Jody Pearson (Bill Thornbury) and his friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) are attending the funeral of their friend
Tommy at the Morningside cemetery, who they believe committed suicide. What they don't know is that Tommy was actually murdered by a mystery woman and an accomplice, who turns out to
be the funeral director, known only as "The Tall Man" (played by Angus Scrimm).
Jody's younger brother Mike (A.Michael Baldwin) happens to be spying on the funeral from nearby bushes when he notices something strange. After the proceedings have finished, instead of burying the coffin, the funeral director single headedly lifts the casket out of the grave and carries it back to his hearse. He also catches a few glimpses of small hooded shadowy figures hiding behind some of the gravestones.
Understandably, at first Jody doesn't believe his younger brother's wild stories, thinking that Mike's still upset about the loss of their parents who died several months earlier. However, eventually Mike convinces him and Reggie to check out the funeral home with him after dark, where they make a series of grisly discoveries about who the mysterious Tall Man really is, and what he's been doing to the bodies in the cemetery....
Made way back in 1979, Phantasm is a thoroughly enjoyable, action packed, low budget romp featuring superhuman funeral directors, spiked flying killer balls and, best of all, zombie killer dwarves (YES that's right). As you can tell, this is not your average horror film. There's some nice gore scenes, and the characters in this film actually have the common sense to arm themselves prior to doing battle with the bad guys (a first methinks). Whilst the Phantasm films may not have had the same following in the UK as they have had in the US, I would STRONGLY urge you to seek this one out if you have not done so already.
