PSA for Phantasm Phans: April Fool's Day Is Tomorrow

Being that tomorrow is April Fool's Day, I just wanted to make a public service announcement to all my fellow phans out there who have been patiently waiting for news on pending projects. Don't get fooled tomorrow. Inevitably, someone is going to try and fool you regarding something in the Phantasm-verse. We're in a time right now when Phantasm news could drop at any moment, but hopefully that won't be tomorrow - because who could honestly believe it then?

What possible April Fool's hijinks might occur tomorrow? Fake release dates, for one. There's the long-stalled Phantasm Ravager, the Phantasm: Remastered project, the rumored Blu-Ray boxset and several other simmering Phantasm projects that have yet to be announced.

My advice to you is to APPROACH EVERYTHING WITH SKEPTICISM TOMORROW! Even if it comes from the official website or Coscarelli himself. Let us not forget that Phantasm's own creator teased this bullshit Phantasm V trailer back in December 2010. And mind you, Phantasm Ravager had been shooting for a full two years at that point without official acknowledgement.

So again.... be careful what you believe tomorrow. Seeing is easy. Understanding? That takes a little more time.

Multiple Surprise Guests at SXSW Phantasm: Remastered Screening

What a night!! There were several surprises last evening at the SXSW premiere of Phantasm: Remastered. Not surprisingly, Don Coscarelli was in attendance for the event. Also not surprisingly, Texas-dweller A. Michael Baldwin came out to support the series. It was somewhat surprising that Kat Lester made the journey down from Los Angeles to attend and most surprising that Phantasm's producer, the retired-from-filmmaking and extremely elusive Paul Pepperman was there! The group image below was posted publicly to Paul's Facebook page earlier this morning.

The other big surprise guest was JJ Abrams himself, who introduced the screening and Coscarelli. I hope to have video of this to share with you soon.

Don Coscarelli Digitally Adding/Removing Things from Phantasm: Remastered

So this initially slipped under my radar, but Don Coscarelli's recent interviews brought it to my attention. Thanks to the computer wizardry of JJ Abram's Bad Robot, Phantasm's creator has been digitally correcting certain effects from the first film. Specifically, he's been fixing imperfections once barely detectable that are now glaringly noticeable in stunning 4K quality. We're taking things like fishing line showing and, according to one of the official stills from the remaster, the holes cut into mausoleum walls for the camera to peak through, a technique that kept the camera crew from being reflected in the ball. Observe the images on your right. The camera hole once so very noticeable in the top image has been digitally removed in the bottom. You can click the image to see the comparison larger.

While most of Coscarelli's touch-ups include removing things, he has revealed there was one special effect where he enhanced something but he's not saying which one yet. Damn, what is with this man and his constant tongue-biting on fascinating topics? Here's a snippet from a new interview he did with Crave Online.

"Well, here's the thing: We cleaned up all our special effects. When we were making the original Phantasm, there were no digital effects back then. Everything was done with Scotch tape and a lot of fishing line. How else did you think we got those balls to fly? And I can tell you now that we removed all the fishing line. Which you used to be able to see in the DVD version of it. Now you can't. And that looks great. But we did enhance one special effect. And I'm not going to say which one it was. But we did have an early preview of it with some folks who could be very discriminating, and nobody noticed it. So I'm really excited about that."

Ordinarily I'd scoff at anyone changing a classic film from decades ago, but it seems reasonable that Coscarelli would want his baby to look its best in this new transfer. It's not like he's adding in new characters or all-digital balls. The man is far from George Lucas and Special Edition territory. If anyone out there is attending tonight's screening of Phantasm: Remastered at the Alamo Drafthouse, be sure to pay close attention and report back with any findings!

Don Coscarelli talks Phantasm: Remastered, New Ravager Rumor

In advance of Monday night's premiere of Phantasm: Remastered at the SXSW festival in Texas, Don Coscarelli has been granting new interviews. Although still tight-lipped about the upcoming Phantasm Ravager, Coscarelli has been talking about how the new version of his original Phantasm came about and his friendship with JJ Abrams. We can expect more of these interviews in the coming week and while I won't be posting each one here, I did want to at least acknowledge that they were happening!

Coscarelli talks to the Nerdist

Coscarelli talks to Blumhouse

Coscarelli talks to Arrow-In-The-Head

Bloody-Disgusting Article mentioning Anchor Bay

And while Bloody-Disgusting's article casually mentions that Anchor Bay Entertainment is currently sitting on distribution rights for Phantasm Ravager, I'd urge you to take that with a grain of salt. Not that Anchor Bay isn't a likely contender, but does anyone honestly think that such a long awaited reveal would come out in the last line of a BD article that quotes another site's Coscarelli interview? If memory serves (and it might not), they made this same claim years ago and subsequently amended that article.

Stacy Still Recreates Phantasm Effects Makeups!

Stacy Still is a woman of many talents (effects makeup, cosplay, sculpting, art and blogging) and impeccable taste (Jurassic Park, Twin Peaks, Amityville 1992 and everything Zach Galligan). This post is going to highlight one point where he talent for effects makeup intersects with her passion for Phantasm! 

Featured below are two of Stacy’s outstanding makeups, the first depicting the mortician ghoul’s messy demise from Phantasm II and the second showing Mike’s transformation from Phantasm III. As Stacy tells it, the sphere-mouth makeup was the more complicated of the two, requiring a day’s worth of mold making from a sculpt by pal Brian Mahoney. The actual application time was around two hours. She reports the cranial-sphere makeup was significantly less work intensive, essentially sawing a Christmas ornament in half.

Brava, Stacy! You can visit her over on her blog here. Word on the street is that Stacy's upcoming slate includes makeups based on James Cameron films. Way cool! Click either photo set below to see it larger!

Custom Tall Man and Mike Figure Display on eBay

Don't you just love phan creations? From “Screwy Luie Productions” comes this one-of-a-kind custom Phantasm figure display. Built in 1/6 scale, this stylish diorama recreates the unforgettable nightmare scene from the first film wherein Mike awakes in Morningside Cemetery to find the Tall Man looming over his bed, grabby-zombies on either side of him. Screwy Luie’s figures come with hand sculpted/painted heads, full articulated bodies and are said to be “tricked out,” whatever that means! Someone go grab a teenager who can explain that vernacular. The display also features silver spheres on the bedposts (a nice detail to include) and tiny Christmas lights strung throughout (not sure why, but okay!) The cracked tombstones and title display above the Tall Man’s head are also nice touches. 

Bidding on this unique piece starts at $250 with only a couple of days left in the auction. Check out the auction page here.

Someone took the Red Planet Edition to the Red Planet!?

Now this cracks me up. 

Phantasm Exhumed photographer and pal-o-mine Scott Pensa recently jetted off to California for Samantha Phillip's 50th Birthday Bash among other things and on his way there made a stop off at the Tall Man's Red Planet! In actuality, that planet is the Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale. Here are his pictures from the location as it looks today. Although the planet's landscape appears to extend off into the horizon, it does not really. Shots of the Red Planet rely heavily on forced perspective since the rocky surface is in reality a steep hill that rises up. Look closely in the second picture and you can see what appears to be a bicyclist riding along a path atop the hill.

You'll notice Scott brought along his Red Planet Edition to the Red Planet, which is a first for my book as far as I know!!

New Phantasm Shirt from Pallbearer Press

Horror collectible shop Pallbearer Press has unveiled a brand new t-shirt tribute to Phantasm and it's something you're probably going to want to get your hands on. The design draws on a handful of elements from the entire series with strong emphasis on the original film. You've got young Mike, younger Reggie, the Lady in Lavender and the finger-bug creature. You've also got Phantasm II dwarves lurking nearby and a Phantasm III-era Tall Man lording over the design. Way cool.

The shirt is currently going for fifteen clams over on their website. It looks to be the perfect clothing item for your imperfect flesh that ties you to time and space.

With any luck, we can look forward to a dazzling array of new Phantasm wearables this year and next with the pending release of Phantasm Ravager and the much hyped Blu-Ray debut of the series.

Mystery of the Vanished Phantasm Cuda SOLVED!!!

A thirty-seven year old mystery has finally been solved, at least partially. After production wrapped on the original Phantasm, its 1971 Cuda vanished in a transaction to an unknown buyer. Although reportedly not the most reliable vehicle, this muscle car was said to still run okay and, of course, looked terrific. No one involved in the first film ever heard of it again and a new 'Cuda had to be acquired for Phantasm II a decade later. See the following text from the official Phantasm website verifying that Jody's original ride indeed disappeared.

I tried multiple times while researching Phantasm Exhumed to locate this original car or at least learn of its fate, all to no avail. I spoke to more than a dozen production folks and no one had so much as a lead on it. Thanks a social media post that landed on my radar a short while ago, we now know what happened to the 'Cuda.... it was sold to real estate broker and car enthusiast James Baker by the film's art director, David Gavin Brown. 

Earlier in a public post on his Facebook page, James wrote: "I could probably write a book about that car! I had more than my share of fun in it, too! And I never got a ticket or in an accident the whole time I had her. In 1980, I bought it from the Art Director of the movie for $2500. It said "440 6-Pack" on the hood, but it was really a 340 custom-built by Ed Pink in the SFV! It had a Carter 1000 cfm Thermoquad Carb, Pistol-grip 4-Speed Stick, Rally Dash and Bucket Seats. Also, it was customized with leaded and flared rear fender wells and an over-sized custom sunroof with dark tinting. There were even the original marks on the one fender where the floor jack handle hit it in the movie, as well as the mark on the sunroof when they kicked it out with the shotgun butt!"

Regarding the car's custom sunroof, James had this to say: "One day I was on my work at about 6 am, and I had just banged it into 3rd Gear at 90 mph when there was a big WHOOSH! I had failed to latch the sunroof down all the way the night before, and I looked up and saw it about 30 feet in the air! I pulled over and started running back for it - got there just in time to watch a 16-wheeler run over it, breaking it into little pieces...all that was left were the latches. So I called the art director and asked if they made extra sunroofs for the shotgun scene...he was not sure. So I offered a small fortune of $300 if he happened to find one...and he did."

So where is it now??? Does he still own it?? He addressed that too: "I ended up trading it to a guy who saw it on the road and said "I want your car!" I said "It's not for sale." He was like check it out, and showed me all the magazine covers his custom van had been in, the hooker headers, custom hood scoop, teardrop windows, captain's package, quad stereo, bar, TV, bed, etc...I said I would have to keep my rims and tires, and he said deal! We shook hands, went to the Shell station on the corner of Devonshire and Reseda, and swapped out the rims and tires, signed the pinks - it took about 20 minutes! I saw the guy about 6 months later as I was leaving a bar...we recognized each other at about 30 feet, and we never broke stride...I said "Still like the car?" and he said "Yup" and He said "Still like the van?" and I said "Yep!" and I never saw him again. Some might say it was a stupid trade, in retrospect, because that car is probably worth over $100,000 today. But I spent a lot of time at the beach, and there were drive-ins back then...some things are worth more than money."

So that solves the great mystery of where the first Phantasm Cuda went to. I guess this means we have a new mystery to solve in where it went after James sold it? New mystery challenge accepted.