After four decades the dream world of the Phantasm films remains unlike any other.
The landscape was wide open.
Coscarelli had two starting points when he set to work on the script.
Most of us have no real idea what morticians actually do, after all.
They could be up to all sorts of diabolical shenanigans in those embalming rooms!
But thats only scratching the surface.
In this new horror-hungry climate, maybe even a weirdie like this had a shot.
Having not planned on such a thing, Coscarelli wasnt sure where to go with a follow-up story.
First, they had some say in the casting.
Those things just confused audiences.
In short, they wanted to strip the sequel clean of everything that made the original what it was.
I never understood that, but it sure seems to happen a lot.
Phantasm IIhit theaters in August of 1988, and brought in only a meager $7.3 million.
The reasons are probably fairly simple.
Nobody remembered that firstPhantasmanymore.
What American teenager would want to sit through that?
Theyd distribute a Third if Coscarelli decided to make one, but that was all.
The financing and everything else was up to him.
Theres also a hot pink hearse.
He wrote his ownPhantasmscreenplay, entitledPhantasm 1999 A.D., which he hoped might be the fourth installment.
escapes and drives away, determined to uncover theTall Mans origins.
And Reggie picks up a woman who turns out to have flying spheres for boobs.
But isnt that just like a dream?
At least a few of us are perfectly willing and happy to accept that.
