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I feel like the reason that sci-fi and horror films, especially the older ones, aren’t generally respected by the film community is because they’re easy. Although there have been some films of the genre that have achieved some level of critical praise, The Thing, Terminator 2, Alien, generally that isn’t the case. A strong plot, well-developed characters, these aren’t necessary when it comes to these genre films. All that’s really required is a couple violent deaths, a bit of special effects, some tits and a monster. No thought required, no real attempt at establishing something new and interesting, just have Michael Myers stab a some chick you don’t remember the name of and have Freddy Kreuger spout off a couple puns. You can complain about Hollywood’s obsession with biopics and romantic-comedies, but it’s not like horror films are any less formulaic than that. In fact, seeing as how seemingly every horror franchise seems to have at least half a dozen movies to their credit, all of which are just the same fucking movie repeating itself, I’d say they’re even more formulaic.
Such is the case with Phantasm. Horrible androgynous teens, subpar acting, boring protagonists, music that sounds like the bargain-bin version of Halloween, and questionable cinematic decisions that occasionally left me wondering what the fuck is happening when I could bother to pay attention to the plot. But all of that doesn’t really matter when it comes to the horror genre, right? All that really matters, the only thing that people will remember and the one thing that will be run into the ground is the villain, in this case The Tall Man. Who could have potentially been an interesting movie monster, if he actually killed people and didn’t just walk slowly from place to place. You could tell they were relying heavily on the ‘mystery’ of the Tall Man, his motivations, his technology, his biology even, but there is so much mystery and so little substance that by the end I couldn’t scrounge up a fuck to give. Especially when it drudged up an Elm St./Friday the 13th twist ending that would have managed to ruin the entire buildup leading up to it, if the film wasn’t already ruined enough already.
So why is it on this list? I don’t know. Maybe because in a way Phantasm isn’t that much different than other horror films from the era, and if you enjoyed those you’d probably enjoy this, so I featured it. Maybe because I already watched it and wrote this article, and I don’t feel like doing extra work. Whatever it is, if you’re digging into the scary movies this Halloween, you’re probably looking for something to get drunk and eat popcorn to, not something you have to worry about expending thought towards. So go fucking nuts.
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