With Mark Shostrom at the makeup effects helm, Phantasm's II and III boast some of the franchise's most memorable and nightmarish visuals. In the second film, the Tall Man is killed by live embalming. In the third film, the heroes' attempt to freeze him, which causes his cranial gold sphere to burst from his skull. It's a terrific sequence.
Some eagle-eyed phans may have already caught this, but I'm sure others haven't. If you purchased the recent Well Go USA Phantasm Collection, you may have noticed a digital enhancement to the Tall Man in Phantasm III. Check out the screenshot comparison below, though please forgive the poor quality of the captures. In restoring Phantasm III, the technicians digitally replaced the frozen Tall Man's eye. In the theatrical version, he appears to be staring downward. In the updated Blu-Ray, the Tall Man is looking direct at camera.
How do you feel about such digital modifications? Do they matter or should the original special effects be left untouched? And, in case you also missed it, there were much larger changes made to the original Phantasm for its recent restoration including an all new silver sphere.
Leave it alone!!!!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely an improvement. The eye is from the frozen pose when he died 2 seconds before.
ReplyDelete