Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead – 2 out of 5
Well, I’m back again for another round with the Phantasmfranchise. I won’t say this series is beating me up because, as bad as I find the movies, they’re fun in their own unique way. Granted, that way is me laughing at how bad they are but I’m getting some enjoyment out of it and that’s all that matters. Now I’m up to Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead and that means I’m at the peak of the series—not peak in quality but rather peak as in the halfway point. Any-hoo, it’s some more of the same stuff done all over again with the same results.
 |
| Oh hai, crew members in the background that we can see in the reflection! |
 |
| And Liz is never mentioned again. |
The end of the last film revealed through The Tall Man’s raspy voice that it’s never over and it seemed that Mike barely survived the creature from another world appearing in the getaway hearse—although it does claim the life of Liz (remember her?). After this ordeal, Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) is left in a weakened state before being rescued by Reggie (Reggie Bannister). Together they learn that Mike’s brother; Jody (Bill Thrornbury), is still alive (in a fashion) as he was resurrected by The Tall Man and made into one of those silver spheres. After The Tall Man is able to capture Mike in order to fulfill a sinister plan he has for him, Reggie is forced to find his way through the wasted ghost towns that the creature has left in his wake and rescue his friends. This time, however, Reggie the ice cream man has help in the form of the badass Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry) and the orphan Tim (Kevin Connors).
 |
| Hey look, more crew members! |
Lord of the Dead is, honestly, not much different than the last two films. It has all the usual things holding it back and only a very small amount of things making it okay to watch. Once again, this movie is filled with very uninteresting and one-dimensional characters. Mike has become as boring as his brother Jody, Rocky has potential but is never utilized, Tim is basically this film’s Kevin McCallister and, like Rocky, has potential because his backstory is very tragic but he’s also never utilized and The Tall Man is the same he’s always been—a character that has no threat-level to him, is portrayed amusingly by its actor, and is built entirely around plot-convenient powers. This film’s convenient power is that he can just recreate himself in order to justify the previous movie’s ending. Finally, this movie really wants to portray Reggie as the comedic relief but, like the last film, Reggie Bannister just doesn’t have the chops to pull it off because all he does is rattle off bad lines (that’s, of course, Don Coscarelli’s fault because he’s the writer/director/creator) and then mugs at the camera (he’s also even creepier in this one than he was in the last one). It’s so awkward and I found these moments impossible to laugh at. Luckily, all the unintentionally funny moments did make me laugh thanks to bad writing.
 |
| Props to the man who doesn't apologize and wears dollar sign jewelry he bought from a Halloween Express. And, yes, Reggie leers very uncomfortably at the woman. Remember that family you had, Reggie? |
 |
| Oh, The Tall Man has a face that looks like he didn't know the milk turned until he took a sip. |
On the acting front, things haven’t changed much as Reggie Bannister is kind of all over the place as the former ice cream man who, for some reason, has a ton of cash on him at all times (seriously, in this film and the last he has a lot of money and I’m fairly certain it’s drug money—ice cream vendors don’t make that kind of scratch) and Angus Scrimm still has that undeniable presence I talk about in each review. The newcomers of Gloria Lynne Henry and Kevin Connors are decent for what their characters are. Connors isn’t too shabby as a kid actor and Henry clearly can pull off the badass role but neither character is really given the screen time they deserve and the writing isn’t doing them any favors as it seems Coscarelli doesn’t want to develop them that much—which is a shame because Tim is ripe with a backstory that could be interesting and could have some play on his general arc and character development. One thing I did note was that the returning player of A. Michael Baldwin is a little more subdued than he was in the first film. Yep, gone are the days of the wide-eyed Mike and, sadly, A. Michael Baldwin isn’t nearly as good as James LeGros is on the talent spectrum—who, of course, portrayed Mike in the last film. It’s kinda of a shock to the system seeing the character go from really good to just kinda adequate so quickly.
 |
|
| Gawd dammit, Rocky is an awesome character and she's ruined by basically having her as Reggie's target for his creepy behavior. Seriously, Reggie had a family that The Tall Man killed but you would never know it because this crappy franchise doesn't use that to build him as a character and just keeps him as this disgusting excuse for a man. (Sorry, I really hate Reggie.) |
 |
| Seriously, how cool would it have been to have a film without Reggie or Mike and we got to see The Tall Man just destroy a small town? |
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead isn’t really doing much to improve the franchise. I still find myself wanting to see The Tall Man actually decimating these small towns rather than see the aftermath…especially since it seems like his process did take a long time—or, at least, that was my take away from the first film—and now it appears he’s greatly streamlined the whole thing. Another thing is the film has the same ending as the last two movies. On one hand this is the franchise’s own inside joke but on the other it just feels super lazy. Also, the movie does have some decent gore effects working in its favor. Holy guacamole, the end moments as they battled The Tall Man looked awesome. The gore effects were just fantastic during this scene. In the end, however, the film still has merit as a bad movie that is fun to watch.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar