Phantasm.com Blog

ShockTillYouDrop says this is the official cover art for the new Phantasm: Oblivion DVD… and I’m now officially confused. I give up - let’s just wait till it comes out and see what awaits us in the stores!

Here’s the (current at least) cover art for August’s Phantasm Oblivion Special Edition DVD, as presented on Amazon.com, the third most trustworthy source you could count on for this (the second being Anchor Bay’s website, and numero uno? Phantasm.com). I don’t mind it at all - the use of black and silver keeps the orange from overwhelming the artwork as was the case in previous iterations of the films’ release. Sit tight, as soon as there’s an official list of extras you can expect them plastered on this blog.

Today Fangoria mentioned that Anchor Bay Entertainment will be releasing Phantasm: Oblivion on Region 1 DVD, this August 26. No word yet on extras, but if it even has simply the contents of the U.K. edition (being - a sterling image and in-depth audio commentary by Coscarelli, Scrimm & Bannister), it’ll be time to upgrade your 8 year old MGM disc!

Call me selfish, but I find myself speculating more about the package art right now. Hey, it’s gotta look good on my shelf, right? Each other Phantasm has a wide array of cover/poster styles throughout the globe but P4 is unique in that all releases (believe me, I’ve checked) haven’t strayed too far from the key art. Let’s examine:

When P4 hit home video back in ‘98 I can only imagine it was likely Orion/MGM that slapped together the original look, mostly just a photoshopped photo of the Tall Man from Phantasm II era - kind of a lazy effort. Maybe I’m being too hard on it - it’s always nice seeing the classy MGM lionhead logo up top, it does give equal play to ol’ Tally and the signature imagery of the sphere, and the flaming reflection does give a somewhat apocalyptic tone, befitting of the film.

Germany looked a little outside the box, but not so far they weren’t running into the same corners: another usage of Phantasm 2 art to illustrate a film so rich with visual imagery seems a crime. At least, its use of shadow and light brings to mind the mysterious tapestry that is P4’s backbone.

Last year, MGM re-released P4 in a nice lenticular 3D slipcover. Great collectible for those that can find it. Look from one angle and it’s the original image… but from another, no sphere and a symetrical, corporate-looking Tall Man standing proper, ready to downsize humanity. Simple but neat.

Personally, I always liked Justin Zaharczuk’s conceptual P4 artwork, jamming in pretty much every character and theme representative of the flick. It also harkened back to P1’s bygone painted poster. P4 is an intimate ensemble film of sorts, so it should be advertised as such. I tossed together a mock-up below just for kicks, but I’m sure whatever Anchor Bay come up with will be just fine - even if it is just an alteration of the original Fanta-colored piece.

Unless you’ve been living in Morningside Psychiatric Clinic (and I bet even they have internet access nowadays) you’ve heard about the landmark Phantasm 30th Anniversary Reunion on June 28th @ Flashback Weekend Chicago (presented by Anchor Bay).

Phantasm was released in 1979, you say? Yes, but it also shot during ‘77 and ‘78. It’s not every day that alumni are all in the same place at once, so this year is just as valid as the the next when it comes to partying down for Phantasm’s big 3-0.

Here’s the confirmed guest list, the whole gang will be there:

Don Coscarelli
Angus Scrimm
Reggie Bannister
A. Michael Baldwin
Bill Thornbury
Kat Lester

If you’re interested, hit up Flashback’s Ticket Page for all the benefits and fine print. There are some quite attractive package deals, granting reserved front seating and access to the Ultimate Member’s Lounge where cats from Phantasm, Dawn Of The Dead and other classics will be appearing.

A modification for the game Doom 3 that apes Bubba Ho-Tep and puts you in the role of Elvis in his retiring home? Weird, yes. But all that… with lego forms? Too weird! I hear the Phantasm mod for Doom 3 out there is awesome, but I’ve never had the courage to buy Doom 3 - probably because I haven’t even been able to complete the demo level that came on a computer mag CD-Rom a few years ago. But if you have the source game, you should get your hands on it and give it a spin. Like all mods, it’s free, and I’m curious to see how it turned out. If the screenshots are any indication, it’s one trippy ride.

Podcast #4 is online - a ‘leftovers’ episode featuring more Romano and more Baldwin. There’s a little air-time from me, rambling about the awesome Dr. Quezada from the Phantasm Comic. Plus - hear us prank call A. Michael Baldwin! (Before you freak, he was in on it. He’s a great sport.) Use the embedded player below or go for mp3/Itunes.

For those of you wondering about my 1999-2000 fanzine, I’ve scanned in the covers, including the only surviving roughs of the long lost #3 & #4. They were always fun to draw and put together!

People always ask me if I’ll ever bring the fanzine back. I in fact made several attempts over the years to honor the accepted and/or commissioned pieces by writers that never saw print, via an anthology. And very recently in January a revival one-shot (featuring a kick-ass story about Phantasm but not a Phantasm story per se) was in self-production, but at the 11th hour an insurmountable problem stopped it in its tracks, permanently. Looking back at the covers above though, I’m not so sorry - I had my fun way back when, and you can never go home again.

Time flies when you’re having phun - we’ve just recently passed the one year mark on this blog! Phantasm related folks have been knocking out some kickass projects, so much so that to catch up, here’s a slam-bang bullet list:

John Dies At The End - Don Coscarelli has tapped this weird ‘n’ wild novel as his next directorial project.

Satan Hates You - Angus Scrimm (seriously, has no one knighted him yet? Just doesn’t feel right not puting ‘Sir’ in front of his name) reunites with Reggie Bannister for the first time since Oblivion.

Shock Festival - P5 screenwriter Stephen Romano has created a colorful historic book on the greatest exploitation flicks never seen. I’ve ordered my copy, it’s on the way.

The Rage - Reggie Bannister stars in a film by the K in KNB who did several FX gigs in the Phantasm oevre.

Smash or Trash Indie Filmmaking - My good buddy Rob Long who painted the majestic Phantasm 20th Anniversary poster has opened this site for followers of low budget/no budget indies.

Here are scans of the latest Gorezone UK magazine’s Phantasm retrospective, posted with permission by the author Christian Sellers. There are some errors, but for non-phans it’s a decent ‘gateway’ piece that does the job of covering the touch-points of the saga.

Over the months I’ve been more and more impressed with a fan-made 3D sphere game - vid below. In the past decade I’ve bore witness to a whole lot of Phantasm fangames being started, and few, if any, finished. Mods seem to have the best chance of seeing completion but full-blown games seem to make it up to a demo level at best before the maker moves on. So I sincerely hope the chap behind this soldiers on and perhaps keeps his goals small and managable, because as is it looks like something I could really get into.

You can check out more videos of the test engine here.