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Phantasm (1979)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 0

audience

67

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 21,537

My Rating

Movie Info

Phantasm is a surprisingly artful and imaginative horror film, an impressive film for 23-year-old director Don Coscarelli who worked with a miniscule budget to create a small masterpiece. When Mike (Michael Baldwin) spies some sinister Jawa-like creatures stealing corpses from the local cemetery, he and his older brother Jody (Bill Thornbury) explore the mausoleum, where they find that the mortician (Angus Scrimm), a towering, emaciated figure with superhuman strength, has somehow bridged the

R, 1 hr. 30 min.

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Horror

Aug 14, 2001

AVCO Embassy Pictures

Cast

All Critics (38) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (30) | Rotten (14) | DVD (23)

Strong point of the feature is that it's played for both horror and laughs.

May 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment (1)
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A spotty little horror movie, effective here and there through some appealing eccentricities.

May 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's thoroughly silly and endearing.

May 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

One of the definitive '70s horror pictures, in the last few months before '70s horror got steamrolled into oblivion... a raw blast of sensory information.

May 29, 2011 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | Comment
Antagony & Ecstasy

Passable in spots, it offers dumb fun and turns out to be one of the best films that Coscarelli ever made

October 17, 2008 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Extremely gory. Horror fans should delight.

May 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

With its blend of horror and sci-fi and crap and cool, and its deceitful story-line, Phantasm's certainly unlike other American films of the period.

May 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

A film filled with unique, personal, witty, and, at the same time, terrifying imagery rarely seen in low-budget horror films.

May 6, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Coscarelli made this with very little money but with plenty of imagination.

May 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment
Combustible Celluloid

Phantasm isn't necessarily one of those films you see for the brilliant writing.... but all of this is forgivable for the groundbreaking vision of the film.

May 10, 2007 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | Comment
7M Pictures

has an undeniable low-budget charm, and at various points it is creepy-scary in the best possible ways

May 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | Comment
Q Network Film Desk

Phantasm remains a hallucinogenic horror classic, and this seems to be the definitive DVD treatment.

April 18, 2007 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

Phantasm can be viewed as a haunting fable of an adolescent grappling with his fear of death.

April 18, 2007 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

Doesn't fall into any of the easily-classifiable genres, and I suppose that's one of the reasons it's so well-remembered all these years later.

April 12, 2007 Full Review Source: FEARnet | Comment
FEARnet

This edition is a must have

April 9, 2007 Full Review Source: Dread Central | Comment

Cult horror outing this is SCARY!!

August 17, 2006 Comment

oh so boring

April 3, 2006 Full Review Source: sbs.is | Comments (4)

Although enough of a cult favourite to spawn a trio of undistinguished sequels, this low budget independent horror movie is a surprisingly shambolic affair whose moments of genuine invention stand out amid the prevailing incompetence.

February 9, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

A chilling modern gothic classic

October 31, 2005 Full Review Source: Sex Gore Mutants | Comment
Sex Gore Mutants

Benefits from repeated viewings

October 31, 2005 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | Comment
Lessons of Darkness

A classic horror spooker.

October 8, 2005 Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Phantasm

I had been wanting to watch this for years. Unfortunately, the dvd was out of print. But then Anchor Bay re-released it, and I picked this title up. A very interested Horror film with many creative ideas on screen, Phantasm tells the story of a mortician who has unnatural Strength and owns a funeral home we're weird

February 15, 2011
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

One of my favourite horror movies of the 70s, it's a surreal supernatural film with a surprising twist at the end. I loved it.

September 6, 2010
ajv2688

Super Reviewer

    1. Tall Man: You play a good game, boy, but the game is finished. Now, you die.
    – Submitted by Danny M (19 days ago)
    1. Tall Man: Boy!
    – Submitted by James G (5 months ago)

Latest News for Phantasm

March 14, 2005:
New Line to Mount an All-New "Phantasm" Remake
Fresh out of my inbox comes a press release from New Line Cinema, and this is the news: "New...

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