Terrific news for phans - franchise star A. Michael Baldwin is returning to the horror genre with a new film - Flay - based on the popular Slender Man character, which itself was largely inspired by Phantasm and the Tall Man! How appropriate! IMDb reports the plot as follows: "After the death of her mother, an estranged daughter struggles to save her brother, and those around her from a malevolent faceless spirit." Deadline is now reporting that Uncork'd Entertainment has picked up worldwide rights to the film, which hopefully means we can expect to see it reasonably soon. Flay marks the second feature from writer/director Eric Pham, who also boasts an accomplished career in special effects work including films like Sin City and Grindhouse. You can catch the film's trailer here. On an interesting note of trivia, this is not the first Slender Man inspired movie. There was previously a flick called Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story, which starred cult actor Doug Jones as the nefarious monster. That film also paid tribute to Slender Man's origins by featuring Angus Scrimm in a brief cameo.
Some of you might know that the original Phantasm was released as Das Böse in Germany, which roughly translates back to English as "The Bad." The sequels that followed kept this titling and Phantasm Ravager was most recently released there as Das Böse V. Now it appears that the German version of Ravager has gotten some home video love down in Deutschland! Wicked Vision Media have unleashed a spiffy three-disc special edition of the film in collectible Mediabook packaging. If I'm reading this correctly, those discs contain (1) a Blu-Ray of the film, (2) a supplements disc and (3) a standard DVD version of the film. The bonus materials appear to be the same as the US and UK releases. Still, it's great to see Phantasm so popular in the country all these years later. You can grab a copy of this release here. Be sure to check out the Germany-dubbed trailer for Das Böse V below!
This story involves a strange chance meeting on a hiking trail between a lucky phan and a supporting cast member from the original Phantasm! Robert Weaver (aka Instagram user rew3) was hiking in Malibu when he spotted someone else on the trail with a Phantasm shirt on (and a cool Alien 3 ball cap!) He complimented his fellow hiker's shirt, who then revealed himself to be none other than Bill Cone, aka Tommy! Phans will no doubt recall Tommy's unfortunate hook-up with the Lady in Lavender from Phantasm's opening moments. And then his transformation into a hearse-driving dwarf later on! Robert writes on his Instagram post: "I met the guy that played Tommy in Phantasm, while on our hike! I commented on his shirt and him and his family said he played Tommy! I totally have to watch this movie again, it's been too long!" The moral of this story is.... keep your eyes peeled next time you go hiking in Malibu! You never know who you might run into.
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!
Spoiler alert: If you're not caught up on Showtime's Twin Peaks: The Return, don't read any further. (The new show, like the old show, is fantastic if you're among the uninitiated.) Things got a little bit Phantasm-y recently on the third episode of the David Lynch revival series. In a scene set inside the mysterious Black Lodge, one of Agent Cooper's Doppleganger's bizarrely disappears. His head vanishes first after which a golden sphere floats up from the collar of his shirt. It hangs about in the space where his head was before the rest of his body shrivels into nothingness. What's the significance of this golden sphere? Does it represent the character's soul? His consciousness? Something else? And might this have been a direct reference to the Phantasm series? It's possible, though you never know with David Lynch. On a related note, do recall that Phantasm Oblivion had a terrific Lynch-ian vibe to it. Being a phan, my thoughts went immediately to Phantasm upon viewing this scene. I apparently wasn't the only one as four of my peers soon got in touch to share their impressions of the scene. What say you? Was this a Phantasm reference or just David Lynch being David Lynch?
Phantasm phans are just the best. Tonight, I came across these terrific creations by artist Owen Soule of Soule Designs. Owen tells on his website that he watched all five films in December, which prompted him to paint his own depictions of the characters. So great seeing Mike and Jody here as they appeared in the original Phantasm. Owen further reveals that Reggie's look is somewhere between Phantasm II and Phantasm III, which seems about right. Click any of the artworks below to see them larger and visit Owen at Soule Designshere!
“A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber known only as the Tall Man, who keeps a lethal arsenal of terrible weapons with him..” Very excited to share with you today this new art print by the fantastic Matthew Therrien, who I'm a big fan of. This Mike/Tall Man piece is part of his "Final Girls & Cinema Survivors" series, which highlights protagonists from franchises like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and many more. You don't see a lot of phan artwork that draws from A. Michael Baldwin's original Phantasm look, so that makes this piece even more great. You can grab a gorgeous print of this on heavyweight stock with archival inks for the low price of $11.32 on Etsy. Would love to see Matthew tackle older Mike/Tall Man or Reggie/Tall Man!
