After nearly 37 years, it’s incredible that not only are fans still discussing Don Coscarelli’s Phantasm, but we're getting ready to experience the film in a way I would have never dreamed possible: a 4K restoration spearheaded by J.J. Abrams and completed by the fine folks at Bad Robot. This new version is set to screen at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival on Monday, March 14th, and Daily Dead had the chance to sit down with Coscarelli in advance of the screening to hear about how this collaboration came about, what’s different in Phantasm: Remastered, and much more.

I knew J.J. loved Phantasm, but there are a lot of directors that love older movies and don't ever step into this capacity and resurrect it with a brand new transfer. How did this all happen?

Don Coscarelli: He was such a passionate fan over the years and I became friends with him. He was also very close with Angus Scrimm, and they got along great. He was so nice to Angus, especially putting him in the Alias TV series. For Angus, at that point in his career, it was such a joy to move out of the low-budget indie world and get to work on a big Hollywood TV series. He genuinely cherished knowing J.J. and being treated so respectfully by him.

J.J. had this notion about a year and a half ago. He emailed me and wanted to screen Phantasm over at Bad Robot for his employees and wanted to see if Angus and I would come over and do a Q&A because a lot of his younger employees hadn't seen it.

The problem was that all we had was this 35mm print that was banged up and then the DVD. I said to him, "The quality level's not that great." He instantly just said, "Oh, we have to fix that." The next thing I knew, head of post-production, Ben Rosenblatt, contacted me. Ben is a really great genre fan and a really nice guy if you ever get a chance to meet him. Ben is very entrepreneurial and came up with a way to do it where it wouldn't cost too much. Basically, I got a Wizard of Oz-level restoration for the price of a bag of peanuts. He used some muscle to very economically get our original camera negative laser-scanned and then took it over to Bad Robot and they had this high-end finishing system, so once that was uploaded to their servers, it was there. It was just a function of finding time for the technicians to work on it. I was not in any rush at all.

Over about a year-long period, I'd get a phone call every month and he'd go, "Hey, we've got a lull on Star Trek, come on over." I'd come over and we'd get to work and they'd do it. Maybe two or three nights I'd come over and then I wouldn't hear from them for another week or another month or two. Then: "Don, come on over. We've got a lull on Star Wars."

They have so many competent, really talented people working over there. Essentially, I was able to get a massive amount of time to go through and fix every little detail. Back in the 1970s, the quality control in those labs wasn't that great. I think there was a lot of weed smoking going on with those workers [laughs], so there were a lot of scratches. All the scratches have now been cleaned up.

And best of all, because we really didn't have visual effects back then, everything was practical. The bulk of the movie, all the effects are done with scotch tape and fishing line. So for this, we were able to go through and erase all the fishing line, which for me was so great. The visual side of it came along really beautifully.

It’s still hard for me to talk about this, and I’m sure it’s much harder for you. It was a huge loss for the horror community when Angus passed away and I feel like this release is truly one of the best possible ways to preserve his legacy.

Don Coscarelli: Absolutely true. The sad part about how it played out was, as this was evolving, we were finishing up the new Phantasm: Ravager and we made a deliberate effort to really fast-track some of the post-production because he had some health issues and I wanted him to see Part 5. So he did see that. That was great. We didn't get him to see the restoration, though, so it was a sad thing.

I'll tell you what, other than the personal tragedy of losing a friend after decades, the real sad part about the whole thing was that I wish Angus could have witnessed the outpouring of love on the web for him. It was so profound. A lot of people, even from other countries and journalists who had never met him, would write these passionate things. The people who had met him at the conventions all had kind words about him. The thing with Angus is that he had this idea, or this imperative really, to get to know the people. I read these comments over and over after he died that said things like, "He was more interested in learning about me than talking about himself."

He would always take the time and ask them where they were from. He really resisted the whole convention setup because he was very old school. He would never charge for an autograph. Later, he would let the promoters charge, but he would never take money directly. He never liked that whole idea about money for his signature; he liked to just go and meet fans and talk with them. He was a wonderful guy, a great collaborator. There would be no Phantasm without him. That outpouring of good wishes was so nice to see afterwards.

Do you have a status update on Phantasm: Ravager? How's everything coming along?

Don Coscarelli: We're going to have an announcement very soon about how it's going to be coming out. That's all in-process. It's finished, so I absolutely can go on record and say that it's finished. Angus' performance is magnificent. It's a testament to him. We shot it over a number of years. We were smart enough to know that we wanted to get Angus' material shot first so he was healthy, and he's great. Without giving too much away, it really focuses on Reggie's [played by Reggie Bannister] story in the franchise, but at the same time, it brings the whole thing to some sort of conclusion that I think will be satisfying. About partway through we realized that there's not going to be a Part 6. This was really, really it.

Working with David Hartman, who directed it and co-wrote it with me, he's a brilliant visual stylist because he comes from the animation world. He had recently worked on that Hasbro cartoon Transformers: Prime, which is a beautiful 3D cartoon. He's also done the last TV iteration of Winnie the Pooh [My Friends Tigger & Pooh] over at Disney. He's got a broad array of skills.

But back to Reggie—he kicks so much ass in this. He's got his four-barrel shotgun, there's a love interest he meets—and you know that isn’t going to end well—and this also has the absolute bloodiest sphere kill in Phantasm history. There’s a lot of good red meat for the fans to chew on. It's very character-driven, though. We follow Reggie and we bring back Mike [played by A. Michael Baldwin]. The Tall Man has a thing and there are a few surprises with some other characters. The budget was tight, but we just really tried to make something that would be the perfect finale for this series.

Also, by the way, the score is great. It's got all those Phantasm themes, but amped up. They feel like you're dying and going to Phantasm heaven.

  • Heather Wixson
    About the Author - Heather Wixson

    Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.