Nearly 40 years after the release of the original Phantasm, the story of brothers Mike and Jody, their guitar-playing, ice cream-slinging pal Reggie, and their fight against the grave-robbing inter-dimensional shapeshifter known as The Tall Man continues in the fifth film in the Phantasm series, Phantasm: Ravager. Remarkably for a franchise with such longevity, Phantasm: Ravager utilizes much of the same cast and crew as the original film—in fact, it’s the first Phantasm movie not to be directed by series creator Don Coscarelli. But Coscarelli was still heavily involved in the production as a writer and producer, part of a close-knit group of collaborators that made the movie on a shoestring budget over the course of nearly a decade.
The A.V. Club joined Coscarelli, director David Hartman, star Reggie Bannister, and co-producer Gigi Bannister in a crowded private karaoke room in Austin the day after Phantasm: Ravager’s world premiere at Fantastic Fest for an affectionate discussion of the past, present, and future of Phantasm.
The A.V. Club: The whole Phantasm series seems to be a family affair—I noticed some of the cast and crew even had their kids at the screening last night. With such a long gap between movies, do you keep in touch?
Don Coscarelli: Oh, we’re pals. The great part is that we have a professional side of it, where we all get together at horror conventions—which seems to happen at least once a year, if not more—where we all spend a weekend together talking about Phantasm. But you know, we go back, me and Reggie, and Dave and I have been friends for 10 years now because he worked on Bubba Ho-Tep. And I’ve known Gigi for—it’s been going on 20 years. The thing is, I had the good fortune early on to cast some really great people that weren’t just characters, they had character. And they’ve all got other abilities and interests. It’s just a blessing to know all of them.
And we talked about it a little at the screening last night, but it’s been a rough period for us with the loss of Angus [Scrimm, who played The Tall Man]. I think that’s brought us together, too, because he was such a touchstone in all of our lives. But that even connects us even more closely with our families, because he was a touchstone in their lives, and we’re connected through that. A lot of the connections are really compelling in a lot of ways. Honestly, it’s just been a blessing to be involved in this.
David Hartman: It’s been amazing, because I’ve been on sets of other movies, and there’s this professional side that almost feels like a work-for-hire aspect. But like I said in the Q&A, I’m very grateful to everybody involved [with Phantasm] for accepting me into the family. I consider all these guys friends—we see Reg every now and then at conventions, and we’ll email back and forth with Gigi. I love these guys. And when making these movies, it’s, hang out with your friends and film it with your friends and do cool stuff. We trust each other. Reg knows his character, he is his character. Everyone’s personalities come through and create those characters, so it’s a collaborative effort amongst everybody. That’s the way it should be. You should have fun when you’re doing this. That’s when magic happens, you know?
AVC: Well, I want to follow up with you on that, Dave. This was your first time directing a movie, and it must have been kind of intimidating, following Don. How did you try to stay true to the Phantasm series in your film?
DH: Don set up this world. These characters are really important to me. There are a few aspects to that. There’s the visual side of things—I didn’t want it to be a new director showing off camera moves, or take this world and redo it. For me, this movie needs to fit with four other movies in a boxed set on a shelf. I wanted to make sure it stays true to Don’s vision. In doing so, Don and I collaborated very closely. Every edit, every cut. Don was a part of that. And that’s the way it should be. For me, it’s his world, his baby. And I’m still going to raise it the way he would like it to be raised.
Working with Reggie and the other actors, again, they know their characters. I write dialogue for them, but I want it to be genuine. So I’m very open to Reggie’s interpretation of what I write. Just to get a little more heady on this stuff—because I’m a fan and I love figuring it all out, this stuff we make—the first film had to do with a boy who’s dealing with death. But there’s friendship, there’s loyalty, there’s a bond amongst these characters. And in this film, you’ve lost the innocence of a young boy. Now we have major players that might be facing dementia and Alzheimer’s. We all have to deal with this, we all have family members who have to deal with that. It’s another way of bringing the innocence back into the film.