The Tall Man…those scary freakin’ orbs…dwarf slaves in alternate dimensions! That’s right folks, it’s time for another remake, and this time PHANTASM is getting the treatment. The Hollywood Reporter dropped this news on the genre community today:
New Line Cinema is in final negotiations with filmmaker Don Coscarelli to bring the cult horror film “Phantasm” back to the big screen. The first “Phantasm,” which Coscarelli wrote and directed, was released in 1979. It told the story of a young boy named Mike and his friends, who face off against a mysterious grave robber known as the Tall Man and his killer flying spheres. The film spawned three sequels, all of which were made by Coscarelli. Coscarelli would act as producer on the new version, in which the Tall Man travels from town to town turning the dead into his own army and using his deadly spheres against anyone who opposes him. Mike, who is developing psychic powers, and his brother try to stop him. The movie is being developed as a relaunch and as a possible trilogy about Mike’s coming of age.
Remake, relaunch, whatever you want to call it, I think the PHANTASM series is actually the right kind of property to revisit. Very scary with classic images that nevertheless could be even more amazing today (imagine what those spheres could do now), the original movies got lost in their own confused mythology in my opinion. It ended up feeling like too much time was spent retreading the same ground – which granted is pretty standard for sequels – but these films were so intriguing that I wanted them to be more.
So put me on the support bandwagon for this puppy. And may I be the first to say that if Angus Scrimm is unable or unwilling to reprise his role as the Tall Man, would somebody please talk to John Lithgow. He missed out on Hannibal Lecter. Let’s give him a killer to make all his own.