Phantasm 3:
Lord of the Dead
(Australia R4 Rental Version)
(1993)
review by Mickey Juice

Don Coscarelli has continued his beloved Phantasm franchise with another solid entry into the Phantasm saga. Although not as dark as Phantasm 2, fans of the series should be kept entertained with the continuing adventures of Reggie, Mike (now joined by Mike’s brother Jody), and the evil Tallman.

For those that have no idea about Phantasm I recommend reading the reviews for the original movie and part 2 to get an idea of what the Tallman is about and what has happened thus far. In fact, if you haven’t seen any of the previous movies, I would skip my plot synopsis entirely as it gives away some of the spoilers from part 2.

Having just killed the Tallman (by pumping him full of a lethal mix of embalming fluid & sulphuric acid), Mike, Liz, Alchemy, and Reggie escape the Perigord cemetery in a hearse driven by Alchemy.
Things get strange when Alchemy pulls out a large clump of her own hair and apparently attacks Reggie. Was she with the Tallman all this time or did he get to her at some stage? We will never know. The hearse then pulls over and Reg falls out of the passenger side door. Cue the hearse driving off and exploding in a fiery crash.

When Reggie arrives at the wreck it seems Mike was thrown clear and was knocked unconscious. Liz isn’t so lucky, as one of the Tallman’s dwarves starts to gnaw on her face. Looks like Coscarelli didn’t need the character of Liz for this sequel (which is too bad, as she was a likeable and an interesting character). With Liz’s death, the plot point of Mike and her having a telepathic link is also killed off.

Back at Perigord, the Tallman is dead, but this being a Phantasm movie, nothing is ever as it seems. A new Tallman simply steps out of the space gates and throws his recently deceased corpse back through the gates (to the red planet? Who knows?) The Tallman and his dwarf creatures arrive at the scene of the hearse accident and attempt to take Mike with them. Reggie prevents this by threatening to blow the Tallman away with a hand grenade. The Tallman says he will return and get Mike at a later date. All they obtain at this time is Liz’s decapitated head!

After a brief hospital visit, Reggie and Mike return to Reg’s house where they find Jody, Mike’s deceased older brother. Jody is now in the form of one of the Tallman’s killer sentinel spheres and can transform into human form for brief moments. The Tallman then teleports into the house and manages to kidnap Mike. The next morning Reggie and Jody the sphere set off to find Mike and the Tallman.

After following directions from Jody, Reggie gets carjacked by some thieves who steal his car, and throw him in the boot. They then stop at a house, which is occupied by a little kid named Tim. Tim has set up the house with some gory ‘Home Alone’ style booby traps. After the 3 robbers meet an untimely death at the hands of Tim, he joins up with Reggie and they go in pursuit of Mike. Along the way they also meet a female version of G.I. Joe named Rocky. She joins the 2 after her friend Tanesha, dies at the hands of one of the Tallman’s sentinel spheres.

In one of the best sequences of the movie, Jody enters Reggie’s dreams while he is sleeping. They walk through a door and appear on a dry lake bed (a foreshadowing of Part IV?). After Jody explains to Reg that this is all a part of his mind, they both transport to a mausoleum where they find Mike. They then manage to teleport Mike back to the safety of their camp via a set of space gates. How did Reggie save Mike via a dream you ask? Welcome to the Phantasm universe! Moments like these are never explained and it allows for some interpretation from the audience.

Reggie, Tim, Rocky, Mike and Jody manage to track down the Tallman at the Boulton Gothic Mausoleum. Here they will attempt to kill him once and for all, putting and end to his grave robbing ways.

Released as a direct-to-video sequel in 1994, Phantasm 3 continues on directly from Phantasm 2. The pre-credit sequence provides a re-cap of the finale of part 2, as well as some scenes from the original movie. Some tricky editing was required as some of the characters didn’t return from part 2 and some were replaced with different actors eg we now have a new Mike!

Reggie Bannister and Angus Scrimm return as Reggie and the Tallman respectively. I don’t think you could have anyone *but* Bannister and Scrimm playing these characters! (I hope you’re listening New Line!). Phantasm 3 also marked the return of A. Michael Baldwin as Mike and Bill Thornbury as Jody. Mikes brother Jody was missing from Part 2’s storyline, so it was nice to see him return, including the original actor. With fewer restraints that come with an independent movie, Coscarelli decided to bring back the original Mike, replacing James LeGros. I thought James LeGros did a great job as an older Mike in Part 2, but the purists will be happy with the return of the original Mike.

One of the appeals of the Phantasm series is the close continuation of the storyline, with each movie being but a small chapter in the whole Phantasm narrative. The previous sequels are not ignored and they are sometimes required viewing to help get a better understanding of the Phantasm universe. This can explain why the Phantasm series has become a bit of a niche series with a solid cult following. The fact that copies of the movies can be hard to find could also be a contributor! There is enough action and gore to keep newcomers entertained, although I think it would be best to check out the previous movies before sitting down with this one as it’s not entirely a stand-alone movie.

One of the elements that were introduced into Phantasm 3 (that seems to have divided fans somewhat) is the introduction of more comedic and slapstick elements. There has always been some comic relief in Phantasm, mainly from one liners regarding Reggie and his, um, appreciation of the ladies. This is fine, it gives the characters depth and they appeal to the audience. Part 2’s humour was more along the line of black comedy and on the whole it was a darker entry into the series, the ‘Empire’ of the first three movies if you will. So I wasn’t a fan of having Reggie getting bonked on the head Evil Dead style by Rocky’s nunchakus or the cheesy zombies that are in this movie. I wanted more of the gravediggers and dwarves (which make an all too brief appearance during the movie). Gone are the nightmarish, almost dreamlike qualities of Part 1 and some of Part 2. It’s almost as if someone has turned on the lights and there are no more dark corners for the Phantasm monsters to hide in.

Coscarelli has introduced some new elements into the Phantasm mix, as well as dropping some others. Some more is revealed about the Tallman and his origins, as well as a big revelation of how the killer spheres actually work. We also begin to see a connection between Mike, Jody and the Tallman. What DOES the Tallman want to do with Mike?

The low budget nature of the movie has probably hampered some of what Coscarelli wanted to bring to the big screen. The white room from the previous movies was missing, as well a few scenes that got the chop. One scene that wasn’t finished involved Reggie moving through a black bunker built by the dwarves, which leads into the red planet. After rescuing Mike they climb out through an iris type of space gate. I think scenes like this could have elevated the movie to be on par with the previous sequel and gave it more of that Phantasm feel. On the other hand, Coscarelli has once again done extremely well with such a limited budget. The killer sphere effects are spot on, as is most of the prosthetic make-up. Everything is done old school, no CGI effects here folks.

These days, finding a copy of part 3 may be getting a little harder. It was released individually and in a box set in the UK a few years ago, but it was horribly censored. Even some of the non-gory parts were cut, ruining some of the continuity. Avoid this version at all costs. It hasn’t been released on DVD in the US or in Australia, but the original rental VHS tape can be still found. The Australian edition even having some added gore not found in other editions (plus much better cover artwork IHO).

The rights to Part 3 recently reverted back to Don Coscarelli, and it was announced that he was working on a special edition DVD for Region 1. However, this may have been put on hold after the recent announcement of a new Phantasm trilogy coming from New Line (to be produced by Coscarelli himself). Anchor Bay UK is currently working on a Phantasm box set of the originals. Along with tons of extras, the DVDs will include brand new film transfers that are being supervised and approved by Coscarelli himself. So this just may be THE boxset for Phantasm fans. In region 1 territory, Universal still owns the rights to Part 2 so there won’t be a complete box set of the entire series anytime soon. It would be nice to see Coscarelli mix together an uncut version of Phantasm 3, including deleted scenes such as the Onyx bunker and the alternate ending with the Gold (Tallman) Sphere being buried in ice in Antarctica.

Phantasm 3: Lord of the Dead, although not as good as the previous 2 instalments is still a worthy entry into the Phantasm saga. There is enough old and new stuff for the fans, the return of some of the cast members from the original being a bonus. The lack of horror elements left me a little unsatisfied and the comedy elements are also a bit detracting to the movie as a whole. That being said the Phantasm series still stomps over some of the other horror franchises out there. So let’s hope New Line retains the magic and mystery of the Phantasm series when it comes time to make their new Phantasm trilogy.