Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998) Review

Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1998) Review

 

Unlike the second and third films, Phantasm IV had a cobbled-together-budget closer to that of the independently-produced original. As a result, Don Coscarelli had to be more creative with the way he made Phantasm IV, but it wasn’t exactly the fourth movie the fans or Coscarelli originally had in mind. 

It begins with an eerie intro at the cemetery/mausoleum with the Tall Man marching down the hallway being as creepy as ever. Then it cuts to Mike driving and thinking back on the previous three movies, essentially recapping the majority of the important events. What happened to the cliff hanger ending? Well, we’re kind of starting where it left off. There’s some cool stock footage used and then some Reggie voiceover, which oddly neglects to mention Jody and Mike’s brother Tommy from the original. I guess it would’ve been too much to pack in, even though it feels like that important catalyst for starting the first movie has now been forgotten. Reggie says Jody got turned into an alien form (meaning a black flying ball) and he (Reggie) is no longer a lowly ice cream man, now he’s a soldier in a war against the Tall Man and his army of undead.  

After all that, we get back to where we actually left off at the end of Lord of the Dead, with Reggie pinned to the wall by the many chrome balls. He’s released by the Tall Man but is warned the final game now begins, and the balls fly off in a cgi swarm. It looks a little weird, and all this makes for a bit of an uncertain way to kick off the movie, especially with the Mike voiceover following immediately after. Then, we flash back to young Mike on the day the Tall Man first came to town. There’s no recasting here, it is legit footage circa 1979 that was never used for the original Phantasm. Remember, the first cut of Phantasm was much longer than the final 90 minute version. I can’t think of another horror movie sequel to re-purpose unused footage from the original like this. Sure, it sometimes feels unnecessary or that it’s just padding out the runtime, but for the most part these flashbacks are pretty cool to see, especially for big fans of the original.

Back in the present, Mike is driving and having weird visions, while Reggie is far behind him fixing up the Barracuda on the road. Jody shows up out of nowhere and asks him to save Mike once again. On the first leg of his journey Reggie gets in a tangle with a freaky cop that looks like a stripped down version of Freddy Krueger if he joined the cenobites from Hellraiser. The makeup is great, and was done as a favour for Coscarelli from the KNB FX guys. Meanwhile, Mike is under the control of the Tall Man, and finds himself in Death Valley, continuing to be plagued by nightmares. There’s a cool Civil War nightmare scene shot in black and white, and all these dreams and visions feel like fitting callbacks to Mike's experiences in the original, but they’re also a little problematic for the pacing.

I guess Mike has had enough of this psychological torture, because out of nowhere he tries to hang himself from a tree in the middle of the desert! This becomes confusingly juxtaposed with young Mike and Jody trying to hang the Tall Man in 1979—when did that happen?! Is it a dream? Real? Memory? Illusion? It’s unclear. Mike goes through a portal and comes out in the Tall Man’s work shop, then meets him...only he isn’t the Tall Man...He looks like him but goes by Jebediah Morningside. Suddenly we’re getting into the origins of the Tall Man, which is kind of neat and unexpected. Mike goes back to the desert and discovers he has some new powers from the ball implanted in his head, but he keeps moping and thinking back to moments from the first movie, and then he gets visited by Jody which he isn’t thrilled about, and neither am I, because it doesn’t answer any questions and doesn’t move the story forward.

Reggie saves a girl named Jennifer from her crashed car and stays with her in an abandoned hotel overnight, but she ends up being another agent of evil. While Jody was my favourite character in the original, Reggie continues to be my favourite in the sequels. He’s funny, charming, and badass, all in an unlikely way. He also thinks he’s great with the ladies, which he really isn’t, and that makes scenes like these fun instead of feel repetitive, plus we get a new scare: chrome ball breasts! And his trusty tuning fork makes one of the balls blow up! More time with Reggie and a little less time with mopey Mike would've made this a better sequel overall, but it's still more good than bad thanks to the focus on these familiar characters and their ongoing plight.

Reggie dons his signature ice cream man outfit and grabs his signature weapon, the quadruple barrel shotgun, then heads out into the desert to find Mike. Turns out Mike has made a flying ball out of car parts and hidden it under the hood of the hearse, and he has gone through another portal to a beach. The dwarves attack Reggie and he does what he does best: blows them all to hell! There’s a little reunion between Mike, Jody, and Reggie, but Mike whispers to Reggie not to trust Jody, then he disappears into the past with Jody to stop the Tall Man where he first emerged. I guess in a series like this it's not that out of left field for a telekinetic dude to forge a sentient ball out of car parts in the desert, or for some old guy in the 1800’s to discover another dimension through the vibrations created by old machines.

The last 20 minutes get really twisty and intense. We witness the birth of the Tall Man, Mike tries to kill Jody, he wakes up at the mercy of Tall Man and Jody with a ball that has a buzz saw on it, he uses the tuning fork to immobilize them and fight back (seems like a very inconvenient and embarrassing weakness for Tall Man) and Mike escapes back to Death Valley, but Reggie can’t save him. Good thing Mike built that ball out of car parts! Oh yeah, he also rigged the hearse to explode somehow! Think that will finally get the Tall Man? Yes and no. A new Tall Man comes through the portal and extracts the golden ball from Mike's head. Somehow, this doesn't immediately kill Mike, but he’s still dying because of it. Reggie runs through the portal and we get a flash back to young Mike hearing Reggie's voice from the present, and Mike and Reggie of the past hear Mike and Reggie's words from the future, and that’s the end.

Phantasm IV: Oblivion used one of the un-used endings from the original movie, but still left things hanging for at least one more sequel. Even though this fourth movie mixes in a lot of flashbacks and peripheral scenes to the main storyline, it’s still a pretty creative entry, and the way they navigated the lower budget is mostly commendable. I’d say it’s a bit better than the second one, but not as good as the third.