Eschewing the campy sensibility and full-bore action of the previous installments, writer/director Don Coscarelli instead puts a much more noted emphasis on the lonely and hopeless plights of the recurring characters of Mike (a fine performance by A. Michael Baldwin),Reggie (the wonderfully earnest and engaging Reggie Bannister),and Jody (a solid portrayal by Bill Thornbury) as they all grapple with their own personal agendas concerning the malevolent Tall Man (Angus Scrimm in splendidly sinister form) and try to figure out a way to stop him before it's too late: Mike finds himself trapped in a strange inter-dimensional limbo, Reggie travels the countryside in search of Mike, and the spectral Jody offers assistance from an alternate realm. Those expecting the usual plethora of wild thrills and colorful graphic carnage will be deeply disappointed, for Coscarelli this time is more interested in exploring the Tall Man's origins while still taking time to ably create and sustain a supremely bleak and spooky gloom-doom atmosphere -- the shots of desolate and abandoned towns and cities in particular possess a genuinely eerie and unsettling power -- and maintaining a generally more grim and serious tone that recaptures quite well the surprising surrealism and unpredictability of the original. Moreover, there's an overall tragic and melancholy vibe evident throughout which gives this picture an extra wrenching poignancy. The strong and appealing chemistry between Baldwin, Bannister, and Thornbury helps a whole lot. The hulking Bob Ivy makes a memorable appearance as a vicious demonic state trooper and the lovely Heidi Marnhout plays spunky blonde babe Jennifer with considerable sexy aplomb. Chris Chomyn's sharp cinematography offers a wealth of striking oddball images. The spare shuddery score by Christopher Stone and Fred Myrow does the shivery trick. The ending is quite sad, touching, and daringly ambiguous. A worthy closer.

The Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) has been spreading his devastations. The neighboring towns have been abandoned to the monsters. Mike is driving towards Death Valley to escape his pending transformation. Reggie is also on the road and rescues beautiful Jennifer from a car wreck.

This is generally messy. Mike's journey is a series of random dimensional turns. It's a mistake to separate Mike and Reggie. When the movie opens with a flashback of the trio walking through the door, I hoped for the three of them going on a quest together. It is nice to have the three of them return for this movie but splitting them up loses any hope of chemistry. The logic and the world of this franchise is simply getting too messy. This movie needs a good story. In an aside, I don't like the CGI spheres, no matter how many spheres. There is something solid, something creepy about a real physical floating sphere.

A quote from IMDb trivia for "Phantasm III": "Don Coscarelli reportedly admitted during filming 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"."

Another quote from IMDb trivia but for "Phantasm IV": "In a 1998 interview, writer director Don Coscarelli stated Phantasm IV was being filmed "just to make money out of the series"."

When "Phantasm IV" came out, nearly 20 years had passed since the first film in the series. And, oddly, in the second and third films, the star was not Mike (who was clearly the star in the first one) but Reggie. This one, in contrast to the last two, features more Mike, as he battles through time and space to battle The Tall Man. And, the film cuts back and forth between Mike and Reggie in their quest. So in one scene, Reggie might be fighting zombie cops and in the next, Mike's back in the US Civil War days! It is a bit confusing...but different to say the least.

Compared to the previous installments, this Phantasm is more visceral--with several 'EWWWW, Yuck!' scenes. So, if you like gory effects that make your skin crawl, this one should please you. On the other hand, this installment felt like a HUGE step backwards for me. First, the wonderful new characters introduced in the last film (Tim and Rocky) were never seen nor talked about...a big mistake as they made the third film every bit as good as the first. Second, the final portion of the story is simply a confusing mess. I agree with the filmmaker...this one was just done for the money and is a rather poor film in most every way.