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Phantasm 4: Oblivion

Phantasm 4: Oblivion

List Price: $14.95
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Phantasm-Oblivion Phantastic
Review: If you are a Phantasm phan "Oblivion" is a MUST SEE. Oblivion is true to the "Original" in all aspects. Many questions are answered about the origin of the "Tall Man" and many more are raised. Oblivion is a Phantastic flight into the realm of the unknow that keeps you on the edge of your seat for the duration and then some. END

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: More mayhem, confusion, and clues to the Tall Man
Review: Yesterday I picked up PHANTASM: OBLIVION. Any fan of the series should not miss this film. It is a faithful sequel, and it finally starts to explain just what in the heck has been going on for the past 3 movies, just don't expect much of an explanation. This is a definite "Must See" film for any phan out there. END

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Decent film
Review: I rented the movie yesterday and I was happy to see how faithful the movie was to its orginal,I also liked the "flashback" scenes.(especially the rather sad one about the day before the Tall Man comes).I also really liked the fight between Reg and the Cop,I thought the scenes with Mike in the desert were very drawn out,I did like when he tried to kill himself and the Tall Man wouldnt let him,and he flashed back to when he hung the Tall Man,very eerie stuff.Great acting,Angus Scrimm's performance is great!It wasnt that gory but some scenes were pretty disgusting(the cop drooling blood into reg's mouth).I would definitly recommend this movie to longtime Phantasm fans,but for a newcomer to the series I would recommend an earlier movie,because out of the 3 thgis is the hardest to understand.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not much happens, but it's still pretty cool
Review: I have not read anything the subject so my beliefs may well be incorrect, but Phantasm IV: Oblivion feels like a placeholder, made in the hopes that it'll make a bit of money, allowing them to make another, more complete film. Or, Coscarelli had a 3 hour film in mind, and knew he couldn't afford it so he filmed the first half, and someday maybe he'll finish it. Whether or not any of this is correct, it comes down to a simple fact: hardly anything actually happens in this movie. Let's see here, Tall Man kidnaps Mike, takes him out in the desert where they pretty much just hangout, Reggie comes looking for him, and fights a few people along the way, and Jody flies about as an Orb, and the others are distrustful of him. We see some flashbacks apparently using deleted scenes from the original film, learn a bit about who the Tall Man was before, and that he wants Mike to be the new Tall Man, apparently. Eventually they all come together, there's a bit of a fight and it's over, with your standard cliffhanger ending. That's pretty much all there is to it. Admittedly, there wasn't necessarily all that much plot development in the other Phantasm films, but they still had more stuff going on, even if they were just following the Tall Man around and fighting his minions. And, as many have pointed out, although Coscarelli has apparently decided, in the fourth film in the series, that it was about time that he started telling just what the hell was going on, the film end's up raising more questions than it answers. It does feel quite different from the other Phantasm movies, as it ends the gradual increase in excess througout the series, and cuts back on some of the humor as well.(Though there's still more here than in the original) Sadly, although it cuts down on the action some it doesn't replace it with more atmosphere. So, I find this to be the worst in the series.(Though I haven't seen 3 in quite a whle, but I remember it well enough to compare)

But, dammit, I still like it. I still like these characters, and I still think the Tall Man is the best villain in Horror, and it still has some of the classic Phantasm feel. It's still got the voice-overs, the endless stretches of wilderness filled only with burnt out, dead towns and the surprisingly strong feel of desolation despite the profound oddness of the whole thing and cheesy but effective humor. It's got all the things I liked about the older Phantasm films, and I still like it. This review has turned inexplicably sentimental, so I oughta cut myself off and say what matters. 3 stars might be slighly generous, maybe 2.7 or 2.8 or something thereabouts.(Shockingly enough, those options aren't available to me) If you like the other Phantasm's you ought to see this, as we can all hope that they'll actually make a Phantasm V, and this fragment will be completed.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One for the fans, and only for the fans.
Review: Mike, a Silver Sphere imbedded in his skull, is starting a bizarre transformation of sorts - while Reggie is left hanging, literally. The Tall Man hints that this may all be part of a larger design.

Director/writer Don Coscarelli's fourth Phantasm movie is a mixed bag of ideas, concepts, and characters. Once again picking up at the ending of the previous entry, this chapter looks the least like a Phantasm movie and, with its jumbles of flashbacks and dimension hopping, it is arguably the most surreal. It is also a radical departure in the series visual tone, as it is set entirely in a desert, with not a graveyard or mausoleum in sight. Mike spends most of the movie having visions while Reggie has repeated seriocomic run ins with The Tall Man's evil helpers (zombies, spheres, and dwarves) as he attempts to catch up with Mike. Why Reggie has carted his ice cream uniform from the first movie around and waited until now to put it back on is beyond me, but it does give the movie a goofy returning to its roots, full circle kind of feel.

Ideas take the place of plot. Granted, after Phantasm 2 and 3, the need to bring in yet another cast of characters to tag along with Reggie seems needless (though Coscarelli does a nice bait and switch in that department, and he also drops a hint that the world might be far more decimated than our characters think it is). What Phantasm 4 offers is a glimpse at the world after the Tall Man has emptied it and we get to see a gentle mortician moonlighting as sorcerer transformed into The Tall Man. It also shows that Angus Scrimm can do far more than just scowl and growl "Boooooy!"

It is clear that Coscarelli made this movie strictly for the fans - it's almost like a fan movie in and of itself, as it is less interested in repeating the formula than doing something interesting with its characters and world. The viewer needs a solid knowledge of the series history and its characters to fully appreciate it and any attempting to watch it without it will only wind up scratching their heads at the confusing twists and turns. So I can only recommend this to the series most serious fans.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Reggie must find Michael in Death Valley.
Review: You were left with a cliff-hanger in the earlier film. This film will end that segment for you and give you a new Phantasm story. Once again, A. Michael Balwin, Reggie Bannister, Bill Thornbury and Angus Scrimm delight you with more silver spheres, suspense, horror and laughter. Angus Scrimm plays a dual role with the other role being quite different than the "Tall Man". He actually plays a role as a decent, nice man. Reggie once again must find Michael and help him. Michael has already entered the world of Phantasm and is in Death Valley. What is a neat idea about this film is that footage from the first film in 1979 is re-used nicely and ties-in to this forth film. I won't say anything more about this film so you can be surprised. (...). The fifth film in the series, PHANTASM'S END, is currently in limbo.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: The Nightmare Lives On...But Humanity May Not!
Review: I thought this fourth, and supposedly final, sequel was lacking something...like a plot. It tended to plod along, with little or no direction. As with the other movies in this series, this one tends to create more questions than it answers, which I thought was strange as how this is supposed to be the last Phantasm movie. Somewhat annoying....fans will be happy to see all the original cast members are back, but may be disappointed in the lack of thrills, action, scares, and coherent storyline. The previous movies played the game of leaving things open ended, making things appear not as they seem, but at least there was a fairly linear story to follow. Not here....

As I said, the original cast members are back, all showing their age, especially the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), and I still enjoy seeing him and hearing him utter his line "Booooy!". This movie sort of picks up where the third installment left off. We do find out more information about what's happening to Mike. We also get a little more information about the Tall Man, his origins, but not nearly enough to satisfy fans of the series. I don't know, he just didn't seem as menacing as he did in previous movies, but he did appear to be more powerful, so it was really odd. Reggie is back, and is the one character to appear in all the movies. His role in this movie is less than I would have wanted, as he really didn't get to do too much and wasn't integral to the story. The whole movie seemed thrown together, without much effort given to the story or the characters. One scene that comes to mind is when Reggie gets pulled over by a police car on a lonely road while pursuing Mike. The policeman takes his license and registration, and then disappears. Reggie goes to investigate, and gets attacked by a sort of zombie cop. Reggie takes refuge in the squad car, and attempts to remove the shotgun that's secured to the dash. He's unable to free it, but that's okay, as the zombie cop has conveniently decided to get on top of the roof and try to attack Reggie from that awkward vantage point through a window. Seeing as how the zombie cop is now on the roof, Reggie doesn't need to free the shotgun, but only to pull the trigger. As there was no reason for the zombie cop to get on the roof, it was all a set up to show that cool scene where Reggie is able to use the locked down shotgun and fire through the roof. The filmmaker also used a lot of scenes that were cut out from previous movies to create flashbacks. While it was really cool to see these scenes, the flashbacks got pretty longwinded and tedious and didn't seem to really add to the story. I would have rather seen these scenes re-edited into the movies they came from, or put into an extra features sections, but here they grew tiresome and seemed like a way to pad out the movie. We also see Jody, and Mike. Most of the movie seems to center on Mike, and his 'evolution'. We get to see his use his new powers, but kind of lame as these new powers are pretty useless when he goes against the Tall Man.

I didn't really talk a lot about the actual story, as it was so sloppy and slap dash, so I would recommend sticking to the first movie in this series, as it's the best. The next two were pretty good, and had a lot of action, but lacked the creepiness of the first movie. This last movie should probably be avoided, as it's pretty poor and looks more of an effort to cash in on the franchise than a labor of love. I think the fans deserved better.

Cookieman108

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Tall man is cool.
Review: Phantasm IV is by far the best in the series. 5 out of 5. Phantasm Phans will enjoy this. Don Coscarelli made this film as a love letter to the Phans. The film uses deleted footage from the original Phantasm movie to further enhance the story line and it works. Phantasm IV begins right where Phantasm III left off. Mike leaves on a quest to escape his transformation, while Reggie fights to save him from The Tall Man. Mike, Reggie and The Tall Man are modern day representations of mythological characters and their adventures are reminders of stories about quest, heroes and villains. Mike must confront his past and the secret of The Tall Man is reviled. I have to say that in the opening of the movie, when Mike gives his speech about "The Last Perfect Day", I was on the verge of tears. Phantasm IV is a masterpiece of film.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: pointless and boresome installment
Review: omg...i was lookign forward to renting this movie...wheni finally did, boy was i disappointed....this has to be the most pointless mvoie i have ever seen! It does not even deserve the genre of sci fi or horror. clearly this is the weakest of the series... This movie is so lame that there should be a surgeon generals warning on it that states that this movie will cause brain damage if viewed, cuz i think that i am traumatized from watching it!


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