In reality, Phantasm 5 appeared to be more of a fan service than a film. Nonetheless, we are not here to debate, among other things, how the movie performed at the box office. We’re here to delve into one of the most iconic late-twentieth-century movie monsters, The Tall Man.
He’s a being from another realm who murders people in order to amass a corpse army. His preferred weapon is spheres, which contain multiple lethal weapons. Some refer to him as an alien, while others refer to him as an undead serial killer. After watching this film, we’ll leave it up to you to decide. So, let’s get right to the point, shall we?
Journey Of A Mortician to Lord of the Dead
The Tall Man was not always the evil that he is now known to be. Once upon a time, he used to be a humble man who went by the name of Dr. Jebediah Morningside. Dr. Morningside also served as a medic in the American Civil War for the Union Army, after which he took the role of an ordinary mortician. As a mortician, he would often ponder upon the question of life and death, to the point that he became obsessed and overwhelmed by the same.
Apart from learning the secrets and mysteries about the circle of life, he also wanted to figure out a way to achieve immortality. So he started to experiment with ways of inter-dimensional travel and began his study and research of the connection between the worlds of the living and the dead. In the process, he successfully invented the machine that would allow him to travel inter-dimensionally, and he used it to travel to the realm of the dead. But when he returned, he was a changed man or maybe an entirely different entity.
Henceforth, his activities became so vile and crude that he would now only be known as the Tall Man as if his prior existence and personality were snatched away from him. Now, there are three plausible reasons for such a drastic change in him. First, his experiences in the realm of the dead changed him entirely- how he thought and behaved.
Second, he became possessed by some supernatural entity. Third, an evil otherworldly entity replicated his body and killed the original Jebediah Morningside. Unfortunately, it can’t be ascertained for sure which one of these three plausibilities was the reality.
After his return, he made it the purpose of his life to become the Lord of the dead, moving from town to town in search of corpses. In his quest, he would begin by serving as the town’s mortician but secretly exhumed the corpses from graveyards and stole others from mortuaries. However, merely robbing dead bodies doesn’t content him entirely, so he later resorts to committing murders so that he could increase his collection of the dead.
Furthermore, he transforms the dead into dwarf-like entities that serve him in the world of the living, but then he takes a few of these creatures to the realm of the dead so that they can presumably serve him as slaves. On top of these morbid creatures, he has two henchmen-like races of minions, i.e., the Demon Troopers and the Gravers. To attack the living, he uses his Sentinel Spheres; these are created by compacting the bodies and placing the brains into metal casings.
Now, the dwarf creatures are presumably the byproducts of this process. Interestingly enough, the Tall Man hasn’t shown any intentions of conquering the world or any such grand schemes and ravages only small, secluded townships. He is smart enough not to step foot into large cities, and the towns that he does ravage have an explanation for the unprecedented deaths as they have a history of deaths due to some natural or artificial calamity, for instance, toxic waste spills.
As far as his personality and traits are concerned, he is a cold-hearted, psychopathic serial killer from the realm of the dead. He kills people and exhumes corpses to increase his army of the dead. Now, this trait forces us to assume that deep down, he intends to take over the Earth and conquer the entirety of existence. After his return from inter-dimensional travel, he is transformed into an extraordinarily sadistic and vile being who took his opponents as sources of amusement and pleasure.
He sometimes looks at Reggie as a formidable opponent and admires him for playing a good game, but this doesn’t mean he holds any qualms in inflicting violence and spreading terror on anyone and everyone, including little children. At his best, the Tall Man is nothing less than a monster who doesn’t excuse himself or feel sorry for committing the heinous acts that he does, often comparing himself to the Devil himself. He believes that people come to him after death instead of going to Heaven.
So, this was the transformation of a kind and humble man who became so obsessed with the circle of life and death that he lost himself completely in the process of finding answers that would help humanity.
Powers And Weapons
The Tall Man is nothing short of a supernatural figure with immense strength and metahuman abilities. For instance, he once lifted an entire coffin with just one arm and with relative ease. Trust us; this is not even the tip of the iceberg that are his powers, abilities, and weapons. With his telekinesis and use of his mind, he can control both the living and the dead. You may think of severing his body parts or amputating his limbs but think again because these severed parts transform into violent insect-like creatures.
Trickery is one of his more useful traits when it comes to executing unsuspecting and potential victims, and he does this by transforming and shapeshifting into other people and even women. Apart from his physical abilities, the Tall Man makes ample use of the metallic spheres or Sentinels. These objects contain various weapons like saws, lasers, drills, razor-sharp blades, etc. But of course, the Tall Man doesn’t work alone.
He has with himself an ever-increasing army of the dead and undead, demonic creatures. These are creatures like the Lurkers, Gravers, and the Demon Troopers. No one has succeeded in killing the Tall Man, but he can be wounded and injured. Presumably, because the realm of the dead is a hot and arid place, he has difficulties sustaining colder temperatures. Furthermore, he has an affliction towards certain ranges of sound that makes him immobile, often paralyzing him.
The funeral is about to begin… SIIIRRR!
At the Morningside Cemetery, Tommy gets killed by a woman only introduced as the Lady in Lavender. His friends Jody and Reggie believe that Tommy committed suicide. Jody’s younger brother Mike later observes the mortician named the Tall Man taking the 500-pound casket away instead of finishing the burial. The Tall man does this with extreme ease and with little effort. Later the Lady in Lavender seduces Jody and takes him to the cemetery to make out, but they get interrupted by Mike, who was being chased by a small dwarf-like hooded creature.
Jody doesn’t believe Mike’s story about the creature but the young boy is not a quitter. He investigates further, only to get attacked by a flying sphere. The sphere then attacks the caretaker to impale his skull and drill out his brain. Mike flees with his life but gets chased by The Tall Man. In an attempt to flee from him, Mike slams a door due to which the Tall Man’s fingers get chopped off and later turn into insect-like creatures. Jody now believes Mike, and after witnessing the horrific scenes, Reggie joins the party.
Jody takes it upon himself to investigate but gets chased by the same small creatures that had attacked Mike. Fortunately, Mike comes along at the nick of time to save Jody. They discover that Tommy has been shrunken and transformed into a grotesque dwarf. They hide the creature in Reggie’s ice cream truck. Jody and Reggie decide to end the menace of The Tall Man and his creatures, and they hide Mike with Reggie’s friends Sally and Sue but the trio gets attacked by more hooded dwarves.
However, Mike manages to escape a possible slaughter. Mike goes home for safety but runs into the Tall Man instead. Mike manages to escape the Tall Man and goes to look for Jody at the mausoleum. However, he gets attacked by more of the silver spheres, but Jody shoots them down with his shotgun.
At the mausoleum, they find a room full of dwarves, and Mike manages to peek through a small hole into a whole new world where the dwarves are serving as slaves. Nevertheless, they finally manage to subdue the Tall Man by burying him under an avalanche of rocks. It seemed that they successfully averted further catastrophes but later, the Tall Man reappeared and pulled Mike inside a mirror.
Released in 1979, the film polarized both critics and audiences. It’s one of those films that feels good as a whole but not so much in parts. The movie at first glance may appear to be rather confusing however, upon later viewing, it becomes evident that the beauty of the film remained in a slight sense of confusion as if it was more like a stream of consciousness than straightforward storytelling. Did you notice the stark similarity between the little evil dwarves and the Jawas of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope? But well, the production of Phantasm was already completed when Star Wars: Episode IV was released in theatres.
You think that when you die, you go to Heaven? You come to us
The film introduces a young woman named Liz Reynolds, who holds a psychic bond with Mike and the Tall Man. She believes that when her grandfather would die, the Tall Man would take him too. Next, the film takes us to the ending of the first film, where Mike was being taken away by the Tall Man, but to our relief, Reggie managed to save the little boy. After the events of 1978, it was believed that Mike became psychologically unstable, and he was put in an institution. However, he left the place in 1986 and went back to the Morningside Cemetery, where he joined hands with Reggie to hunt the Tall Man down.
The two of them follow Mike’s precognition to travel to the small town of Perigord in Oregon. On the way, they came across several ravaged towns and pillaged graveyards. Meanwhile, Liz’s grandfather passes away, and at the funeral, her sister Jeri mysteriously disappears. Liz bumps into the Tall Man while searching for Jeri, and she runs for her life. Furthermore, the reanimated corpse of Liz’s grandfather abducts her grandmother.
The Tall Man tells Liz telepathically that she should return at night if she wants her grandmother. Mike, Reggie, and Liz finally meet, but the Tall Man abducts Liz and flees. Mike and Reggie follow up and manage to reach the mortuary where Liz was being held. After an intense battle, a lot of chasing, and plenty of flying spheres desecrating people, they manage to bring down the building. But just as they were trying to breathe a sigh of relief, the Tall Man struck once again. Like at the end of the previous film, this time he takes both Mike and Liz.
As is the case with cult classic horror franchises, the budget increased for the second installment. Naturally, the production value comprising sound and visual effects also improved. Interestingly, there are plenty of references to other films like a tombstone reading Alex Murphy or RoboCop or the ashes in a plastic bag reading Sam Raimi. We also get to see the faces of the dwarves, which were initially hidden due to budgetary constraints. This time around the producers simply didn’t want any ambiguity in the film. I mean, in the end, Mike and Liz tend to think it was all a dream, but the producers ensured that Angus Scrimm made it clear that no, it’s not a dream. It’s all real, and it’s happening.
Lord Of The Dead
The Tall Man apparently dies at the end of Phantasm 2. However, a new one emerges from a dimensional portal to haunt Mike once again. Liz dies, and the Tall Man leaves with her corpse, promising to return once more. Mike spends two years in a coma, but a diabolic nurse attacks him right after he wakes up. However, the good old Reggie reappears to help him once again, but Mike gets pulled back into the Tall Man’s realm. The following day, Reggie gets abducted by three looters, but fortunately for him, a young boy named Tim saves him by killing the looters.
Reggie and Tim bury the corpses of the looters, and Tim informs Reggie about the attack of the Tall Man on the town and how he took away Tim’s parents. But the very next morning, they find that someone has exhumed the three graves. Unbeknownst to him, Tim sneaks into Reggie’s car. Reggie reaches the mausoleum where two women, Tanesha and Rocky, subdue him. His attempts to warn them to go to waste as Tanesha gets killed by a Sentinel Sphere.
Once again, Tim comes to the rescue and shoots down the sphere, saving Reggie and Rocky. They join forces and follow a convoy of hearses that the Gravers were driving. That night, Jody appears in Reggie’s dream to help him save Mike. They all soon learn that the Tall Man is building an army of the undead to conquer the dimensions and become the Lord of the Dead. Ultimately, they manage to banish the Tall Man in a refrigerator by attacking him with a spear that was dipped in liquid nitrogen. However, the Tall Man’s spheres are as fierce as himself, and they attack Mike. And as for Tim, let us just say it doesn’t end well for him.
The film became rather unintentionally comedic. I mean, right at the beginning of the film, a young boy murders full-grown thugs with weapons like a frisbee with razor blades on it. What are we watching? A strange and violent version of Home Alone? But the third installment was enjoyable otherwise due to its aesthetic beauty and the whole feel of a road trip movie. Interestingly, this is the first film of the series in which they use the words Lurkers and Sentinels.
Careful what you look for. You just might find it
Picking up where the third film left off, Phantasm IV: Oblivion ups the ante slightly. We see that Mike has fled from the mausoleum in a hearse, and Reggie gets trapped by one of the sentinels. However, the Tall Man lets Reggie go after telling him that he wants to play one last game. It turns out that Jody has become a sentinel that can sometimes take human form. He convinces Reggie to look for Mike.
On the way, Reggie gets attacked by a demon and rescues a woman named Jennifer from a car accident. Reggie and Jennifer spend a night at a motel, but she is not what she seems. In place of breasts, she has two sentinels with which she attacks poor Reggie. However, he manages to kill her using a sledgehammer and a tuning fork. Meanwhile, Mike is afraid that he would transform into a sentinel and tries to uncover the Tall Man’s secrets.
Mike attempts to jump from the Death Valley in an attempt to save himself from the transformation. Still, he gets transported into another realm where a kind Jebidiah Morningside attempts to talk to Mike. But, due to the acute similarity between Morningside and the Tall Man, Mike gets scared. Mike returns to the real world and finds out that he now has telekinetic powers.
Reggie arrives at Death Valley, only to be attacked by a horde of zombie dwarves. He meets Mike and a transformed Jody. Mike and Jody travel through the gate to another realm and visit Jebidiah’s house, where Mike tries to stop Jebidiah Morningside from entering the realm of the dead. However, the Tall Man resurfaces and forces Mike to flee. Jody chases Mike and attacks him in a cemetery.
He finds himself on a mortuary slab where the Tall Man and Jody were trying to cut open his skull so that his brain can be used to make another sentinel. Mike once again flees into the Death Valley, but the Tall Man follows suit. Mike manages to transform the hearse into an inter-dimensional explosive device and vanquishes the Tall Man. However, another Tall Man approaches from the gate, revealing that there are many of them. The Tall Man takes in Mike once again and resumes the grotesque surgery while Reggie chases the Tall Man.
There are a lot of scenes in the fourth film that looks absolutely like the first one. The reason is that initially, Phantasm 1 was supposed to be over three hours long. However, the director felt that it would be difficult for such a long film to hold the viewers’ attention, so a lot of scenes were cut down. They found these deleted scenes during the making of the fourth film and used them. This is one of the reasons why the fourth installment resembles the first in terms of ambiguity and overlapping timelines.
It’s never over
After the events of the fourth film, Reggie wanders into a desert. He comes across a man who’s driving his car when suddenly two of the sentinels attack them. One of the sentinels kills the thief while the other chases Reggie. He suddenly wakes up in a hospital, where Mike is also present. Reggie is now very old and suffers from dementia. In another world, Reggie meets a woman and befriends her.
He tells her about the ordeals of the Tall Man, and she gets impressed and amazed. Reggie once again gets transported to the hospital, but this time it is the 1860s. He meets both Dr. Morningside and the Tall Man. This time around, the Lady in Lavender is conjoined with the Tall Man. The following day, he finds out that Dawn, the girl he befriended, has died after a sentinel attacked her.
After this point, some more of the spheres fly around, killing a horse and a huge Bulgarian man. Reggie once again gets transported back to the hospital with Mike, where Mike tells him about a new threat. Reggie then gets transported once again to his dream, where he encounters a giant sentinel flying in the sky. He now starts to dwindle between his dream and reality in two separate timelines.
The Tall Man reappears to tell him that he should not meddle with the ongoing affairs. Next, Reggie is seen in a mortuary where he confronts the dwarves and the Lady in Lavender. He then goes into a large cave and meets the Tall Man once again. In another dream, Reggie is tied to a gurney as armed and masked people appear and save him. One of them is a lookalike of the girl Dawn from earlier events.
He tells her about the previous events, but she thinks he’s delusional. It turns out that Dawn and her friends are fighting the Tall Man in another realm. More dwarves and gravers arrive at the scene, but the gunmen fight them off. Mike soon gets reunited with Reggie in this world and tells him that the Tall Man has taken over the Earth. Mike also tells him how the Tall Man unleashed a plague to take over the Earth.
Meanwhile, the Dawn lookalike gets abducted by The Tall Man. So, Mike, Reggie, and Chunk travel through this dimension into the Tall Man’s world, which looks like a red planet. After a fierce but fruitless battle, Jody shows up in a Cuda that’s fitted with arms and ammunition. They drive off north and towards the horizon as the film ends. While on the other hand, Reggie dies in the dream-warped reality.
The film is probably one of the most open-ended and ambiguous films ever, and that’s not really in a nice way. However, it leaves us with one question, was it all Reggie’s delusion?