like everyone that have review this film before me and i be go to sing it praise and however and unlike those before me and i be not quite sure why . this film do everything it be suppose to do a a horror film . it scar me in a few area and it be quite gory in others and it be easily one of the ten most quirky and bizarre film i have ever see . i can not tell you why anything transpire the way it do in here and i can not even tell you why people do the thing they do and but i do not really think that be the point of the film . like david lynch mulholland drive and this be more of mind alter experience or a dream that just doesn not make any sense . perhaps this be a film that be esoteric by design and if that be the case then perhaps i should just watch it over and over again until i do have some sort of puerile grasp of it . dictionary . com definition of a phantasm be in platonic philosophy and objective reality a observe by the five sens . another definiton it give be simply and a notion . and if you watch this film from begin to end you will see why this make all the sense in the world and yet it be still an abstruse concept that be mean to be exactly what it be . the film begin with a funeral of one of jody ( bill thornbury ) and reggie ( reggie bannister ) best friend . jody little brother and mikey ( a michael baldwin ) be a precocious kid who can not seem to stay in one place and follow his big brother everywhere he go . hence he be at the funeral but be surreptitiously hide out in the bush . a the funeral end and he see the caretaker lift a casket all by himself and put it into his truck . this be the nascency of the bizaare rituals that encompass the film . michael decide to investigate the strange look mansion where the cemetery rest . once he break into the house and he be chase by some strange jawa look creature and by a sphere that seem to come out of nowhere and drain your head of blood . he do escape and finally get his big brother to believe him when he say that thing aren not quite right up at the morningside cemetery . now and up until this point and the film be quite linear . you have your classic set up and a spooky look mansion where the dead be take and your typical stupid character that do the traditional scary movie thing and like go to investigate a haunt house all by yourself and gratuitous breast shot and some eerie music and dark night . but that be where the title typical horror film end and it cross over into rod serling territory . from here on out and it just go weird and but in a goosebump induce way that keep you freeze in your seat . don coscarelli can take all of the praise and or or blame for this eccentric film . he write and produce and direct and be the dp and the editor and a another reviewer so aptly point out and he probably sweep the floor at night and fetch coffee for those on the set . this be his incarnation . i also happen to agree with other viewer that say that this film have one of the most haunting yet mellifluous score which be on par with carpenter halloween theme . both be intricate piece to the presence of the film . word like haunting and eerie and creepy and forbid all come to mind when you hear the score . it be also uncanny to see some of the similarity to a nightmare on elm street and phantasm . nightmare be a little more clear with what it be try to say but both film have an overtly murky and dream like exploration into realm that many of u have yet to understand . the underlying theme in this film be the unsolved question that plague many of u when we wonder what happen when you die . most of u believe that you go to heaven or hell . but those be just theory . and if theory be unproven then what be stop you from believe that this movie could really be the answer to those question . a the tag line for the film so poignantly point out and if this one doesn not scare you and youre already dead . what if all of this be true . what if you could be steal and make into something that you do not ask to become . who be the tall man and what be he do here in our world . one of the most harrowing yet well do plot piece be when mikey go to the girl house and find an old picture of the tall man sit on a horse carriage and look like it be circa 1776. this leave the viewer ripe with question . phantasm will leave you with more question than answer but i will say this about the film . in a day and age where you get prosaic and banal and myopic effort like ( take your pick of most of the horror that have grace our screen since the scream and blair witch craze ) and you compare them to film like halloween and texas chainsaw massacre and phantasm and you quickly realize that the 70 and early 80 be the genesis of the horror film . i realize horror probably date back to nosferatu and it become respect with psycho and but to look at the film that be bear in the 70 and 80 and it a veritable and indefeasible list of some of the most revered and imitated horror film of all time . now that i have see phantasm i can easily see the mark it have leave on other film . positive a i say and i still can not tell you what this film be all about nor can i tell you what it all mean or how it all end and all i can say be that it make me feel something strange with it disingenuous stroke of the brush . this be a film that absolutely demand a second and third viewing . which be what i be about to do right now . boy .