Phantasm IV: Oblivion

Ten years later, one fifth the budget of the third, and with a plot cobbled together from false starts, I can admire the determination of Coscarelli for making this movie. Even so, the fourth Phantasm movie is the first one that fails on all fronts. It's the one where you realize that Coscarelli has now spent four movies straight making up the mythology as he goes, like he's covering up a regrettable tattoo with another one he's bound to regret in six months.

Unfortunately the fourth "Phantasm" film in the series is the most frustrating of the franchise so far, however, for fans searching for more mythology and some kind of "ending" to the series, this movie has a fair amount to offer. Using unseen footage from the first, plus some new and confusing, Coscarelli & company brand surrealist camp, this sequel makes for a plodding but watchable kind of "finale" for "Phantasm" fans.

It’s the 90s baby, we can CGI render so many of these stupid silver balls now you’ll almost be able to figure out this stupid glorious series.

Pulpy 'metaphysical' horror makes up for its obvious budget deficit with surprising ambition and a dash of old Corman style ingenuity.Coscarelli repurposes unused footage from Phantasm in an effective and thoughtful way, linking it more explicitly, thematically and atmospherically, to the original, as a film about the difficulty of coming to terms with death. Shots emphasising Mike's isolation are very well done, and while the acting and dialogue are often bad, it's all done in good faith.

The library sent me this instead of the first Phantasm like I requested. I watched it anyway. That was not a good idea.

It feels like Coscarelli is so preoccupied with relitigating the mythology of the original he can barely move it forward here, squandering the more interesting/entertaining trajectory of Mike becoming Paul Atreides and Reggie becoming Ash Williams to instead spend a bunch of time revisiting deleted scenes from the '79 movie.

These films are making less and less sense.

You know what? My experience with this series has been really interesting. The answers I have been seeking from the first movie have been mostly eluding me...until now. This film strives to answer some of those questions while asking more at the same time. I really liked that mythology. PLUS using deleted scenes from the first movie? That was really smart. Biased Score: 80% | Unbiased Score: 68% | Predicted Score: 55%

While nowhere near as good as the first three it's still worth watching to learn more about the mythology behind this unique series. It's slow and rambling but it makes great use of unused footage of past films and takes the series into Sci-Fi territory.

I remember really disliking this when I saw it for the first time. It is the worst of the original 4, but it does have it's merits. There's something bold about the slow, meditative pace and imagery. In that sense it's closest to the original and does not try to win over any new fans. Seeing the main characters age during these films - as highlighted by the use of old and new footage, also make this a melancholic experience.

The Tall Man is certainly a menacing looking figure without really doing or saying much.

piece of crap.

47.500

48.000

The most confusing in the series, I am still waiting for part five to come and answer the many questions this film brought up.

Draaaags. I LOVE the Phantasm series but I can barely watch this one. It's so goddamn boring and lousy with exposition, I couldn't help but feel disappointed with every scene. Sure, these movies are confusing as hell, but that's the draw. Phantasm means nightmare, after all, and how many nightmares have ever made sense? Plus, it ends up creating MORE loose ends, rendering it completely pointless.

Good finale to the end of the series. Makes up for the slightly lackluster third movie.

This falls deep down from the previous three parts

Could this be one of the worst movies ever made?

Might have to watch again to understand it completely, but extremely incoherent, even for the Phantasm series. Boring in stretches as well, unlike much of parts 1-3.

They spend an entire movie recapping and attempting to explain the previous nonsense of the series, and it all comes to nothing. It's unbelievable how badly they butchered this silly, camp series.

Decent finale to the Phantasm series.