To those at Fantastic Fest, how was it?
A bit preliminary, but I think it's premiering right now at Fantastic Fest. I wonder what it's like so far?
Digging to the rhythm and the echo of a solitary siren.
So, I'm beat but I'll update this tomorrow.
It was pretty good! Lots of cgi effects, sometimes good, sometimes great, sometimes terrible.
Story wise it was not as wonky as I feared but not anywhere near the closure I was hoping for. It reminded me of Romano's script conceptually.
Ill say what's on my mind here: I never thought Phantasm needed an explanation, and when I read Romano's stuff I thought it was just really good fan fiction and didn't respect Don's use of dream logic and tried too hard to add causality to the Phantasm universe. Even though I didn't like Oblivion overall, I actually thought the ending was a fitting way to end the series.
Ravager gives a bizarre but more fanfic conclusion, but it is a conclusion
but not anywhere near the closure I was hoping for
Feared that would happen share
@doctorarzt....hazaaa! so glad to hear you got in! thanks bunches for taking the time to throw up your thoughts immediately as you probably figured there would be a handful of us eagerly awaiting your thoughts!
Thanks much for the spoiler free review...im realllllllly glad you enjoyed it.
Regarding the subject of closure...i think its particularly tricky with this series as its been, more or less, built around NOT providing super clean closure. With each movie, especially orblivion, i kept thinking it would all be wrapped up nicely. Going into this, and with your review, i wont take the same approach any more...and will just enjoy the last ride with our gang.
How was the crowd? Did coscarelli and crew do a Q&A or were they just there for Remaster?
Peace & "Houston, this is Sphere1, we have touchdown of Ravager on Earth".
Mash
As long as it is definitely conclusive (well, more so than the other endings), I'm happy.
In terms of quality, is it better than Phantasm III or Phantasm IV (I personally like all the Phantasm films quite a bit, especially III)? Or is it the worst of the series?
Digging to the rhythm and the echo of a solitary siren.
Quality wise I'm sad to say it's a bit embarrassing. It's very obviously shot on 24fps video and cheap video at that. It lacks the 'film' feel and has a lot of sparkle. The lens kit is very basic. A huge contrast to P1 where all of the budget went into fine cinematography. Had Don not invested in that the remaster wouldn't have been possible.
Closure ... well, I don't want to spoil but the story we know had definitely come to an end. There could be another story. I have a feeling people will fight me on this, but it didn't feel like a Phantasm ending. Phantasm IV was a 'Phantasm' ending imho... Reggie goes through the space gate and the result is a sort of time loop. It's never over. Kind of spoke to the strange yet cyclical nature of the series. So when I say not the closure I wanted I mean stylistically.
The most important point is that Ravager has some moments that feel right in the Phantasm universe. It's very cheap and lo Fi, but the characters ypu love are there and the performances are great as always. Die hard Phans will love it, more 'mainstream' horror Phans will say wtf is this crap?
after reading that i get the idea that it provides good enough closure just not in a silly twist way like the other 4 which is fine with me because that is just played out as for horror fans theres mainstream horror fans then theres horror fans who watch all the horror they can get there hands on an check out all the classics so i feel as you said for those fans it will be fine an since im one of them its ok with me
shareThanks again @doctorarzt for the great write ups and info! Woot!
i personally dont need closure on everything but most of the stuff would be fine an if the film ends with an actual ending an not another hey tall mans back for no reason as long as it really ends im fine with it
sharefirst online review posted (that ive found).
Be warned, it does go into a little bit of plot points, as most any review would.
Therefore i kinda/sorta skimmed it to get the gist while still holding out on as much spoilers as possible for my initial viewing (in 2 weeks..squee!. Its very much in alignment with doctorarzt's review: 1) for the phans, 2) CGI quality a bit all over the place but to be expected, its low low budget.
http://www.joblo.com/horror-movies/news/phantasm-ravager-fantastic-fest-2016-review-107
from that review the guy pretty much says fans will like it an it has a low budget he also says it dose end with closure as if saying good by to the cast an thats all i need
shareThe review clearly states that the film ends with an opening for ANOTHER damn sequel. Seriously? how's that closure.
sharehe says the film ends with closure for all the characters but an opening for another one that could mean anything all that could be is set up for a new sequel with a new story with totally different characters
shareIf that's the case it sounds like a spin off more than anything.
shareno it could very well end the tall man an this story but set up an all new tall man for future storys an for a new set of characters to kill feels more like a way to reboot finish off the story but set up for a totally new story involving new characters
shareI dunno.... I'm not exactly for that either. I mean they don't HAVE to answer every question we have, but a solid ending would have been nice for a change. Instead Mike, or someone else trying to gravely say "BOY" for another 3 movies with new characters... This isn't Alien, Nightmare on Elm St, or Hellraiser... this is not a consistent series of sequels as other horror movie series have done to stick with a formula and really stick with it with minimal changes... this is Phantasm. With a unique original movie, a sequel that was picked up by Universal, and then the next two that went back to low budget and straight to video... yet, the cast continues to love the characters and crew (& Dos Equis... only a joke, I think...) and come back when they can. Even so V... we all know where RaVager started and grew... Phantasm isn't exactly 'cut and dry' so to speak (maybe more cut & paste).... Many of us enjoy all 4 movies we've gotten (for better or worse), and still like living... in the 70's of all things where it all started and where the nostalgia strikes us with the first's originality.
I'll try and watch V and enjoy it for what it is and as Angus' last film. It may not be great, but it'll be here soon. As long as the effects look as good or better than Transformer Prime (Hartman!) I think we'll all agree it is still a Phantasm film at its core. But continuing it with another cast. I don't know... and we've had a thread on this before. I'd be okay with a reboot, over a continuation with Chunk or whoever. But do we really NEED a reboot?
I'm not making a whole lot of sense... but ya get my meaning right? Is there a meaning to all this? I'm just playing my harmonica and chewing on a weed walking down Main Street.
3rd generation American from a long line of Gottscheers... it was Drandul, dude!
so your saying you want a true ending but you might be ok with a reboot with all new characters not connected to the first 5 story i can roll with this if 5 truly finish the story hell why not reboot
shareThe story of the characters we know is finished, and in a satisfying way. Remember the Tall Man is literally the embodiment of death. We don't know what happened when Jen crossed over to the land of the dead, but he definitely became infused by some conscious force ... Since Phantasm has always represented death thematically, it wouldn't make sense for them to completely defeat him/it, that would kind of cancel out the core theme of the movies; you can't defeat death. So I think the way things are left with regards to any outstanding mysteries regarding him and his realm are just fine. I don't think in anyway that it suggests future iterations would be spun off. This is THE END.
I'm still hoping for a TV series reboot that expands on the mythology and retains the beats we know and love. I don't think it was intended to be a large story from the beginning and Don had to constantly come up with ways to make it fresh. If someone like JJ, with his mystery box philosophy, were to Bible it out as a 30 episode story it could be really cool.
One thing that hurts Ravager, like the other sequels imho, is much of the 'new' stuff seems made up on the fly to create a reason for the film to exist. It CAN exist because of the plot, but it doesn't seem like a continuation of the story as much as a continuation of the narrative style.
Like I think I said earlier, it was never intended that the lack of continuity would have an 'oh, that's why!' explanation; it was more a narrative approach Don created to stand out in the crowd. So having a 'rational' explanation was cool, but not very 'Phantasm.'
I can't stress this enough: there was clearly a desire to give us the epic propulsive horror of the 1999 script with the kind of new ageish plot twists of Romano's script. Both of those treated Phantasm like a tool kit and we're more like really good fanfic. That said, there are quiet character centric moments that succeed in summoning the Phantasm feel, mostly due to the actors not holding back on what made the characters great. BUT, it's not the scaled up piece if art we all hoped we could show the unconverted so they'd finally see why we loved the series so much. It's a cheap looking film with huge flaws that only us Phans will love. Then again, P1 had that ridiculously fake looking fly. So it's not like we have standards to uphold.
Somebody asked where it fits in the series... It's where it belongs, despite the warts. From a sense of production. It's the bottom of the barrel. Had they waited a few years and done it on pro dslr equipment it might have looked better in some ways, but there is just no saving some of it. But, if you can watch that fly and despite the fact that you know it was bought from one of those 50 cent critter bins every grocery store seems to have and still suspend your disbelief and go with the reality that a dudes severed Fing turned into an alien bug ... You'll do just fine.
May I PM you about the story? I want spoilers. lol
I'm one of the people who aren't all that effected by spoilers.
Digging to the rhythm and the echo of a solitary siren.