Budget: $2.5 million
Directed By: Don Coscarelli
The third movie in the phantasm series, was plagued by a strange release schedule, it was meant for a larger theatrical release but due to a conflict with Coscarelli they pulled it last minute. Though It did get a limited release in some areas that didn't get the memo (where it did a reasonable opening weekend too!)
It was then released DtV where it became one of the top 100 highest selling videos of the time.
So yes it did that well despite again taking ages in development just like the previous one did. It has it's fans and haters such as people who like the direction it went, then others who don't especially with the trope of oh it was a dream sequence! already becoming and old gimmick.
Another move by Paramount was to get A. Micheal Baldwin back as Mike after the fan uproar of him being replaced in the second movie.
Amazing what a great fan disdain could achieve years ago, these days movie studios just do what they want and wonder why movies do bad, then blame out of date concepts such as misogyny rather than just plain bad story/writing. That however is a rant for a different day!
So this movie takes just after the last one, where the Tall Man emerges from the gateway just minutes after what happened in the last one. Odd due to what just happened in the previous film. We join the STILL not dead Reggie who survives once again, falling from the hearse to watch as it explodes further down the road. Reggie manages to save Mike but Liz is clearly dead. The Tall Man appears taking her head with him, after Reggie scares him off with a hand grenade.
Mike is in a coma however, so he is put in hospital. A few years later Mike awakes after receiving an odd premonition from his dead brother. This is interrupted by the Tall Man. Mike awakes only to be attacked by a crazy nurse, though he manages to subdue her.
Reggie magically turns up and they both watch in weird wonder as a sphere bursts from the nurses head then flies off.
When they get to Reggie's house they are attacked by the Tall Man who has turned Jody into a sphere, but not before he tells them of Idaho. The Tall Man then manages to get away with Mike to the other realm after besting Reggie.
Reggie awakens beginning a Journey towards the before mentioned state, along the way he is captured by three people. They lock him in the boot/trunk of his car when he reaches the town. He is later rescued by a new kid called Tim, after the earlier trio try and break into a house they are subsequently killed.
Tim ends up explaining that the Tall Man used was in this town, which is why it's now pretty much a ghost town, he took everyone including his parents. Reggie tries to leave Tim behind at an orphanage but the boy stows away in Reggie's car. When Reggie is later attacked by a sphere while looking for Mike. He bumps into two other people Rocky and Tanesha. Tanesha is Killed by the sphere, Tim managed to destroy it saving the other two.
They then follow some hearses, that night Reggie has a dream where him and Jody rescue Mike. (see what I mean about the dream sequences etc?). Reggie awakes and Mike with the aid of Jody falls out of a rift. They close it in time to sever the Tall Mans hands as he tries to follow them through it. They all get separated (Mike/Reggie, Tim, Rocky) when they are attacked by the looters from earlier. They are now undead. the Jody sphere contacts mike telling him that the Tall Man is amassing an army to take over their dimension.
The Tall Man recaptures Mike and starts to operate on him, remembering he has a weakness to cold the heroes attack him with liquid nitrogen. They succeed in locking him in a freezer but his head explodes revealing a golden sphere, Reggie manages to catch it with a plunger! then puts it into the liquid nitrogen. We then get some revelations about Mike!
THN doesn't spoil the endings of films unless their so bad their not worth watching, Phantasm 3 is well worth the watch especially if your invested in the series by now. this is much better than the second film though the continuous dream sequences can get a bit annoying especially as they kind of effect the real world too. So what's the point to them being dreams?
Aside from that this film has much better acting and stronger continuation of the story-line with a better ending than both the first two.
THN awards Phantasm 3 a strong 3 out of 5 stars with a recommendation to watch
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