User Reviews

This 46-minute retrospective documentary covers a lot of interesting and illuminating ground on the making of "Phantasm II." Writer/director Don Coscarelli reveals that the film was made under the auspices of Universal because one of the studio executives just happened to be a huge horror fan. Angus Scrimm describes his iconic Tall Man character as basically the grim reaper and even does his Tall Man voice a few times. Reggie Bannister talks about having to audition in order to reprise his role as Reggie from the first film. The funny and spunky Samantha Phillips admits that her audition for the part of Alchemy was a disaster and says she doesn't understand the film to this very day. Among the other things we learn are the circumstances pertaining to why James LeGros replaced Michael Baldwin as Mike (Brad Pitt also auditioned for Mike!), the house explosion was done in a single take, a love scene between Mike and Liz was shot, but ultimately cut from the movie, some of the gory violence had to be toned down in order to secure an R rating from the MPAA, and that the picture underperformed at the box office when it was released in theaters against several big blockbusters. Loaded with cool stories and neat behind-the-scenes footage, it's recommended viewing to fans of the film.