Have a Phantasmic Halloween!

Happy Halloween greetings to all! To celebrate the reason for the season, I'm posting here two spooktacular treats for your viewing enjoyment. The first is a terrific looking carved pumpkin by Phantasm Community regular Natalie Tomaszewski. She carved Angus Scrimm as Jebediah Morningside from Kristen Deem's iconic Phantasm: Oblivion set photo. Great work as always, Natalie! Click to see it larger.

The second treat is a short film by Glass Eye Pix collaborator Graham Reznick featuring narration by the Tall Man himself! Titled The Trick is the Treat, you can have a look at it below courtesy Shock Till You Drop. The short is much like a filmed poem. I get a slightly different reading from this short each time I watch it and all I can say for sure is that I'm now skeptical of every Halloween treat featured in it. Thanks, Scrimm and Reznick!

If Goosebumps did Phantasm

If any part of your adolescence happened in the 90s, you probably remember author R.L. Stine's seemingly endless Goosebumps book series, which consisted of horror stories aimed at kids. Thanks to Bloody-Disgusting, I came across the If It Were Stine Tumblr this morning, which envisions famous horror movies as if they were entires in the Goosebumps series.

Naturally, the one titled "Mayhem at the Mortuary" caught my eye immediately. Click to enlarge and read the cover text and visit the Tumblr above to see more covers.

New Michael Baldwin Interview from the UK

Mick Bannister, host of the Plane Talking show on Secklow Sounds channel, has tipped us off to a new hourlong interview he did with Michael Baldwin, which can be heard here or below. This interview is different than the usual sort because Michael lists off some of his favorite songs, starting with Cracked Actor by David Bowie and ending with Orange Blossoms in Summertime by Kurt Elling, all of which the interviewer then plays for the listener. It's a fun and unique insight to Michael we haven't had before.

In addition to his eclectic taste in music, Mick asks Michael about his early years, working with the Phantasm cast, his upcoming children's book and the actor gives a cryptic tease about the possibility of a Phantasm 5.

Beyond the Music of Phantasm

Given all of the crap on the radio today, I thought it would be nice to take a moment and review the released work of Phantasm's musically-gifted cast members. Although we know Michael Baldwin to be a talented whistler/singer/musician and Angus Scrimm has been known to write and carry a tune, it's Reggie Bannister, Bill Thornbury and Kathy Lester that have released albums of their work.

Continue reading for a rundown of cast member musical releases.

Ghastly Good Flamethrower Prop Replica

Phantasm Community user sgdragoon recently shared with us his homemade flamethrower replica from Phantasm II and III. As far as fan items go, this is a ghastly good recreation of the actual movie weapon. Sgdragoon's comments on his prop follow and photos of it appear beyond that. Click any photo to see it larger.

I need to fix her back up again, but this allows you to see how she is put together. It is all built off of a length of 2*2 pine. The big cheat is that, instead of using gas cans, I just built the shape out of PVC connectors and end caps glued together (keeps me from worrying about emptying the real thing all the way). Fill the gaps with your favorite filler, and then spraypaint them the appropriate color. Oh, but before you put the final end caps on, bolt on those brass T's and L's, or else you'll be kicking yourself for no longer being able to get into the canisters. You can see where mine have split apart after several years - I need to reglue and repaint those. 

I would get those pressure gauges from Harbor Freight or anywhere they are liable to be cheap; they don't need to be high quality (or even work - you could take them off of busted foot pumps). The front grip is from one of those pistol grip hoses at a dollar store. The rear trigger is from a cheap compressed air inflation kit. One of these days, I will replace the cheap plastic hose I used with something designed for gas lines. The pilot light is just some brass hose I had. The real burner is from a gas kit, I think it was for sweating copper pipes? The rest of it is pretty much hose clamps and barbs, plus those brass hangers on the front (I don't actually remember what they are from). Mine obviously needs a little sprucig up (I hate those zip ties). Anyway, hope it inspires you to build your own.

Photos of Sgdragoon's flamethrower prop replica:

Phot of the actual flamethrower prop from propman Wayne Beauchamp:

Speed Drawing the Tall Man

Just in time for Halloween, this is a pretty fantastic speed drawing of the Tall Man recently uploaded to YouTube by user CreativeSoulTv. You've got to love the character description the artist pens beside the artwork. Horror fans be sure to check out the speed drawings of Chucky, Frankenstein and Pumpkinhead!

Fan Spotlight: A Tale of Two Cuda's

This week kicked off with not one, but two phan-owned Cuda's coming to my attention, impressing me and making me very jealous of both owners at the same time. The first car belongs to Phantasm Community member AARudy, who stopped by to show us pictures of his latest project, which is to build a screen accurate Phantasm II Cuda. The muscle car received a new paint job this week as part of its restoration and is already looking great. AARudy also ran into Don Coscarelli recently, who not only sphered him but also autographed the glove box cover! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing AARudy's project as it continues. Click any photo to see it larger.

Second, we have superphan Phil Sawyer's fantastic looking Cuda, which series star Michael Baldwin had a chance to look over at last month's Fantacon convention in Albany, New York (fifth picture shows Lisa Hodges, Michael, Phil and Heather Hodges.) Be sure to check out the terrific looking grill-spheres in the third picture. Phil is no stranger to the Phantasm Archives - he sent in photos of his homemade Tall Man and Reggie figures back in 2011. Click any photo below to see it larger.