Scott LeBrun
"Phantasm IV: Oblivion" picks up where the previous movie left off, with Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) escaping into the night and Reggie (Reggie Bannister) given a reprieve by the nefarious Tall Man (Angus Scrimm). The resulting story continuously moves from dimension to dimension, and between various points in time, as Reggie once again determines to find and save his younger friend while Mike thinks that he may know the answer to dealing with his nemesis. He's given some insight into the Tall Mans' origins, while receiving suspect advice from his ghostly brother Jody (Bill Thornbury).It's nice to see the original gang back together again as writer / director Don Coscarelli attempts to put some closure (so to speak) on his characters and this universe he's created. It forgoes the comedy content of the previous sequel to create a mind-bending horror / sci-fi hybrid, one that has the usual amount of weirdness and atmosphere. There's still a lot of value to be found in the settings, with so many locations rendered desolate and mute thanks to the machinations of our villain. Christopher Stone does an excellent job with the music, as does KNB with the makeup effects.As could be expected, Coscarelli refrains from over explaining things, and tries to keep viewers on their toes with his style. Performances are all as good as could be. Bannister is still a hero with strong rooting interest, and yet The Tall Man is also compelling in his own way and fun to watch. Joining the guys this time around are the fetching Heidi Marnhout as lone traveller Jennifer and stuntman Bob Ivy as the "demon cop". The fact that Coscarelli had shot lots of unused footage for his first film enables him to incorporate it here, and it is fascinating to see our actors at different ages throughout.It may not be altogether satisfying for some of its viewers, but it's still more interesting than most output in the genre, in the way that it gets its audience thinking and leaves events open to interpretation.Seven out of 10.
loomis78-815-989034
Like all the sequels in this series this one picks up right where the previous installment left off. Mike (Baldwin) with a silver sphere stuck in his head steals one of the Tall Man's (Scrimm) hearses and drives into the desert into Death Valley. He seems headed for an eventual showdown with the Tall man. Meanwhile, Reggie (Banister) having no idea where Mike has gone decides to quit from this crazy life. Jody (Thornbury) again appears through a sphere and tells Reggie that Mike is counting on him. Reggie hits the road along the way encountering a cop from hell in a scary and fun sequence in the middle of the desert he also hooks up with a blonde (Heidi Marnhout) but still can't get laid as her demise is ghastly. Using outtakes from the original, Don Coscarelli cleverly splices them together into the current storyline making it very interesting seeing the characters from the original in comparison to how they are today. Another very nice scene has Mike going back in time and meeting Dr. Jebediah Morningside (Scrimm) who was the Tall man before he became the Tall man. You can clearly see Jebediah is all ready experimenting with things that would eventually turn him into the Tall man. A thoughtful scene that Angus Scrimm nails to the wall and makes you wish you could see more of this origin of how he becomes evil. It still remains unclear as to why the tall man wants Mike so bad and why he is so important to his plans. This sequel is more focused than part III and there is an intensity to it that keeps things on edge. The effects and scares are there as usual and Coscarelli doesn't really bring outside characters into the storyline this time. We just focus on Reggie, Mike and Jody battling the spheres, jawa creatures and the Tall man, everything fans of this series want. Clearly left open for more, part IV departs from the type of road movie II and III were and the change sprinkled new life into this bizarre, scary, and original series.
siderite
The fourth part of the Phantasm series is, as all before it, the continuation of the previous film, almost 20 years from the first. Mike Baldwin again is Mike, Reggie Bannister again is Reggie and Bill Thornbury is... well, Jody. Sort of. An attempt of explaining what happened is made, why The Tall Man seems so indomitable and yet he never gets the hero, with many self referential jokes and an origin story.This was funny at times, spooky most of the time, but mainly because of the music and the seriousness of Mike. The Tall Man speaks more and makes his evil faces. There are more chicks that Reggie can't bone and more scenes where the huge four barrel shotgun is completely useless. The story makes a little more sense than in the other three films, but not by much. In many ways, it showed the way the film could have gone, maybe with a little more focus on the characters and story and with a grimmer feel. The ending felt pretty disappointing, though.
Michael_Elliott
Phantasm IV (1998) * 1/2 (out of 4)Fourth and final film in the series takes a different approach to the familiar storyline of the previous two films. This time out, starting off at the end of part three, the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) travels throughout time trying to capture Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) who is trying to figure out the origins of the Tall Man and the secrets behind the death of his brother. Reggie (Reggie Banister) is also out there trying to locate Mike so that he can save him. This fourth film in the series at least had the Tall Man looking for someone instead of the same story of Reggie and Mike looking for him. The one benefit of this is that we get more screen time devoted to the Tall Man but most of the good stuff ends there. Seeing as how parts two through four take place as one continuous story, I couldn't help but think that had the three sequels been edited together as one movie then perhaps the series would have worked better. I felt a lot of the stuff in parts two and three was just carried on to the point of it being boring and I think that holds true here so if the director had simply made one good story instead of three weak ones, I might have enjoyed the series more. Once again the performances are decent, if nothing great with Banister and Scrimm standing out. The gore this time out is rather low, although we do get a few good kills scattered out. The story itself isn't the strongest in the world but it is a mildly interesting one but I wish there had been more backbone to it. We do learn a few new things about the Tall Man but there's still not too much and it really doesn't do any good considering the series is now over.
AD
