Harefooted Halloween: Phantasm II

What I Liked: Turning almost any series into a road movie is a great idea.  The Devil’s Rejects, Logan and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly all worked well when put into perpetual motion.  Ok, Leatherface was crap, but you can add Phantasm II to the mix now.

Mike (James Le Gros (Point Break)) and Reggie (Reggie Bannister (Survival Quest)) become truly badass as armed to the teeth Tall Man hunting possessed maniacs on a mission.  This is a fantastic evolution for these characters.  It’s another proven route like Sarah Connor in T2 or Ash in Evil Dead II.

The practical effects are nice like the weird Tall Man slime baby that’s growing out of someone’s back or when a priest gets hanged by his own rosary in mid air.

What I Didn’t Like: The plot is almost nonexistent.  It seems like writer/director Don Coscarelli (The Beastmaster, John Dies at the End) had ideas for scenes but there’s not much connecting them.  And this is more of a problem than you might think.  I’ve seen this picture before and couldn’t remember what in the hell happened, but I just watched the fuckin’ thing now and still can’t really remember a whole lot.  The lack of a narrative and significant events is devastating to my memory.

Overall Impressions: Besides not being able to retain very much of the story it’s fun in the moment.  The Sam Raimi-ish attitude of just fucking around (which must’ve been intentional because Coscarelli and he are buds and there’s a reference to the guy on a bag full of cremated human remains) makes for an easy going experience that doesn’t take itself too seriously but still delivers on the creeps.  While the incredible original remains king it’s still a good one night stand.  Just don’t expect to remember anything in the morning.