WATCH THIS - The Trailer for Phantasm-Con

On the heels of last week's news that Reggie & Gigi Bannister are throwing a virtual Phantasm Convention for May 1 & 2, 2020, we now have a killer trailer for the event! Best of all, it opens with a humorous message from the Regman himself. Dig the video below.

Get your tickets and learn more about the event on the official website!

Watch this: "Dear Angus"

Here is something truly special - an intimate memorial tribute to the late great Angus Scrimm by longtime friend and series crewmember Kristen Deem. If you've ever wondered about the man behind the Tall Man, this is the most revealing and personal look you'll ever get. Wonderful stuff. Thank you for making this, Kristen.

This marvelous memorial tribute to the iconic horror actor first appeared on Arrow UK's incredible Phantasm Blu-ray collection, which can be purchased here for Region 2 players.

VIDEO: That Time Angus Scrimm Spoofed the Tall Man

In 1989, Angus Scrimm joined the cast of Jim Wynorski's Transylvania Twist, a fun, rompy spoof of the horror genre. The film also starred Robert Vaughn and even a posthumous Boris Karloff (using repurposed footage from an old Roger Corman production). Twist lampooned everything from the classic Universal Monsters to more recent terrors like Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface. The film is of particular interest to Phantasm phans.

In one marvelous scene, Angus Scrimm parodies most famous role by pitching a silver sphere toward a victim like a baseball, which brings new meaning to the phrase "You play a good game, boy!" The Tall Man actor was initially unsure how Don Coscarelli might feel about such a spoof, so he ran it by Phantasm's creator prior to filming, who gave it his full blessing. Check out the scene below! And if you dig it, be sure to check out the entire movie!

VIDEO: Reggie Bannister Interviewed by a Puppet

If you've been wondering what Reggie Bannister has been up to lately, wonder no more! The Regman opened up recently at WonderCon where he was interviewed by... a puppet. No kidding! Flick the Puppet, who has an entire YouTube channel, interviewed Reggie for fifteen minutes straight. They discuss Phantasm Ravager, Angus Scrimm, Reggie's musical career and other recent projects.

Notice what fun chemistry Reggie has with this puppet interviewer. Anyone up for a Muppets-style horror film with the Regman?

VIDEO: Joe Bob Briggs Hosts Phantasm/Phantasm II on Monstervision

If you're a horror fan and you were around for the 90's, you may look back fondly on TNT's MonsterVision and its charming host Joe Bob Briggs. A Texan with a love for monster flicks, Briggs hosted the Phantasm trilogy more than once on his program. Presented below thanks to some generous YouTube uploaders are his segments from hosting Phantasm II and then a double feature of both Phantasm and Phantasm II.

The first Phantasm II segments show Briggs in his usual format complete with his "Drive-In Totals," an arguable highlight of his program. The second two videos are from a 1999 marathon that parodied The Blair Witch Project. These segments have their own storyline, but Briggs still pauses several times to discuss the Phantasm flicks.

VIDEO: That Time Beetlejuice met the Tall Man at Universal Studios

As many of you know, Universal Studios was behind the original releases for Phantasm II and III. And while they didn't afford Phantasm's third outing the same promotional push they gave to Phantasm II, they did still arrange several opportunities for Angus Scrimm to promote the flick's home video release. One of those gigs included flying the Tall Man actor to Universal Studios Florida in October '94 to appear in a Halloween themed telecast from the park. And who does Scrimm run into during the broadcast? Beetlejuice, of course!!

As you can see, Scrimm is clearly having fun with this comedic send-up of his iconic Tall Man performance. Check out a rare clip from the telecast below in what is surely one of the stranger and cooler videos from the Phantasm Archives. Huge thanks to hearse coordinator Guy Thorpe for making this available!

Arrow Unleashes Sphere Blu-Ray Set Trailer!

Arrow Video have unleashed an ass-kicking three minute trailer for their upcoming UK Phantasm Blu-Ray Collection. You know the one I'm talking about, the one that comes with a silver sphere replica, hardcover book and new artwork by artist Gary Pullin! This trailer shows off the MEGA-TON of supplemental features the set is packing across its six glorious discs. Arrow teases the return of some older features (Phantasmagoria!), but also a large handful of new bonus items exclusive to this set.

You can get your copy direct from Arrow here. Keep in mind, North American phans, you'll need a Region Free Blu-Ray player to watch this set, but it's definitely worth the investment.

VIDEO: Memorial Tribute to Angus Scrimm

Gather round, fellow phans, I want to share something special with you. To celebrate the release of the newest Phantasm film here in my home state of North Carolina, I put together a short tribute video called JOURNEY TO RAVAGER that features rare behind the scenes material from all five films. The video concludes with a memorial segment in honor of Angus Scrimm, which I've now posted online and you can view below.

JOURNEY TO RAVAGER played before screenings of both Phantasm Remastered and Phantasm Ravager from October 7 to the 13th at the historic Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC. It features an amazing musical composition by composer Lito Velasco inspired by the classic Phantasm theme.

The video has thus far been warmly received and reposted by sites like Bloody-Disgusting, Dread Central and iHorror. I hope you dig it and, as always, long live the Tall Man! Mucho thanks to Lito, Kristen Deem, Guy Thorpe and Peter Marullo for their contributions to the project.

FIRST FULL CLIP from Phantasm Ravager!

Dread Central have debuted the first clip from Phantasm Ravager on their YouTube channel. In it, a battle-worn Reggie comes across Daniel Schweiger (of both Bubba Ho-Tep and John Dies at the End) driving an awfully familiar muscle car. The last lasts just under two minutes and is pretty fun. Seeing Reggie slowly take charge of the scene and the slimy unease with which Schweiger plays it - it's all nicely directed.

VIDEO: Phantasm III on MTV's The Real World

Today we get to watch something elusive that has long been rumored amongst Phantasm phans, but never actually materialized online. During the making of Phantasm III, the second season of MTV's The Real World reality series was said to have paid a visit to set and even featured the sequel in one of the episodes!

Thanks to super-phan and Protagonist lead singer Peter Marullo, we now have that episode! In this clip, cast member Beth talks about helping out on film sets doing "menial labor." We're then shown her standing by with paper towels as legendary effects supervisor Mark Shostrom and partner Dean Gates execute one of the Demon Nurse effects. Messy stuff! Beth seems to imply the sphere bursting from the nurse's head was somehow anticlimactic? Was she watching the same effect I was? Or maybe she's just seen head-bursting-spheres before and this is no big deal.

Humor: The Tall Man Rap Battles Slenderman!

From the FTB Producciones YouTube channel comes this hilarious Spanish-language rap battle between the Tall Man and the Slenderman. If you don't know who that latter character is, he's a chilling horror icon partly inspired by the Tall Man. The video below has English subtitles so you can laugh along even if your Spanish is a little rusty. The lyrics are positively side-splitting as the Tall Man mocks his opponent for not having a face while Slenderman goes after the Tall Man for transforming into a woman to lure his victims. 

I especially love when the Tall Man starts with "I rarely speak, but now the occasion demands it," before spitting a wicked rhyme. My vote is that the Tall Man wins, hands down. Word to your mother.

VIDEO: See Phantasm's Silver Sphere in 3-D (Glasses required!)

Countless phans have wondered over the years what a 3-D Phantasm viewing experience might look like. Now thanks to one talented phan, we have a glimpse at seeing just that! Ridiculously talented super-phan Filemon Pi Piripi has taken the sphere attack scene from Phantasm III and converted it to 3-D through some kind of digital wizardry. This clip should work with your standard red-and-blue glasses. (Clear 3-D glasses probably won't generate much of an effect.)

So how does it look? Would you be interested in an entire film converted like so?

PHANTASM 3Dead from Filemon Pi Piripi on Vimeo.

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.”

Phantasm Homage in Massive Attack Music Video

English trip-hop group Massive Attack has just debuted a marvelous new music video for their song "Voodoo in My Blood" from their Ritual Spirit EP. Starring Gone Girl's Rosamund Pike, the video is basically one giant homage to Phantasm. In it, Pike enters into some kind of underground station and is menaced by a floating metallic sphere with nasty tools and.... hypnotic dance powers? Honestly, I kept waiting and was even hopeful for the Tall Man for the Tall Man to show up!

Stylishly-produced and hypnotic itself, this is a terrific music video that I encourage you to check out in the player below.

Source: The terrific Blumhouse!

Angus Scrimm Tribute Video Round-Up

Among the many tributes to Angus Scrimm these past few days, there have been some wonderful videos posted. Collected here are several of them along with my own tribute to the man in the style of Turner Classic Movies. The second video, which is so enjoyable, originally played at Angus's Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony from the NYC Horror Film Fest 2014.

Fan Makes Amazing 1:24 Scale Hemi-Cuda from Phantasm!

YouTube user 'TrekWorks' aka Boyd Crompton specializes in professionally-built Star Trek models and has channeled his amazing talent and ability into building a custom 1:24 scale model of Phantasm's 1971 Hemi-Cuda. Crompton made this beautiful work of art across December and documented his process with a pretty cool video, which you can see below.

Crompton's upload also includes clips of the full-size Hemi-Cuda from the original Phantasm for comparison purposes. To this untrained eye, the detail here is breathtaking and kind-of makes you wonder why this beauty isn't utilized in some kind of miniature Phantasm special effect scene. (Hey, it'd be more cost-effective than totaling another actual Cuda. I'm looking at you, Phantasm II!) The guy even went so far as to borrow Cragar SS Wheels from a Dodge Charger model - now that's dedication!

Visit Boyd's website here.

Reggie Bannister's Bonejangles Looks Awesome!

The trailer for Reggie Bannister's latest film has debuted onto Facebook and.... it looks all kinds of ass-kicking awesome. Titled Bonejangles, the IMDb describes it as such: To safely deliver an unstoppable killer, a rag-tag group of police officers must first survive a hellish pit stop: a cursed town where the dead rise from their graves.

Our dear Reggie shows up looking wonderfully maniacal in the preview appearing to play the monster's father. He's also rocking a great accent ("Make yo dadda praad!") and what might be an axe. This film looks like so much fun, with plenty of stylish throwback on display to the vintage slasher films of yesteryear (the lighting, camera and effects work are all strikingly good!) Bonejangles is the second feature from director Brett DeJager and the first from screenwriter Keith Melcher. The film also stars Elissa Dowling and Julia Cavanaugh.

Check out the trailer below and be sure to follow the film's official Facebook page for updates!

Phantasm Ravager Trailer Leak!

Well, it's finally happened. More than a year after the original teaser video hit, a four minute trailer for Phantasm Ravager leaked to the internet courtesy of a crewmember's Vimeo page. The new footage is apparently the same sizzle reel that was shown exclusively to attendees of the Texas Frightmare Weekend screening a while back and.... it is pretty cool!

The only downside is that the Coscarelli camp apparently discovered the footage within an hour or so today and it has since been removed from Vimeo. Fortunately for you, devoted phans have already saved the source file and the trailer has been popping up all over various other sites. I'm not going to post links to any of that here because it would immediately be targeted for takedown, but do your Google and social media homework and you should come upon it pretty quickly.

The hilarious part? The footage had been hiding in plain sight online for more than two months before being discovered! Okay, enough here. Go find the trailer! It's Christmas in August, booooy!

8-Bit Phantasm/Elm Street Music Video? Yes, please!

Here's a pretty cool way to end the work week.... a hybrid Phantasm/Elm Street double-feature music video from indie-rock bands Horror Section and Eaten Back to Life! It's the latter who performs the song, "The Tall Man," which is directly inspired by Phantasm. The first two minutes of the video feature the Freddy-related tune, "Cut you up," with EBTL's "The Tall Man" starting at the 2:03 mark.

In a nice touch, video director Aaron Romero borrows visually from the old Nightmare on Elm Street NES video game. The hybrid music video features the bands being stalked by Freddy Krueger and the Tall Man while performing in the 8-Bit world. It took Romero, who hails from Southern Illinois, an entire week to animate the project. In a showdown between Krueger and the Tall Man, Romero tells the Archives that his money is squarely on our dear alien mortician. Cheers to that! You can see more of Aaron's sweet work here.

Was Phantasm Ravager planned 30+ years ago?

In the absence of news or a release date for the new Phantasm sequel, phans have taken to examining the previous four films for clues as to the direction of David Hartman's fifth. And - surprisingly - one of those phans has come upon irrefutable evidence that Don Coscarelli had secret plans for a fifth Phantasm when he first made the original film back in 1977.

Have a look at the video below, which was submitted by the talented Filemon Pi Piripi, and be sure to pay close attention to Reggie's truck!