After the death of Tommy (Bill Cone),who was stabbed by a woman at the cemetery, Jody (Bill Thornbury) and his friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) attend the funeral at the Morningside funeral home. Jody is followed by his teenage brother Mike (Michael Baldwin),who has just lost his parents and is afraid of losing his big brother that intends to travel.

Mike snoops around the cemetery and sees the mortician known as The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) carrying Tommy's coffin alone without any help. Mike breaks in the mortuary to investigate the mystery and discovers weird dwarf creatures with yellow blood and dangerous flying spheres that protect the location. When he is chased by The Tall Man, he cuts his finger and brings it home to show Jody to convince his big brother that there is a dark secret in the mortuary. Jody, Reggie and Mike discover that The Tall Man is from outer space and is transforming dead bodies in dwarfs to work as slave in his world. Now they decide that The Tall Man must be destroyed. Will they succeed in their intent?

"Phantasm" is one of the most weird and original cult movies that I have ever seen. The surrealistic and dreamlike story entwines horror with sci-fi with many twists and bizarre characters and situations.

I saw "Phantasm" for the first time on VHS in the early 80's and I have just seen it again on DVD and surprisingly the film has not aged, only the clothing, the hair style and the special effects. But for fans like me, it is still attractive and entertaining. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Fantasma" ("Phantasm")

This eerie supernatural horror has lots of weird moments which help to make it a cult classic film. Numerous sequels have followed, each composed of the key cast in this, the original. This film is very strange and surreal. Some parts of it are frightening too, such as the dwarf attacks. It blends a lot of different aspects of different genres - horror, thriller, mystery, action, comedy - and it works, although the film just may be too confusing for some. It's a very low budget type of film with cult written all over it.

This is my main complaint with the film. With all the plot twists and strange dream-like scenes, it's difficult to keep track of just what is going on exactly. In fact it gave me a headache, and the loud noise didn't help much in that respect. The acting in the film is all excellent; even the young boy isn't too annoying. Angus Scrimm gives a tour-de-force performance as the Tall Man, totally creepy and mysterious. The special effects, although somewhat dated, are still entertaining and the dwarfs look strangely like the Jawas from STAR WARS. PHANTASM is a good film but not one to watch with your brain switched off, you've got to be on the ball in this case. It's just so odd and out there that it's pretty unique too (well, at least it was until the sequels followed).

Jody Pearson is burying his friend Tommy in Morningside Cementary but refuses to allow his little brother Mike to attend since the trauma of their parents' funeral. Mike sneaks in and sees the mortician The Tall Man use his superhuman strength. Mike witnesses small reanimated creatures attacking people. He is eventually able to convince Jody and their ice cream man friend Reggie. The Tall Man, his deadly flying spheres and his dwarfs are just the beginning. There is also a white room with a gateway to another world.

It's a messy disjointed story. The acting is amateurish. The directions are low grade. The production is weak. It's not scary but it has a lot of great ideas. Angus Scrimm looks creepy as The Tall Man. The flying spheres are beautiful instruments of death. These are great concepts that are executed amateurishly.