PHANTASM TRIVIA: (from Wikipedia)
During 1998 MGM re-released Phantasm on VHS and DVD, the movie had a newly remastered Dolby stereo soundtrack. Also, both the VHS and DVD included deleted scenes. The cut footage included two scenes:
The first involved Mike entering a room with 2 coffins, one is open and a body is inside, the other is closed but Mike hears sounds from inside it and thinks it’s Reggie. As he tries to open the coffin, Reggie enters the room. When Mike sees him and realizes that something unpleasant is in there, the two close the coffin together. Mike then tells Reggie that they need to find Jody. For some reason, this scene is not included on the Anchor Bay release.
The second had Mike and Jody see the Tall Man in the funeral home. Jody shoots the Tall Man several times with his shotgun but it has no effect on him. The Tall Man knocks Mike onto the floor and picks up Jody by the neck with one hand. Mike sees a fire extinguisher and remembers that the Tall Man reacted badly when he passed by Reggie's Ice Cream truck with its refrigerator open. Mike realizes the Tall Man can be hurt by the cold, so he takes out the fire extinguisher and blasts the Tall Man with it just as he's about to kill Jody. The Tall Man withers in pain, suddenly he screams and his head explodes splattering yellow blood all over the walls.
In-Depth Making of Phantasm 1979 (supplimental material from LaserDisc release)
PHANTASM II TRIVIA: (from Wikipedia)
This is the only installment in the Phantasm series that does not include the entire original main cast (Bill Thornbury and his character did not appear in this film), and the only one to replace a main character with another actor. After acquiring the greenlight to make the film, Universal executives insisted on replacing the two main characters of Mike and Reggie with recognizable actors instead of the original ones. Don Coscarelli resisted their efforts and was forced to audition A. Michael Baldwin and Reggie Bannister for the opportunity to reprise their roles. His efforts won him a concession: he was allowed to keep one of the two, but had to replace the other; Coscarelli chose to keep Reggie Bannister, and cast James LeGros in Baldwin's place. This is why Mike's face is never shown in the flashback scenes shot for this film as Baldwin was not cast, and thus, a stuntwoman stood in his place.
The casting of James LeGros has had a conflicted effect on the cast members. LeGros reportedly enjoyed his time on the production and got along very well with the cast and crew; even 20 years later, Coscarelli, Scrimm, and Bannister speak glowingly of their experience with him. A. Michael Baldwin, however, appears to remain bitter about the incident: in the audio commentary for Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead, he twice referred to Phantasm II as "the film which shan't be named."
The budget of this film is reported as $3,000,000.00, the largest of all the Phantasm films, but allegedly the lowest of any Universal production in the 1980s.
There is a slight "change of premise" or "ret-con" at the beginning of the film. Footage from the first Phantasm originally showed Reg and Mike at Mike's house. In Phantasm II, these scenes take place in Reggie's house. A new set, that has some distinct differences from the original film, is utilized. The new set recreates the fireplace, gun-rack, bedroom and hallway (now upstairs) seen in Phantasm, but there are some obvious changes, likely included to create the impression that we are now in a different location. This creates a continuity error when Mike runs up the spiral staircase to the right of the fireplace. After the footage from the first film ends, the spiral staircase has vanished and been replaced by a mini-bar. This requires Reggie to run up a different flight of steps to get to Mike. It is not clear why director Coscarelli chose to include the shots of the spiral staircase, since this represents an obvious error in continuity.
The US television edit of Phantasm II is sought after by fans because of its inclusion of alternate shots and slightly altered sequences from the theatrical cut and a slightly different narrative.
In the scene in the mortuary the mortician pounds the bones after a cremation and places them in a plastic bag. The name on the bag is Sam Raimi; which appears to be a reference to the movie director of the same name.
MORE PHANTASM V HYPE & TRIVIA: (from Wikipedia)
Canadian film maker Roger Avary, a self-confessed hardcore fan of the Phantasm series, wrote an epic screenplay called "Phantasm 1999 A.D." as a sequel to Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead. It was set in a post-apocalyptic near future, featuring Bruce Campbell as a co-star. As the project ran into financing difficulties, Don Coscarelli wrote and directed this fourth installment as a pre-cursor to the project, using numerous outtakes from the preceding films. Avery also appeared in the film as one of the civil war soldiers. Despite these efforts, the budget for the sequel, now retitled Phantasm's End, could not be secured.
Rumours about a sequel were reignited in June 2007 by footage contained in Don Coscarelli's Farewell to The Alamo Drafthouse, featuring Angus Scrimm and A. Michael Baldwin in their roles. However an interview with Reggie Bannister surfaced on Youtube, when asked about the possibility of a fifth film he stated there was no activity or development involving a fifth installment but that anything was possible in the future.
Behind the Scenes of Phantasm IV - Oblivion (courtesy of Phantasm Community website)
