Fans have been anxiously awaiting the next installment in the Phantasm saga for over a decade, so it came as a surprise when it was reportedly secretly filmed and already in post-production by the time we heard about it. While that was obviously good news, it would be another couple years before the movie saw an actual release thanks to a lengthy post-production stage and delays from editing the remastered edition of the first flick. Said to be the final installment, the filmmakers spoke of fans finally getting some much needed closure--something that was also promised with the disappointing 1998 sequel. So was it worth the wait? The short answer is no, but it was at least nice to see the old gang back together one last time!

The story takes place sometime after the events of the last movie and sees our old pal Reggie on the lookout for his buddy Mike and still hot on the trail of the Tall Man, who's aware of his pursuit and is constantly sending spheres after Reggie to slow him down. Sure the Tall Man could easily kill him, but where's the fun in that? Without giving away too much of the plot, the movie basically just focuses on Reggie traveling from one location to the other and evading whatever the Tall Man throws at him. There's also a dream/parallel world dynamic in the storyline that's confusing at first, but makes a bit more sense in the end (sorta).



Next to changes in studios over the years, the story itself has also gone through a lot of changes, with one of the last prominent scripts being from Roger Avary (Silent Hill) many years ago. Apparently his script was turned down by the studio because of its "extreme violence" and need of a large budget. After having seen the movie I noticed some small ideas taken from Avary's script, but for the most part things are heavily scaled back due to the low budget. It's sad, because at one point studios like New Line were attached to this and willing to put some good money behind it, but after so many failed starts it became pretty obvious that the only way another movie was gonna get made was without a large studio.

Creator Don Coscarelli stepped down for this movie and handed the reigns over to David Hartman, who mostly worked on animation until this point. It's clear Hartman had little experience behind the camera, because he did a pretty poor job in the director's chair. You couple the amateurish look and directing with some shitty CG, bad editing, and a confusing story and it all adds up to a disappointing watch, especially for a movie that we spent so long waiting for. On the other hand, it had some cool scenes (like with the Lady in Lavender at the mortuary) and it was nice to see everyone back in their respective roles, especially that of the late Angus Scrimm playing the Tall Man one last time, though his role was fairly minimal here. And we did get some kind of closure if you choose to believe a certain event that occurs at the end. Though we really don't know much more about the overall story than we already did going in.

Unfortunately this wasn't the movie we were all hoping for, but if you overlook a lot of the film's MANY flaws then you'll see it as a love letter to the fans, because that's essentially all it is. It doesn't really give us any new answers and doesn't even give us the closure that we were expecting (depending on how you look at it), but it was nice to see the old gang back together and Reggie still being Reggie after all these years. As a movie it's not very good, but as the final installment in a beloved franchise it'll do and honestly it could've been a lot worse.