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.

Angus Scrimm's MINDWARP Hitting Bluray!

Angus Scrimm fans beware! The B-movie cult gem known as Mindwarp is skipping DVD and heading straight to Bluray this October from Twilight Time. If you haven't seen Mindwarp, all you need to know is it was made by Fangoria in the early 1990s and pitted Bruce Campbell against Angus Scrimm. Simply put, it is a wonderfully gory good time. The Twilight Time Bluray release is limited to 3,000 units and given how rare this film has been, goodness knows when it will surface again. Pre-order it here. Be warned, however. Twilight Time doesn't kid around when they say they're limiting their release of a title. When Mindwarp is sold out, it will truly be sold out and undoubtedly be expensive on the second hand market.

A very kind and special thanks to Mindwarp director Steve Barnett for the head's up. Speaking of Steve, I've posted my 2007 interview with him about the film. You can see it below after the homemade trailer I whipped up the same year.

On Getting The Job 
"Rodman Flender, an executive at Roger Corman’s Concorde Pictures recommended me.  I did an interview as one of several guys up for the job. This was the very first Fangoria Magaize movie, so they wanted to get it done on time and budget and they figured someone trained by Roger could pull that off. I think that was a large part of why I was hired. I really liked the script too, and I think that showed.  It was very much a William Gibson inspired work.  My wife had turned me on to Gibson’s books like “Neuromancer” and “Mona Lisa Overdrive" and MINDWARP fit right in with that kind of science fiction."

Michael Baldwin appearing at FantaCon 2013

Northeast Phantasm fans have all the luck. It's just been brought to my attention by convention cohort Phil Sawyer (phantasmphil on the Phantasm Community forum) that Michael Baldwin has been booked to appear at FantaCon 2013 in Albany, New York this September 14th and 15th. Michael will be joined by a number of Night of the Living Dead guests, Tom Savini and more. Visit their website for more information!

Trailer for Angus Scrimm's DISCIPLES

This isn't exactly new, but it will probably be new to many Phantasm fans. I'm talking about the trailer for Angus Scrimm's latest flick, Joe Hollow's Disciples, which packs a terrific cast including Tony Todd, Bill Moseley and Linnea Quigley. It was filmed a year or two back, although it is still believed to be in post-production. Watch below and decide for yourself how the latest from our favorite Tall Man performer looks.

Angus' lines are intriguing! "Remember we are under the watchful eyes of the Emperor Lucifer. Let's be a bit more professional... and do what we've come here to do."

Phantasm II hits Blu-Ray!!

So your friendly neighborhood Chief Archivist has been a little tied up elsewhere lately, but I simply had to stop by to mention this week's Special Edition Blu-Ray release of Phantasm II from the fine folks at Shout! Factory. This is arguably the most loaded special edition a Phantasm film has ever known! Cover art and features below.

- Audio Commentary with Don Coscarelli, Angus Scrimm and Reggie Banister 
- “The Ball is Back!” Documentary – featuring new interviews with Don Coscarelli Reggie Banister, Angus Scrimm, Paula Irvine, Samantha Phillips and more 
- Vintage Behind the Scenes footage: Makeup Effects 
- Vintage Behind the Scenes footage: On the Set 
- “The Gory Days with Greg Nicotero” Featurette 
- Deleted Scenes from archival film elements from Don Coscarelli’s archive 
- Additional Scenes – alternate takes and deleted gore footage from the workprint 
- Original TV Spots Trailers for Phantasm , Phantasm II & Phantasm III 
- Still Galleries (Behind the Scenes , Makeup Effects , Hollywood Premiere) 
- Rare short film starring Rory Guy (aka Angus Scrimm) as Abraham Lincoln

Incredible Phantasm V Posters

Although Don Coscarelli's partially filmed Phantasm V project* continues to linger in production hell, two fan-made posters good enough to be actual posters appeared recently on Facebook from graphic artist Brian Paul Watters. The artwork is so good that several Phantasm series crewmembers actually brought the posters to my attention asking if they were official. Sadly, they are not.

The first poster of the Tall Man emerging from a giant sphere is especially intriguing... as is the tagline: "When there are no more dead on Earth, he will come for the living."

The artist writes on his Facebook:

Just to be clear, this poster isn't any kind of announcement, merely wishful thinking on my part. But, if enough phans show interest, I feel sure we will see another Phantasm movie one day. With the imminent release of Part II on blu-ray, there just might be enough sales to spur Don, Reggie et al into action one more time...

* If you don't know what I mean by "partially filmed Phantasm V project," I'm referencing the cast-confirmed Secret Project that Coscarelli and company have been shooting on for several years now. Expect to hear much more about this after John Dies at the End is released.