Phantasm: Ravager

In this fifth and final installment of the Phantasm series, poor Reggie is still wandering the desert searching for his ever elusive friend, Mike, while also trying to survive the near constant onslaught of the killer metal spheres sent by his even more elusive nemesis, The Tall Man. But as tends to happen when dealing with an interdimensional hopping and near omnipresent foe, things are not always what they appear to be, and Reggie quickly finds himself in multiple contradictory situations, questioning his own sense of reality and his very existence.

You know, like it or hate it, you gotta admire the Phantasm series for not only sticking to its storyline through four decades with only a very meager budget to work with, but also managing to hang on to all of its central players right up until the end. I mean, most TV shows have trouble retaining their main cast from year to year, so managing to keep everybody together for almost 40-years is actually pretty freaking astounding. What’s not so astounding is how this final installment turned out (and, barring a reboot, due to the death of Angus Scrimm not long after the film’s release, this will most likely be the final installment.) Because though it’s clear that series creator/writer Don Coscarelli obviously had some type of plan, he was never going to have the funds, or maybe even the time, to pull it off in a way that was going to feel 100% satisfying.

Anyway, the good news about the film is that even after a — double checks — 18-year break (damn…), the final film does manage to feel very similar to the earlier installments. You’ve got the same level of acting from the main cast of characters, so the four biggies all feel the same, just, you know, almost two decades older. And the other good thing is that they also managed to keep the series’ omnipresent, dreamlike atmosphere relatively intact. It may not be as eerie an atmosphere as the earlier installments were thanks to the increase in action, because I guess it isn’t a Phantasm movie anymore if Reggie doesn’t get to shoot something, but it is there and its familiarity is welcome.

But that same consistency kinda ends up being a double edged sword, because, well…. The film feels very similar to the earlier installments. Meaning that, just like the other films, following the narrative of this thing ends up being a royal PITA. Oh, were you perhaps hoping that after coming out almost twenty years after the last film and, you know, it being the final installment in the series and all meant that you were finally going to get some definitive answers to what the hell is going on in this universe and maybe get some kind of a concrete conclusion? Well, too bad buttercup, cause that ain’t happening. You want answers? Well, you’ll get them… kinda… maybe… if you tilt your head and squint into the sun, I suppose. What’s happening here is, basically, you’re given just enough information to draw your own conclusions and… that’s about it. But the film also poses more questions that it never answers, and you’ll likely never get any of those answers either, because the series is over, so… there you go. To be fair, this is likely mostly due to the fact that much of Ravager was initially conceived as separate episodic “episodes”, and only later combined and turned into a film after several of those episodes were already shot. But that still doesn’t excuse the film’s lack of any real ending, even if said questionable ending fits in perfectly with the series tradition of being as vague and open-ended as possible and not answering a frigging thing.

Consistency. Yay.

Finally, there are the effects, which are probably at the level of what you would expect from a low-budget, independently produced film such as this. Some of them, like the makeup and all the practical stuff involving the attacking metal orbs, still look about as good as they always have. But some of the CG stuff can look a little wonky. Some of it isn’t too bad and actually fits into the whole surreal, dreamlike, “WTF is going on” feeling prevalent throughout the whole film. But some of the sfx is pretty noticeably… I guess I’ll just say “not good” and leave it at that. I mean, hell, I’ve seen the rest of these movies, so it’s not like I was expecting AAA level special effects or anything, but I was still kinda hoping for something just a little bit better.

I have to admit, I really wasn’t expecting all that much out of Phantasm: Ravager. Despite seeing them all, I’m not exactly a huge fan of the series. I do really like the first one because of how unique it is and its excellent use of atmosphere. But I feel like something like atmosphere can only get you so far. It works well for like a film or two, but basing a whole series of films around it doesn’t really work. Eventually people are going to want to know what’s going on, and Ravager never ends up delivering the goods. Or, rather, it does, but thanks to the wonky narrative it’s confusing, vague as hell and there’s a very high probability that you’re not going to like it. Meaning that instead of going out with a bang, the series went out with a whimper that it didn’t deserve. Because believe it or not, there are good ideas in this film. Like, I can see them. They’re right there. But since the film wasn’t stitched together right they’re all lost in this muddled, clouded mess amongst all the story and pacing issues. It’s a real shame. BUT! it’s not unwatchable. So if you’re a fan of the series, then you may as well see the conclusion. It ain’t great, but at least you’ll get a nostalgia kick out of it. But if you haven’t seen the other films: don’t watch this. You will  have NO idea what’s going on.

Phantasm: Ravager is available on a variety of streaming services.

Phantasm: Ravager is also available on DVD and Bluray.

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