Movie Title: Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi
Starring: Reggie Bannister, A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Gloria Lynne Henry, Kevin Connors, Angus Scrimm, Cindy Ambuehl, John Davis Chandler, Brooks Gardner
Review: It's three times the terror as Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) and Reggie (Reggie Bannister) continue to hunt the mysterious Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), discovering along the way that things are not always what they seem.
Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead takes the franchise in a new direction with the addition of humor and action. Honestly, for a series that is one long creepy nightmare the humor is very out of place and really extinguishes a majority of the tension that has already been established in the previous entries.
Reggie is now our main protagonist, which is great, and soon he joins forces with fellow Tall Man survivors' Tim, a tough kid that's a deadlier version of Macaulay Culkin's Kevin from Home Alone, and Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry), a Special Forces soldier that catches Reggie's eye. Plus, there are a trio of "zombies" that work for the Tall Man and chase after our heroes in an almost comedic fashion. Mike's connection to the Tall Man is explored briefly, and it definitely raises some interesting questions for the next installment.
I totally get why Phantasm fans aren't pleased with part 3, but it has enough going for it for my money, plus Jody (Bill Thornbury) from the original returns to help his friends in their battle against the forces of evil. Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead is not the best in the series, but if you're a fan of the frightful franchise then you're sure to have a ball...or silver sphere!
Fun Fact: In this sequel, for the first and only time in the series, the main characters refer to the dwarves as "Lurkers" and the spheres as "Sentinels".