Phantasm IV: OblIVion
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| Phantasm IV: Oblivion | |
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| Directed by | Don Coscarelli |
| Produced by | Don Coscarelli |
| Written by | Don Coscarelli |
| Starring | Michael Baldwin Reggie Bannister Bill Thornbury Angus Scrimm |
| Release date(s) | 1998 |
| Running time | 90min |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead |
| IMDb profile | |
Phantasm IV: Oblivion is the 1998 sequel to Don Coscarelli's Phantasm series. It was written and directed by Don Coscarelli as a way to make public many, numerous outtakes from the original film.
A. Michael Baldwin and Reggie Bannister reprised the roles of Mike and Reggie from the other films in the series. Angus Scrimm also appears again as the Tall Man. Roger Avary makes a cameo appearance in the film as one of the "13th Morningside Infantrymen".
The ending of Phantasm III is changed for retcon.
[edit] Detailed Plot Synopsis
A hearse drives away from Boulton mortuary, as the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) stalks through the mausoleum with his spheres following. Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) drives the hearse alone into the wasteland to uncover the mysteries of the Tall Man and to escape the transformation.
Reggie (Reggie Bannister) is pinned in the corner of the room by spheres. The Tall Man calls them off. He does not wish to kill Reggie yet but wants to continue the game.
Mike drives south-east and finds the towns abandoned. He recalls the last day before the Tall Man came. He remembers riding on the back of Reggie’s ice cream truck and stealing a popsicle. He was riding with Jody (Bill Thornbury) in the ‘Cuda when they first saw the Tall Man’s hearse. It ran down a dog on the road. Shocked from his daydream, Mike swerves to avoid a truck. He imagines he sees an old woman in the passenger seat.
Reggie is changing the front tire on his ‘Cuda when the Jody sphere enters the car. Reggie gets into the driver’s seat and sees Jody. He wants Reggie’s help and tells him to drive south west for a few hundred miles. Reggie tries to complain about the damage to his car but Jody has gone.
Mike sees the Tall Man in his rear mirror. The Tall Man takes control of the car and Mike cannot escape. The hearse drives to Death Valley. Mike climbs into the back and opens the coffin.
Reggie is pulled over by the police. He hands his papers to the trooper, who walks back to his patrol car and vanishes. Reg gets out of the ‘Cuda to investigate. There is no one in sight. He opens the patrol car door and looks inside. He opens the trunk to find a man trussed up inside. A demonic trooper (Bob Ivy) grabs Reggie from behind and tosses him into the trunk too. He then pulls him back out. Reg gets into the driver’s seat and locks the door. He cannot start the car as the keys are still in the trunk lock. He looks for a weapon. The trooper breaks the window and reaches in. He is on the car roof. Reg fires a clamped shotgun up through the roof and the trooper goes limp. Reggie looks up and the trooper spews yellow blood into his mouth. Reg gets out of the car and vomits. The trooper revives. Reggie grabs the trooper’s nightstick and hits him. They struggle and Reg kicks the trooper into the rear of the car. He rams the nightstick into the Trooper’s shotgun wound and slams the door on him. He lights a flare and rams it into the gas tank filler. The car is engulfed by flame. The trooper climbs out of the car but collapses.
Mike awakes with the hearse overheating in the desert sun. He gets out and walks through the rocky landscape. He catches glimpses of dwarves hiding in the rocks. As the sun sets, he drags the coffin out of the hearse and opens it. He takes out a suit. He begins to write his last will and testament. Mike intends to confront the Tall Man at sunrise. He sleeps in the back of the hearse and recalls the Tall Man cutting open his head and then seeing the sphere in his head reflected in a mirror. Mike dreams of a civil war battlefield. He is on a stretcher in the hospital tent and the Tall Man is dressed as a surgeon. The Tall Man forces a long probe up Mike’s nose into his brain. He wakes with a start. It is daylight and gets out of the hearse and finds the poles of a space gate in the wilderness.
Reggie wakes in a deserted house and goes outside to see a girl (Heidi Marnhout) in the street trying to use a pay-phone. She goes to her car and looks at a map as he drives off in the ‘Cuda. Later he comes upon the girl’s car driving in front of him. She swerves to miss a tortoise and the car flips. Reggie breaks the window and pulls her free before the gas tank explodes. She introduces herself as Jennifer. Reg offers her a lift to the next town but when they get there it is deserted. Too tired to drive any further, Reggie suggests they bed down at the motel. They break in and Reggie tells Jen the story of the Tall Man. He explains that this is why everywhere is deserted. They both go to sleep and Reg dreams he is in a cemetery. After searching he comes upon Mike dressed like the Tall Man.
Reggie wakes and looks at Jen’s sleeping body. There is movement under her shirt so he unbuttons it. She has spheres in her breasts and they fly out. They hurtle towards Reg. He ducks and they collide. He smashes one with a sledgehammer but the other pins his hand to the wall. He strikes his tuning fork and the sphere explodes. Reg bandages his wounded hand and moves to leave. Jen grabs his leg and he crushes her head with the sledgehammer.
Mike ties a noose to a lone tree and hangs himself. The Tall Man tells him there is no escape in death. The sun is eclipsed by the moon. Mike recalls the Tall Man chasing him as a boy. He and Jody lured the Tall Man into a trap and hanged him with a noose. It does not kill him and he tells Mike to cut him down. The Tall Man promises to leave and never return. Mike cuts him down but he immediately turns on Mike. The rope around Mike’s neck breaks and he falls to the ground. The Tall Man stands over him. He will not let Mike take his life because it belongs to the Tall Man. Mike rejects the Tall Man’s outstretched hand and flees through the gate. He finds himself in a 19th Century colonial-style house in the Southern states. Mike goes onto the verandah and finds the Tall Man sat there. He is cordial and offers Mike lemonade. He introduces himself as Jebediah Morningside and says he is waiting for someone. An old woman appears in a rocking chair and spooks Mike. Jebediah does not want him to leave but wants to learn from him. Mike activates the antiquated-looking gate and finds himself back in the desert with countless gates arrayed before him.
Mike is sitting alone in the desert when a scorpion walks over his leg. Using only the power of his mind, he crushes it with a rock. Then he spots a dwarf watching and kills that with a huge boulder. He is working under the bonnet of the hearse when Jody appears. Mike tells Jody that he can trust Reg but not him. Jody explains that he did not abandon Mike, he was taken away by the Tall Man. It had taken a lot of effort to escape the Tall Man’s power. Then he is gone. Mike continues to take parts from the hearse to fashion a weapon. He writes Reggie a note telling him about meeting the Tall Man in the past before he became evil. Perhaps he could stop the Tall Man from ever coming into being. Mike goes through a gate and finds himself on a deserted city street. The Tall Man is striding towards him. He runs away and meets Jody who leads him through another gate to a beach. Jody tells Mike that the Tall Man will come for him soon.
Reggie drives into the Funeral Mountains and spots the hearse. He arms himself and goes to look for Mike. He checks the rear of the vehicle but it is empty. Then a dwarf advances on Reg across the roof but he scents it and blasts it away. As he reloads, others approach. He shoots one and stabs another with a switchblade. One jumps Reg from the roof of the car and they struggle on the ground. He produces an automatic and kills it. Then Mike and Jody appear through a gate and Mike embraces Reggie. Jody tells Reg not to trust him. Mike tells Reg to stay there while he does what he needs to do. Reggie passes him the tuning fork. Mike tells Jody to take him back to where it all started and they pass through the gate.
They appear in Jebediah’s house and see the old man perfecting his craft. Jebediah activates the gate and Mike tries to stab him dead before he can pass through. He cannot and Jody tells him they are not in the same dimension and can thus have no effect. When Jebediah vanishes, the Tall Man returns. Mike has missed his chance to destroy the Tall Man but escapes through the gate. Jody finds Mike in a cemetery. He grips Mike by the neck and holds up a sphere, but Mike stabs him first in the hand and then the chest. He refuses to become like Jody. Mike walks away but Jody grabs him from behind and they fall through another gate.
Mike awakes on a mortuary slab. Jody holds him still as the Tall Man holds a spinning sphere to his head. Mike screams as the sphere cuts into his head. He reaches into his pocket but fumbles the dagger and it falls to the floor. He gets the tuning fork and strikes it, immobilising Jody and the Tall Man. Mike forces the sphere into Jody’s neck and he falls back. Jody tells Mike that he had died in the car wreck and finally perishes. As the vibrations of the fork subside, the Tall Man revives. He takes the fork from Mike using telekinesis and Mike runs.
Reggie sees Mike emerge from the gate with the Tall Man in hot pursuit. Reg aims the shotgun point blank at the Tall Man but it fails to fire. The Tall Man grips Reggie by the throat and tosses him aside. Mike summons the sphere he created from the parts of the hearse. It impales the Tall Man’s head but he pulls it away and dismisses it as a toy. Mike activates the rest of the modified hearse motor and it explodes, destroying the Tall Man.
A new Tall Man comes through the gate, strides over to Mike and pulls the sphere from his head. He then disappears back into the gate. Reggie goes to Mike, who is dying. Reg arms himself and promises to be right back. He then follows the Tall Man. Mike is then seen as a boy wandering through deserted streets. Reggie pulls up in his ice cream truck and Mike gets in. They drive off into the night.
| The Phantasm series |
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| Phantasm | Phantasm II | Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead | Phantasm IV: OblIVion |
| Related articles: The Tall Man | Sentinel Sphere | Don Coscarelli | Angus Scrimm | Reggie Bannister |
