Phantasm II (Region 0/PAL 2-Disc Set)
PLEASE NOTE: This is a DVD that can only be
operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region
Zero/0/Free and the PAL format software, and can be ordered from our friends at
Xploited Cinema through their website:
www.xploitedcinema.com
They have this and hundreds of other great, usually very
hard to get titles that are often long overdo to his the U.S. DVD market. Be sure to visit their site for more details
on that as well.
Picture:
C Sound: B- Extras: C Film: B-
The
relative neglect and resulting obscurity that the Phantasm series has
suffered may soon be passing. Only
recently has the planned fifth installment been cancelled, and in its place, a
trilogy of films that are intended to reinvigorate interest in the
franchise. It doesn’t entirely come as
a surprise, as Don Coscarelli has been making a bit of a comeback himself due
to the unexpected success of his most recent film, Bubba Ho-Tep. I only hope that the filmmakers remain true
to the original concept and make good use of it. The original run-through had lots of spots where it didn’t make
much sense when viewed as a whole, and there were even lapses of logic within
the individual films themselves. Those
bumps will probably all be smoothed out in this new series, but it may lose its
charm in the process. It’s a fragile
situation that may end up out of Don’s hands, as he won’t be making a return as
director. Rather, his role will be that
of an overseer, though Angus Scrimm and Reggie Bannister are supposedly set to
be placed back into the roles that have made them famous within the horror
community. Marketing Film has issued
this double DVD set of Phantasm II, the first sequel made 9 years after
the original, a PAL import that is the subject of the following.
Now that
I’ve updated some of you on the status of the series as it currently stands,
I’ll get on to the subject of the DVD at hand.
This is a decent set from Marketing Film, but it’s a little
disappointing in a few respects. So
far, though, this is the best release of the film you’ll be able to get until
Don has finished up supervising a box set that is being planned to be released
in the near future by Anchor Bay UK.
Until that makes it way out, fans will have to cobble together releases
of varying quality from different sources.
At the moment, the worst off is Phantasm III. Like this film,
it’s completely unavailable on DVD here in the states; but unlike this film,
none of the various foreign editions offer a widescreen presentation or any
noteworthy bonus features at all.
Fortunately, this Dutch company was able to secure a passable widescreen
print of this film and print it up on DVD.
The movie
itself is considered to be one of the weakest spots in the series, as the
studio meddled with the entire production - even going as far as to eliminate
Michael Baldwin from the lead role in favor of a better looking and more
marketable actor. Hopefully, a
director’s cut will be in place when the definitive box set is released, and
those who have waited will see the film as it was intended. As it stands, the movie still isn’t as bad
as you may think, and it should be more easily accessible to those of us in the
U.S. who haven’t seen a fresh copy since the VHS tape went out of print. The story picks up where the first left off,
retracing some of the final events of that film. It then moves several years down the road with Mike stuck in a
mental care facility. Once out, he and
Reggie prepare to seek out the Tall Man and stop him from turning the buried
dead into his slaves. The strange
concept of the films have attracted a lot of people to the franchise, and it
has paved the way for surrealistic horror movies like Nightmare On Elm
Street to become box office hits, even though such success that has managed
to elude most of the Phantasm films.
The
extras come off as being tacked on. The old Fangoria convention footage can
also be found on the MGM Region 1 disc that is now out of print. There is also footage from another
convention - it’s filmed a tiny bit nicer, and the content of it itself is more
entertaining than that of the Fangoria one.
The biggest extra for many people is the inclusion of the full-length
workprint of this film for your viewing pleasure. It does have visible timecode throughout, but that’s just
something you’d be forced to put up with anyway. Previous to this, you’d have to buy a bootleg copy of the
workprint separately, so for it to be included here is a nice touch, and one
that almost surely won’t be on any major-label releases of the film. For some, this alone may be enough to
warrant a purchase of the film, even though I found it a little unnecessary
since the finished version is right there on the first disc. I do understand that some people like to
have as much insight as possible on the different stages of a movies
production, so to each his own, and surely a lot of people will still get a
kick out of this separate version of the film.
Though I was mostly impressed with how nice this is
overall, there are a few things I don’t particularly care for, for one reason
or another. The packaging isn’t top
notch, and the printing quality of it is dark and unappealing. That’s probably the worst you’ll be
contending with, except that the packaging and menus also happen to be in
German. You should be able to work out
what does what, but it can still be a little annoying to those of us who don’t
use the language. All of this is
forgivable in light of the situation, but those that are familiar with the
stellar MGM edition of the first film will be a little disappointed, since it
falls short of being able to look that one eye to eye.
The print utilized in this release leaves a little to be
desired, but I’m sure it’s the absolute best that was available to the company,
and I applaud them for digging it up.
Surprisingly, the 1.85:1 image is also anamorphically enhanced for 16x9
TVs, but, sadly, there is no English 5.1 surround sound mix to be found on this
edition. Don’t fret though - there’s
still an original English audio track in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo that will
keep most people happy until the pending Anchor Bay set gets a street date. The film was originally issued in Dolby
A-type analog sound the third one also came out in. That is better than Ultra Stereo. MGM had done the original in a 5.1 Dolby remix from the original
mono for their discontinued DVD, but that was only so good. The remake should have all the digital bells
and whistles one can imagine.
It seems that another small European company has recently
released Phantasm II to DVD, but this time in an extremely limited
run. I haven’t seen this version, but
from what I’ve read about it, it seems to be identical to the one reviewed
here. The only difference is likely the
packaging - the one from XT Video looks a little bit clearer, and the back is
more thoughtfully designed. However,
this is only going on pictures from the Internet, and I can’t rightly recommend
one edition over another sight unseen.
If you’d like to see this film, then this DVD would be a wise decision
to get - it’s uncut, widescreen, and has passable audio quality. To those that would rather wait to see what
the future would hold for revised editions of this movie, I don’t blame you;
but it may be quite some time before Anchor Bay has finished preparing that
release for sale. In the end, it’s all
up to you and how badly you need to own this right now. Whatever you decide,
don’t neglect the other titles offered from www.xploitedcinema.com
- they’re bound to have something that will excite your interests and telling
your friends about.
- David Milchick
