if the sound of that sonorous and ball rattling growl wasn not enough to make you wet yourself and you need to check your pulse to see if it be still there . or a the poster and the preview so aptly put it represent if this doesn not scare you and youre already dead . at the time that movie like the exorcist and halloween and the fury have already bolt from the gate in the kentucky derby of scar up boo and bling at the box office and there be some nifty little gem that worm their way between the crack to scoop up some crumb and some die hard fan who become fiercely loyal to them and the franchise they eventually spawn . of those film that surface at the time and the most imaginative and out and out frightening of them all be phantasm . mike ( a. michael baldwin ) and the young brother of jody ( bill thornbury ) be always underfoot and always shadow his big brother . young bros have a way of do that to begin with and but mike have some abandonment issue and it not a surprise represent their parent be both kill in a car accident and and jody be not only mike legal guardian and but he all the family the kid have . well and not count jody best bud reggie ( reggie bannister ) and a ponytailed and lay back sixty holdover who drive an ice cream truck for a living . phantasm begin with the mysterious death of a mutual friend of jody and reggie . forbidden to attend the funeral and mike sneak off to morningside cemetery anyway to watch the service through binoculars . but the event that kick this scarefest into high gear be not the funeral and but what happen afterwards . the moment the mourner be go and a hearse arrive and a seven foot tall and gaunt vision of terror dress in the usual funeral director outfit and pick up the casket with his bare hand and dump it into the back of the hearse like a grocery sack . mike have just have his first encounter with the ghoul know only a the tall man and but it definitely would not be the last . he manage to get brother jody and their friend reggie rope into believe what he see and and try to find out what the tall man be up to and and then how to stop him . the rest of the movie be catapult into a world where dream state and reality exist almost a one and and you have no idea from moment to terrify moment what the hell be go to happen next . use every trick in the book that could be create before the benefit of cgi and director don coscarelli blend horror and sci fi and comedy and fantasy and everything in between to keep the audience laughing and screaming and sometimes all at once . reference mike oldfield haunt theme to the exorcist and composer fred myrow and malcolm seagrave come up with a superb score that just a haunting and memorable in it own right and underscore the visuals perfectly . and if the acting be not top drawer from a then no name cast and at least the performance be somewhat natural and not over act . the key scene stealer be bannister and a great instinctive cheech and chong type comic and whose priceless expression and timing would be enlist for a whole slew of phantasm sequel . but the acting award overall have to go to angus scrimm a the tall man . a former schoolteacher and scrimm and with very little help from the makeup department and cut such a formidable figure of fright and that it would be impossible to imagine any sequel without him . ( indeed while he in all of them . ) and the spare special effect budget be use wisely on briefly glimpse but highly effective set piece base on gore and intense action and especially the mainstay of the phantasm series represent the ominous and terrify silver sphere . if ( gawd forbid . ) any talk of a remake actually lead to an upcoming movie and ( and there have be talk ) and i would only hope that don coscarelli be hire to do it justice . no other director could bring to it the spark of originality that spawn the series in the first place . a little on the dated side and but for anyone who consider themselves a true fan of the genre and this be require viewing .