Phantasm's Time-Bending Monstrosity - The Tall Man's Complicated History And Origin Explored
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- Опубліковано 5 сер 2021
- Phantasm is one of the most interesting horror films to be created within the genre. It has Angus Scrimm as the legendary Tall Man in this tightly packed script of horror and fantasy. While one may feel that the series in its entirety may be better than some parts of it, it’s evident that the Phantasm series has continued to garner interest from fans, the fifth film after a gap of 18 years being evidence of its immense popularity. In fact, Phantasm 5 seemed to serve more as fanservice than movie-making. Nonetheless, we are not here to discuss how the films fared at the box office among other issues. We are here to dive deep into one of the most iconic movie monsters of the late twentieth century, i.e. The Tall Man. He’s a being from another realm who kills people to make himself an army of the dead. His weapon of choice is spheres that pack several deadly weapons within themselves. While some call him an alien, the others call him an undead serial killer. We will let you make that call for yourself once you've seen this video. So, let’s cut to the chase, shall we?
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Watching your video really sends me back in time! The first time I ever saw these movies I had an extremely hard time following them! But since then, I've come to love them for what they are. They're basically time capsules When you watch them, you can see little pieces of how the world was when they were made.
Mr. Scrimm was an incredibly humble man, and very grateful to the fans of his many and varied career paths. I discovered this when I had the privilege of meeting him some twenty years ago. To my (and everyone else's in attendance) delight I found that he was actually quite the singer, as well. Rest in peace, sir.
“You think when you die, you go to heaven. You come to us!”
RIP Agnus Scrimm. The original and best Tall Man.
I personally subscribe to the theory that Morningside was replaced by some sort of Eldritch entity when he stepped between the rods. Odds are the body we see is more akin to a puppet, controlled and wielded by some unknowable horror that would drive men mad to behold it.
I feel one explanation of the tall man that is nearly always overlooked is that he is literally a phantasm. The series is littered with clues that this might be the case. The original film is a coming of age story about a boy mourning the death of his older brother. One of the first lines of dialogue spoken in the film reveals that Mike had nightmares for weeks when their parents died. The end of the film reveals that Jody died and everything we've seen has been a fever dream brought on by grief. Of course the tacked on jump scare leads the audience to question whether or not the tall man was real and the sequels follow the notion that he was, that is until oblivion. The tall man is iconic but if there is one piece of imagery that is instantly representative of the phantasm series its the sliver sphere. At the end of the 3rd film it's revealed that Mike has a sphere in his head. In oblivion Jody, who Mike holds a lot of anger and mistrust against, shows his brother the birth of the Tall Man. Jebediah Morningside crosses through the dimensional fork and comes back as the tall man holding the iconic sphere. At the end of the film after being destroyed another Tall man emerges from the space gate and rips the sphere from Mike's head. He returns to the gate but just before passing through he turns back and the camera cuts to a closeup to his face only it's not the tallmans face. It's jebediah Morningside. He then disappears into the gate. The sphere that the tall man was holding on the day of his creation is the same sphere he took from Mike's head. In other words the phantasm mythos begin and end in Mike Pearson's head. After emerging from the space gate for the first time the tall man literally says " And so it begins." The films ending further supports this theory. With Mike dying, Reggie enters the space gate at which point the film comes full circle to the original. Young mike is picked up by Reggie in his ice cream truck on a windy night. As the adult Mike dies, Reggie ask Mike if he heard something to which mike replies it's only the wind, symbolizing that he has finally accepted the death of his brother and has rejected the delusion of the Tall man. The two drive off into the unknown darkness and future together. Further evidence that I feel supports this theory is the greater focus on Mike and Jodys relationship, Jody revealing that he indeed died in the car crash, and the tall man saying the line " ice cream man it's all in his head. " Only moments before the climax of the film. I consider the ending of oblivion to be the true , and perfect ending to the franchise but Ravager is an interesting epilogue that has some fascinating ideas.
Nobody ever mentions the DUNE connection in the 1st movie where Mike visits the fortune teller and puts his hand in the box.
"He does this by transforming and shapeshifting into other people and even women." People and women?
Dude your like 2 Movies out of date on this info...the last movie they Drive off into the Tall Mans apocalypses. Edit: I mean you even refer to the Movies where the Tall Mans taking over the world????
I always considered that the "realm of the dead" portrayed within the films was reminiscent of a Martian landscape.
Amazing how scrimm was able to create this character merely through his facial expressions and his body language with no need for body make up is amazing in itself.
I absolutely loved the series. I am saddened by the loss of Angus Scrimm
I just binged all of these movies 2 weeks ago. The Tall Man scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.
Bless the Heart of Angus Scrimm, may he rise again!
"If you think this is a dream...think again. It's not." --The Tall Man
the best cult horror/adventure/sci fi series ever - great fun to watch and it never took itself too seriously so always had an offbeat vibe, on the other hand, the lore intensified as the series progressed and that is what kept the sequels fresh and alive - simply brilliant - thanks for this vid, nice subject and well covered
I've always wondered just what the Tall Man was and where he came from. I remember catching bits and pieces of these movies with my mother when I was a kid, but I could never make sense of them
This film is a living dream to any kid of the 80s and 90s, as you don't know what the movie is called and you don't know if you actually seen it.
My brother and I are huge fans of this it helped us get into horror movies. I have always wanted to make a decent remake, like a thank you to them. So me and my brother are writing one, hopefully it lives up to the greatness of the original ones.
Wow!!! I used to watch the original movie back in the day. Seeing him carry that coffin by himself and those crazy spheres used to scare the beans out of me!!