Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead 1994 - REVIEW

It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I am a HUGE fan of the Phantasm series.  For some reason part III has always escaped me.  Till recently I never really sat down and watched the whole movie all the way through.  Part of the reason I guess is that I really did not discover the series till the late 90's when the 4th installment was coming out and I started reading Fangoria magazine.  Fangoria seemed to praise the original in every issue it seemed, so I thought I would give it a shot.  It took me a few viewings of the original to really appreciate this as a great horror film.  The series itself is very odd and there are more "what the fuck" moments than most films like it but at the same time you can not find a creepier movie to watch.

Lord of the Dead picks up right were part II left off with Mike (A Michael Baldwin) and Liz (Paula Irvine) in the back of the hearse while Reggie (Reggie Bannister) is being attacked in the front seat.  The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) ambushes them and kills Liz.  Mike and Reggie are surrounded by The Tall Man's minions and are about to meet their demise.  Mike is knocked unconscious and the Tall Man wants to take him.  Reggie prevents this by threatening to kill Michael.  The Tall Man does not like this as he says "I do not want him in pieces".  The Tall Man retreats and leaves them for the time being.  Reggie and Michael regroup for their journey to track him down again and finally stop him.  In the meantime they are jumped by a gang of survivors and bullies who take Reggie prisoner.  After this group meets their demise from a dangerous kid Tim (Kevin Conners) that is alone and guarding his house , the kid gets Reggie out of the trunk and teams up with him to find Michael again and The Tall Man.

I really liked the fact that they brought back the character of Jody (Bill Thornbury) from the original.  His character was always my favorite.  They also brought back the original Michael played by A Michael Baldwin.  If you remember in part II he was replaced by James Le Gros at the request of the production company and honestly I can see why.  I may be alone in thinking this but I preferred Le Gros over Baldwin.  Main reason being, well he is just a better actor in my opinion.  Nonetheless Baldwin did an OK job filling the role once again.  Last but not least who can forget Angus Scrimm with his portrayal of The Tall Man.  In my opinion he was as creepy and captivating as ever.

Don Coscarelli did a fantastic job with this movie and honestly it is my second favorite in the series.  I have heard this film catch a ton of critisizm over the years but I really don't see it.  I really liked the fact that they incorporated the spheres in the story a little more than the rest of the installments.  I love the spheres, they are the ultimate weapon that The Tall Man has.  The story itself was great.  It is much like the part II but not enough that you would say that they basically just did the same thing over again.  This story opens up a little more to finding out the secrets of The Tall Man.  Yet by the end I still found myself saying "what the fuck"!  Stay twisted everyone!