Review of Phantasm 3: Lord of the Dead

Introduction

Right, listen up. Things are starting get a bit silly.

This, the third film in the series, takes place 13 years after the original and sees our venerable heroes being persued once more by the lanky mortician and his hordes of undead.

Michael Baldwin returns as Mike (replacing James Le Gros in Phantasm 2) with Bill Thornbury as his brother, Jody. Again we have Reggie Bannister playing Reggie and chief scowl-meister Angus Scrimm (The Tall Man), who both return for more.


But can there possibly be anything new that this third effort can add to the series?

Video

Pretty much the same as the previous films in the series, with the full screen image adequate more than amazing. Screen colours are good as is the contrast level, but there is some noticeable grain and other noise visible.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 sound gives the film a good vocal peformance and is more than a match for the action on screen. It is a shame that the music tracks are not a match for the original Phantasm, and are very forgettable.

Features

Not many here, and what we have are rather bland. And one of them in fact doesn`t even deserve to be here!

We are "treated" to the theatrical trailer, one deleted scene (that is actually from the first Phantasm film!) and a collection of 10 small stills from the film.

Conclusion

You have to sometimes wonder why they bother.

This film is far more light-hearted in its approach than either of its predecessors, and this is largely the source of its problems. For try as it may, the in-jokes are just not funny and are, in fact, most ridiculous. With other comedy horrors such as "Army of Darkness" (Evil Dead 3), at least there the jokes were actually humorous with great special effects and visual gags to match. Here they are limp and add nothing to the overall experience. The actual content level of horror and suspense seems to have reduced significantly since the original and at no point did I feel the slightest bit unnerved by the proceedings.

In conclusion then, a poor film and a collection of extra features to match.