Phantasm IV: Oblivion

Dir: Don Coscarelli

1998

**

During the filming of 1994’s Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead, writer/director Don Coscarelli admitted that he had run out of ideas after finishing the script for this sequel and had no clue which direction would the story take in case there was a fourth Phantasm movie. He jokingly added that if a Phantasm IV was ever filmed, it would actually be "just to make money out of it". Four years later Phantasm IV: Oblivion was born. Coscarelli also admitted during filming that it was for the money but again, this was a joke, as by this point the story was something of a passion and an obsession, for everyone involved. Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead didn’t do very well and was openly criticized by critics and fans like, but there was still a hard-core following who wanted more – and wanted better. To everyone’s surprise, Roger Avary – who co-wrote Pulp Fiction, Killing Zoe, Reservoir Dogs, True Romance and The Rules of Attraction (some of the most iconic films of the 90s) – came forward as a huge fan of the series and presented an amazing script for Phantasm IV. Avary’s script, initially titled ‘Phantasm 1999 AD’ but later changed to ‘Phantasm’s End’ would revisit the story in 1999 (later pushed back to 2012) where  there are only three U.S. states left. Between New York and California is the wasteland known as the Plague Zone. Unfortunately, the evil Tall Man controls that area. Since many people are dead, the Tall Man is able to make thousands of dwarf slaves for his planet daily in the Mormon Mausoleum. Besides him, the other residents are "baggers," human-like creatures that are infected by the Tall Man's blood, the dwarves, and, of course, the silver spheres, all trying to break out of the barrier that contains them and into the real world. A group of hi-tech troops are sent in to destroy the red dimension where the Tall Man gets his power. Reggie follows so he can find Mike after a series of nightmares he had. The aim is to destroy the Tall Man for good at all costs. It sounded good but even better, it was to feature Bruce Campbell in one of the main roles. However, as the time passed they just couldn't get the budget needed (around $10 million), so Coscarelli wrote and directed this fourth installment as a pre-cursor to the project, that was re-titled ‘Phantasm IV: Oblivion’ (wisely changed from his initial title ‘Phantasm Phorever’). So essentially Coscarelli wasn’t joking when he said Phantasm IV was done only for the money – it was to raise money for Avery’s idea and to keep the momentum going. Once again, the film opens where the previous film left off. Mike flees from Boulton mortuary in the hearse, while Reggie is trapped inside by The Tall Man's spheres. Rather than kill Reggie, The Tall Man lets him go, saying he is doing so "to play one last game", then The Tall Man leaves Boulton. Mike's brother Jody, now a steel sphere who can occasionally resume his human form, contacts and persuades Reggie to search for Mike. On the way, Reggie survives a demon attack and rescues a woman, "Jennifer", from a car accident. They stay the night at an abandoned motel where Reggie tells her the story of The Tall Man. Jennifer is not who she seems to be. She attacks Reggie with two spheres, hidden in her breasts (in the only scene from Avery’s unused script). Reggie vanquishes Jennifer with the use of his sledgehammer and tuning fork. Mike tries to uncover the mysteries of The Tall Man in order to escape his transformation. He drives, in his getaway hearse, through abandoned areas, recalling the last days of his youth before The Tall Man's arrival and somehow ends up in Death Valley. As the Tall Man interrupts his attempted suicide, Mike passes through a gateway. He meets a kind man, named Jebediah Morningside. Mike is frightened away, because Jebediah appears to be the Tall Man. Back in Death Valley, Mike realizes that he can move rocks with the power of his mind. Jody appears, but a distrustful Mike accuses his brother of having abandoned him. Mike begins working on the hearse's engine, seemingly using parts to build a makeshift sphere. Mike goes through a gate, but finds himself in a deserted city and escapes The Tall Man only with Jody's help. Meanwhile, Reggie arrives at Death Valley and fights off a group of zombie dwarves shortly before Mike and Jody reappear through a gate. Mike embraces Reggie and tells him not to trust Jody. Mike and Jody pass through the gate and appear in Jebediah's house. Invisible to the old man, they witness how he perfects his craft and approaches the inter-dimensional gate. Mike unsuccessfully tries to stab Jebediah, who vanishes and moments later is replaced by the evil Tall Man who emerges in his place. The Tall Man can see Jody and Mike, forcing Mike to escape through the gate. Jody finds Mike in a cemetery and attacks him. Awakening on a mortuary slab, Mike uses the tuning fork to immobilize Jody and the Tall Man as they attempt to saw his head open. He kills Jody with the sphere he built. The Tall Man quickly revives and telekinetically takes the fork from Mike. Again, Mike escapes through the gate back to Death Valley, this time pursued by his nemesis. Reggie tries to shoot but is overpowered by The Tall Man. Mike then summons the sphere he built and uses it to impale The Tall Man in the neck. At this moment, Mike activates the hearse's motor, which turns out to be the true weapon, a strange inter-dimensional bomb, against the Tall Man. The Tall Man is once again supposedly vanquished. However, a new Tall Man immediately comes through the gate, revealing that The Tall Man is but one of many. The Tall Man removes the golden sphere from Mike's head and then passes through the gate. Reggie arms himself and chases after The Tall Man through the gate. Mike recalls a childhood memory of him climbing into Reggie's ice cream truck as they both drive off into the dark night. Oddly enough, both of them hear each other's last exchange of dialogue from the present before Reggie went through the gate. Reggie asks Mike if he hears the voice, but Mike brushes it off declaring, "it's just the wind". Don Coscarelli decided that he had already gone too far in the action/comedy direction. So before going out in the over the top Roger Avery film, he wanted to bring the saga "back to its roots" crafting a low budget sequel more focused in the horror and surrealist aspects of the story, in the vein of the 1979 original. At the same time, plenty of unused footage from the original film was located after having being lost for years. Oblivion's budget was considerably lower than the previous two Phantasm films. While Phantasm II had a budget of $3,000,000 and Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead had a budget of $2,500,000, the filmmakers were only able to secure $650,000 to make the fourth installment. The filmmakers had to be inventive with the budget. For the Civil War dream sequence a Civil War reenactment group was hired in exchange for a $200 donation. Because the production could afford to build only a few sets, several key scenes were filmed in the desert, making this the only Phantasm movie without significant scenes inside a mausoleum setting, except the very beginning and toward the end. The swarm of spheres were actually produced by several hard-core fans of Phantasm who send their footage to their hero Reggie Bannister, who in turn sent to Coscarelli who jumped at the chance to use for free. The KNB EFX group who worked with Coscarelli before also helped out a bit on the film as a favor to him, while Bannister and his band provided some of the films music. To be honest, Coscarelli was lucky to have Angus Scrimm, A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister and Bill Thornbury on his side and prepared to return. He is also lucky for his hard-core following because otherwise this fourth installment would never have happened. I really wanted to like it as I see all of the Phantasm films as something of an independent success story but the truth of the matter is that Phantasm IV: Oblivion is very hard to watch and not particularly enjoyable. The story has now become a parody of itself and it makes absolutely no sense. A part of me will always have a soft spot for Phantasm but the forth film made my brain hurt and I wasn’t at all entertained. I would have loved to have seen Avery’s idea be realised but alas it is now a forgotten pipe dream. This film looks like the film that it is – a film born out of half an idea, made on the cheap. A series treading water as it were, but unfortunately drowning like a bag of unwanted kittens. A sad ending to a unique series…..or was it?