I am a fan of the Phantasm movies. The first phantasm movie is my favourite but I enjoyed the second movie in the franchise. Whereas the first movie is like a dream within a dream the second movie was a much more straightforward action horror movie. Phantasm Ravager is a return to the first style of movie, but does it work?
Whilst Phantasm Ravager is in some ways a return to the dream like style of the first it is a departure in that it has expanded the Phantasm storyline. The Tall man has expanded his harvesting of the dead, previously he was content on moving across small town America, now he wants the entire world. Globalisation....the rise of multinational corporations are my interpretation but you can simply see it for what it is, the harvesting of the dead.
Previous entries in the Phantasm franchise have tended to concentrate on the interaction between The Tall Man and Mike. For whatever reason The Tall Man has an obsession with possessing Mike whereas Reg has been there to try to prevent this from happening. This movie is almost a movie entirely about Reg.
Personally I always thought Reg was the more interesting character. That said, Reg did much the same as in any other Phantasm movie. His car is of course stolen, why in the world does he keep leaving such a beatiful car just sitting around? We have the love interest, albeit a short lived love interest. We even have the Reg guitar song. The average Phantasm fan will lap all this up, and there is nothing wrong with that.
The movie has multiple worlds, or is it just the dreams of Reg who by now is a frail old man with dimentia. As I said previously the Tall Man has expanded his "work" and giant spheres patrol the earth with humanity seemingly on the brink of total destruction. But at the same time Reg is an old man, close to dying, suffering with dementia.
I wont spoil the ending, indeed the meaning of the ending can be interpreted in different ways. What I offer is merely my interpretation and if you haven't seen the movie feel free to skip the next few sentences to avoid spoilers. So... Mike, Jody and Reg are reunited one last time, all driving in that 71 Cuda, happy to be together. Juxtaposed is an old Reg dying, his friends with him, but they are not physically there, and Reg dies in a way alone as they are all dead, but they are finally together.
I just wish this movie had been made long, long before 2016. Although Angus Scrimm is still commanding in his role as the Tall Man you can see he is frail, indeed he sadly died in 2016. If only this movie had been made a long time ago I wpuld imagine the role of the Tall Man might have been different, certainly more robust. I guess no one wants to see their heroes, or their villains, grow old.
Overall the acting is as you might expect good. Of course some of the supporting cast are a bit ropey and the special effects looked a bit ropey too, but its a Phantasm movie, its not a blockbuster, what do people expect?
As I said before that is just my interpretation, and I fully admit I am viewing this move through rose tinted glasses. If I take my rose tinted glasses off, its a 5 out of 10.
7 out of 10 (rose tinted glasses on)