In Don Coscarelli's farewell to his beloved franchise (this was the last Phantasm film he directed and was the sole writer of), we pick up immediately after the end of part 3, with Mike fleeing and eventually being driven to the desert by The Tall Man. Reggie is left to reluctantly give chase.
A. Michael Baldwin, Reggie Bannister, and Bill Thornbury all return as Mike, Reggie, and Jody. Mike gets a lot more screen time this around. A. Michael Baldwin is fine as Mike. He's not that great of an actor, but his character is still pretty good ,though he spends most of the film wandering around the desert. He isn't given much to do, though his story does hold potential. In this outing, it seems The Tall Man might be grooming Mike to become the next Tall Man, and Mike discovers he has some new telekinetic powers. Unfortunately, Mike's plot is pretty boring.
Reggie is a lovable bad-ass again (He even gets quite a few cool lines), and his plot is the more engaging of the two. He is driving across the country, searching for Mike, kicking some serious ass along the way (Gotta love the cop battle he gets into in one scene. His tuning fork also makes an appearance). Near the end, he dons his iconic outfit from the first Phantasm film and wields his bad-ass 4 barrel shotgun (You're damn right I cheered!).
Heidi Marnhout makes a brief appearance as Jennifer, an unlucky woman that Reggie bumps into. The film builds up her character a bit, but she is more-or-less quickly thrown away. A shame, since she and Reggie actually have some nice chemistry. Bill Thornbury as Jody is appropriately mysterious. He is still trapped in one of The Tall Man's balls, and the question is raised as to where his allegiances really lie. It's nice to actually get answers about Jody here.
Angus Scrimm returns once again as The Tall Man, and he is still imposing and freaky. This time, he actually is given two scenes where he gets to act as a "good" version of The Tall Man. It's nice to see the guy get to stretch his acting chops a bit. Phantasm 4 provides some satisfying answers as to The Tall Man's origins, which was a nice surprise (and is actually tied into the first film in a way that makes sense).
Besides the film's slow, meandering pace, the worst thing about this fourth outing is the abundance of flashbacks to the first Phantasm (A good deal of which are apparently outtakes/deleted scenes, so that's nice). They are constant during the film's first two acts, and their only purpose really is to pad out this flick's runtime (Though something cool is done with the final flashback). Without the flashbacks, Phantasm 4's runtime would likely only be a little over an hour (far from the required 80 minutes for a film).
The ending this go around is actually more satisfying than the endings to Phantasm 2 and 3. It's by no means a perfect ending, but it didn't feel slap-dash and lazy (like Phantasm 3),and didn't leave me questioning previous events (like Phantasm 2 did). This ending actually gave me some chills, which was appreciated. At times, we also get the return of a slower Phantasm theme (which I've seriously missed).
In the end, Phantasm 4 is not a great film...but it is perfectly fine for what it is. If it wasn't for the abundance of flashbacks, I likely would have given this outing 3 stars. It makes for a fine goodbye for creator and runner Don Coscarelli.
2.5 STARS
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