Phantasm Mentioned on NBC's Chicago Fire

Last night, the eighty-seventh episode of NBC action-drama Chicago Fire opened with a fun reference to the original Phantasm! One character attempts to ask another out on a date to see the film, to which she and someone else ask, “What’s Phantasm?” The first character then awkwardly tries to explain this unexplainable movie to his friends. Check out the full clip below and watch the entire show on the NBC website. 

This particular episode is called “On the Warpath,” and - in an interesting note of trivia - was directed by horror filmmaker Joe Chappelle. You might be familiar with Chappelle’s work if you saw Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, Hellraiser: Bloodline, Phantoms or The Skulls II. 

It’s kind of fitting that Phantasm would figure into the plot of a Chicago-based show since the Windy City has twice hosted massive Phantasm reunions as part of the annual Flashback Weekend Convention. I get a chuckle out of the clip’s final exchange. “So is Phantasm gonna happen?” “Phantasm’s gonna happen.”