Phantasm II (1988)

Mike is released from the insane asylum he’s been in since the first film and immediately Reggie’s family is killed. That means it’s time for revenge. The two set off on a road trip, from cemetery to cemetery, with Mike’s dreams of a girl in need of their help as their guide, searching for The Tall Man.

Since the first movie ended with one of those not-so-clever twists that imply much of what we saw didn’t happen, there were several ways this film could have started. Coscarelli went with the worst option—to the extent that he decided anything. Apparently, most of Phanstasm was a dream and The Tall Man won. Since Mike’s version of events and Reggie’s don’t match, there’s no way to know what was supposed to have happened specifically. All we know is The Tall Man exists and Mike and Reggie want to kill him, even if Reggie doesn’t agree that The Tall Man did most of the things he did. This isn’t weird, “question-reality” filmmaking. Just lazy scripting.

And it is lazy instead of threadbare as Universal pictures was now paying the bills. Money does make a difference, even if it is only three million. Low-budget is a big step up from the first film’s no-budget and it shows in set design, locations, editing, and camera work. This is a far more competent film than Phantasm. The acting is better as well, including from a recast Mike, and though dialog is still painful, it is less painful. So everything that was bad in Phantasm is less bad.

As for the good, that’s a harder call. This is less of a party film and more straight horror with a heaping helping of road picture. It is pretty silly horror, with blood just for the sake of blood and boobs because all horror films of the period had boobs, but at least it is clear what kind of film you are watching. Even more than the first, it tries to be cool rather than make sense while nodding to every type of horror film (and sometimes just other films and directors—yes Sam Raimi’s name is on a cremains bag). And like the first, the twist ending makes it all pointless.

Still, if you want nothing more than some weird midgets, an evil mortician, a lot of running around, and some flying bladed orbs, Phantasm II has you covered. This is lowest common denominator horror, but it isn’t boring.