Phantasm: Oblivion (1998, Don Coscarelli)

The way I see it, to call any film "flawless" or "perfect" is an outrageously brazen and simple minded statement to make and would most commonly be uttered by someone with very little knowledge of the art of cinema. Not that I would ever call myself an expert of film, in general, and I understand that it's typically a matter of opinion and personal preference. Hell, some of the most beloved films of all time soar far over my comprehension as to how they have become so highly rated among the general movie-going public over time. However, I feel that the horror genre, in itself, is a category of film that I have a pretty solid grasp on, having seen a good portion of it and continuing to do so. Don Coscarelli's 1979 surrealistic horror drive-in nightmare is one that I have always outspokenly referred to as a "perfect" horror film. Without going too far in-depth (that will happen at a later date), "Phantasm" was a low-budget film that used every ounce of it's creative grass-roots potential to it's utmost advantage - challenging the audience with incredibly bizarre ideas from a film maker who was so goddamn far ahead of his time. Now that modern horror has been reduced to a stale, repetitive, childish, and creatively brain-dead means of generating profit to Zionist Hollywood ghouls, it's likely that films of a similar artistically driven magnitude as "Phantasm" are surely lost.

Unfortunately, Don Coscarelli's progression into the studio circuit resulted in the budding film maker being, as they say, chewed up and spit out and due to the relative absence of Coscarelli over more recent years, it's safe to say his "drive" ain't what it used to be. When the long awaited "Phantasm II" was butchered in the pre-production stages and thoughtlessly shat out in theaters for it's immanent box-office bombing, Coscarelli deemed the "Phantasm" concept over with. But, like anyone, he had to keep his head afloat, thus, a second sequel, mindlessly dubbed "Lord of the Dead" (1993), was released straight-to-video. At this point, Coscarelli made it clear that it was strictly a "make a quick buck" type of situation.

Seeing as how the "Phantasm" franchise was developing a serious base of hardcore fans, it seemed only right for there to be a satisfying conclusion to the Tall Man saga. Five years after the embarrassingly comedic third installment, "Phantasm: Oblivion" was released - again, straight-to-video. As it happens, "Oblivion" was meant as a precursor to a fan-written script that Coscarelli no doubt approved as a respectable ending to his series. Turned out, the fan script required too much of a budget and since studios most definitely had no faith in the project, it was shelved there are no talks of it being made any time in the future.

Hence, we're left with "Oblivion", which I must say, despite it's seemingly unfinished dues, wraps up the series with remarkably haunting nuance.

It picks up where the third left off with Mike attempting to escape the Tall Man through the desert, via hearse, and Reggie trying to find him, via Cuda. There's still some inane bullshit involving Bill Thornbury popping up here and there; no doubt just to include all of the original main cast. Mike still has a sphere in his skull and Reg still applies some skilled dwarf killing know-how that never ceases to entertain. Scrimm is, of course, back and has more dialog than ever.

Though the storyline has gotten a bit overly complicated and silly at times (i.e. the sphere tits), all seems fairly well with this fourth film. They've nixed the action/comedy shit seen in the last two movies and stuck to a bit of a slower, horror-based tone.What really makes "Oblivion" stand out for fans of the series are the occasional cut scenes from the original that were apparently lost for years up until that point. It's actually amazing to see some of these scenes that were obviously not scrapped due any pointlessness of including them, but because several appeared to be alternate concepts for where the original could have gone. One looks as though it were a possible alternative ending involving Mike and Jody hanging the Tall Man from a tree and the Tall Man convincing Mike to cut him down. Plus, there's a brief glimpse of Jody's previously unclear fate and the ending scene is, in my opinion, a phenomenal way to end the franchise.

That alone is reason enough to check out "Oblivion". As far as fans wanting more explanation and closure, fuck it. The way I see it, dreams (or phantasms) never seem to have any known beginning or end. I mean, yeah, it would always be cool to see more "Phantasm" films as long as Coscarelli stays somewhat committed to directing them, but dragging the series on too far would only wear out it's proverbial "magic". Plus, Angus Scrimm doesn't look like he's in any shape to play the Tall Man anymore and anyone else in that role would be completely unacceptable. So, I vote to leave it alone from here. Let poor Coscarelli make more unamusing Bubba Ho Tep movies until he finds that special inspiration that he found back in the 70s and decides to catch lightning in a bottle, once again, and throw one more horror masterpiece our way. I'm not holding my breath.