Monster of the Day #2008

Sorry about the lack of a thumbnail, I cant’ get Imgur to work right and I have to go to work.

So after Golden Bat/Odon Batto, we had two quizzes (Chad R won Sandy’s quiz, I beat the Rev by one point on Chad R’s quiz–thank you, Michael Dunn). Then we headed to Rodeo Goat for burgers for an early dinner. While I was walking back to one of the cars to go back to Sandy’s I heard a voice call me. It was my boss. She was on vacation with her husband visiting friends, in Rockwall and at the same shopping complex we had had dinner at, and they were all outside right as I was going to the car. Weird.

Back to Sandy’s. We watched White Sun of the Desert, a Soviet action film that was basically a Communist proto-Spaghetti western. It was pretty good. Then some jerk showed Last Year at Marienbad. Some people loved it. I know Mr. Rational had the time of his life watching it, I’ve never seen him look so happy. (No fooling.)

We were running early, so Sandy tossed in Phantasm II. I’d never seen one of those, and this was was pretty great.

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Beckoning Chasm

That’s from Phantasm II? Looks like a more modern version of The Manitou.

I’ve only seen the first Phantasm, and have heard mixed about the rest.
bgbear_rnh

“A Fist Full of Rubles”

We live on coastal California and once ran into the VP of the company we worked for at the time in Yellowstone Park.
Eric Hinkle

The original Phantasm was great, but the rest of the series didn’t seem so hot once (warning, spoilers) they had the Tall Man and his flunkies wiping out entire towns and taking over the entire world and one-shotting armies.

Am I alone in finding horror stories to lose something when the stakes go beyond a few people facing a terrible threat to ‘the world is ending’? Yet at the same time I love cosmic horror. Maybe I’m just that unpleasable.
Gamera977

Well, the first and second movies have a kinda ‘Evil Dead’ thing going on- that is II is basically I rewritten with an actual budget and a tightened up plot. II is far and away the best of the franchise. III: Lord of the Dead is a decent film- it certainly isn’t bad, but it doesn’t stand with II. IV: Oblivion I thought was pretty weak, it’s not terrible or anything just a little bland. And V: Ravager does send the series out with a bang though I have to agree with Eric H. – they blow the threat up to the point it gets silly. When it was just Reggie, Mike, and Cody fighting the Tall Man it worked better IMHO.

There are plans sadly enough to reboot the series… ;(

Personally I’d rate them from best to worst:
II
V: Ravager
III: Lord of the Dead
I
IV: Oblivion

I’d say the series is worth watching all the way though, just be aware it goes downhill after II.
Kirk

“Marienbad?” “NOPE, it’s all bad!”
NathanShumate

Hmm. I’d put V under III (moving the focus entirely to Reggie is just a step too far), but other than that, I’d go along with you. And II is one of my favorite movies of all time.

“You think when you die, you go to Heaven? You come to US!”
Gamera977

Not sure I can argue with you one that. It’s just that after the series started the slide downhill it was such a pleasant surprise to see it go out on high note that I may give the last film more respect than it deserves.
And yeah that was a great line. Angus Scimm as the Tall Man had a great presence. I loved how he’d say ‘BOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYY’. Spooky stuff.

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