Phantoms

Plot synopsis:
Jennifer Pailey (Joanna Going) is bringing her younger sister, Lisa Pailey (Rose McGowan), home with her for a visit, to the little town of Snowfield, Colorado, where she is the M.D. She's been concerned for her sister's welfare, living in Los Angeles with their alcoholic mother, getting involved with shady characters. Snowfield, a former mining town turned tourist destination, offers fresh air, quiet, fewer hoodlums to associate with, and hopefully, an opportunity for Lisa to sort out what she wants to do with her life.The town is very quiet indeed on this late fall afternoon. It's the off-season for tourists, but they also see none of the 400 year-round residents. They drive up to Jenny's residence/office, hoping that Hilda, Jenny's housekeeper (Judith Drake), has made good on her promise of apple pie for dinner. Instead, they find her dead in the kitchen, a terrible look of fear on her face, every inch of visible skin bruised and blackened. The phone is also dead...and creaking noises upstairs suggest an intruder may still be present, so they decide to go quickly to the deputy sheriff's office.Oddly, Jenny's Jeep won't start. Neither, it seems, will any other vehicle in town. Nightfall is coming on, so they hurry to the deputy's office on foot. Deputy Henderson (Larry Odien) is also dead, the condition of his body like Hilda's. But there is a further mystery here... he had drawn his gun and fired multiple rounds. As a professional law enforcement officer, presumeably he would hit what he was shooting at...yet there is no sign of another body or a blood trail. Jenny gets a shotgun from the deputy's gun rack, loads it (with help from Lisa) and they head for the bakery. If they're likely to find anyone, Jenny tells Lisa, it will be there: the owners, Jacob and Anna, also live in the rooms above the bakery and they're always there. The front door is locked. They hear sounds and see shadows that indicate they are being followed. They run down the alley and go in through the back door. They are greeted by the grisly sight of two severed hands lying on a workbench, still grasping a rolling pin. The timer on the oven starts to buzz loudly... Jenny opens it warily: there are only some cake layers baking. They are momentarily relieved--until Jacob's and Anna's severed heads fall down onto the cakes!Huddled together, they make their way toward the front of the bakery. Night has fallen and it's very dark. The phone rings... Jenny answers, but there is no human voice on the line, just an eerie, muttering whisper. They turn to leave again...only to be blocked by three men holding flashlights and guns. Deputy Henderson had been on the phone with headquarters when the line went dead. Sheriff Bryce Hammond (Ben Affleck) and two deputies, Steve Shanning (Nicky Katt) and Stu Wargle (Liev Shreiber) have come to investigate.They decide to return to the deputy's office, but as they step outside the bakery, every horn, siren, whistle and bell in Snowfield suddenly goes off... the deafening noise goes on for a full minute. Then, just as suddenly as it began it all stops, and the only lights left on are at the Candleglow Inn up the street. It seems they're expected there next. A glance at the guest book in the lobby shows there are only four guests. Faint music starts to play upstairs: Patsy Cline, singing I Fall To Pieces. Sheriff Bryce and Deputy Stu go up to check the rooms... the women follow at a little distance with Deputy Steve.Sheriff Bryce enters one room and finds it empty... he opens a closet door, and is confronted with a vision (flashback?) of a young boy (Luke Eberl) aiming a gun at him. It disappears almost immediately, but Bryce is very shaken by it. Deputy Stu enters another room and finds the body of a young woman lying on the bed. She has the bruised look of the housekeeper and deputy, but she is also attractive and shapely. Stu sits on the bed next to her. "You wanna tell me what happened here?" he murmurs, and then snickers oddly. He puts a hand on her leg, on the bare skin below the hem of her skirt. At that moment, Sheriff Bryce walks in. "What are you doing, Stu?" he asks. Stu jumps up, startled, embarrassed, at a loss to explain. "Looking for clues?" the sheriff suggests, sarcastically. Stu says yes... but both men know what was going on. Bryce decides to let it go: "Watch the hall, Stu", he says, and leaves. When he's out of sight, Stu laughs again, his strange, wheezing snicker, and with a last glance back at the dead girl, follows Bryce into the hall. "Hey," he says to Lisa, leering down at her, "you wanna see somethin'?" She looks at him with disgust, and says "No," emphatically.Bryce has found the room where the music was playing, on the bedside radio. He switches it off and asks Jenny to come in. He shows her the bathroom: it was locked from inside, he'd had to break in... but no one is there now, and there are no other doors or windows. Someone has written on the mirror in lipstick, "Dr. Timothy Flyte - The Ancient Enemy". He asks Jenny if she's ever heard of Timothy Flyte; she tells him no, he's not a local.From another empty room, they all hear a sound like metal chains being dropped. They enter cautiously and find a large pile of metallic objects lying on top of the bed: jewelry, buttons, watches, gold teeth... and more. "Whoever it is, he strips them to the skin," says Deputy Steve. "Beyond the skin," says Dr. Jenny, in an odd tone. As they all look at her, she picks a flat metallic disk out of the pile. "It's a pacemaker," she tells them.They go back to the lobby to regroup and discuss. They hear the music start upstairs: Patsy Cline again. A woman suddenly screams outside, "Help--Help me!" Deputy Steve shouts, "Cover me, Bryce!" and runs out with his gun drawn. Bryce calls for him to wait, and follows, but it's too late: they hear him scream, and when they get outside all that's left are his empty shoes and his gun spinning on the pavement.They go back to Deputy Henderson's office. They zip Deputy Henderson into a body bag, and take him down to the basement. Bryce tries to radio for help. He tells the deputy on the other end of the transmission about Dr. Timothy Flyte, and asks them to send help from the local military installation, but the transmission is garbled and broken, and finally collapses. They are not sure how much--or if any--of it was heard.Bryce and Stu load as many weapons and lay out as much ammunition as possible, preparing for a siege. The lights go out, they all hear something at the window, and see a huge, almost man-sized moth hovering there. The two men fire at it again and again, until it goes away. After a moment, Stu walks over to look out the ruined window. The creature flies in again, grabs him by the face, slams him against the opposite wall, and flings him down. It flies around the room a few moments longer, threatening to grab each of the remaining three humans in turn, while Bryce shoots at it over and over without effect. At last, it flies out the window.Deputy Wargle is dead... his face and his brain, incredibly, were completely consumed in the few moments the creature had hold of him. They zip him into a body bag of his own, and take him to the basement to keep company with Henderson. Bryce nails a sheet of plywood over the broken window. They settle down to wait for morning...wondering if they'll be allowed to do that.At the editorial offices of Wide World News in New York City, Dr. Timothy Flyte (Peter OToole) is working late. Formerly a distinguished member of the faculty at Oxford University, he has been reduced to writing articles for this sleazy tabloid because the subject of his research was considered fanciful and ridiculous. He is approached by two men (Robert Knepper, Bo Hopkins) from the FBI. They "ask" him to go with them as a matter of national security.In Snowfield, while Lisa is trying to nap in a jail cell, Dr. Jenny and Sheriff Bryce are in the next room talking. It turns out he is a former FBI agent, too, who came to be sheriff in this rural county because of an incident that occurred in a raid on a drug house during his former career. He'd opened a closet door to find a gun pointed at him, had fired on the suspect and killed him, only to find out the suspect was just a child, and the gun was just a toy. He'd been cleared of any blame, but had been unable to overcome his guilt. He still carries a newspaper clipping of the event. The boy's picture is in the article. We see he is the phantom Bryce glimpsed earlier in the closet at the hotel.Lisa interrupts their conversation to ask for an escort to the restroom. Bryce checks inside, finds it clear, and leaves her there alone. She is standing at one of the sinks, getting a cigarette out of her bag, when an odd squealing sound wafts up out of the drain. She almost convinces herself that it's nothing, until a toilet in one of the three empty stalls behind her flushes. She cautiously goes to inspect them, finds nothing--and as she is closing the last door finds Deputy Stu behind it, leering at her. "You wanna see somethin'?" he asks. She runs out screaming. Bryce goes in with gun drawn to investigate, and finds nothing. They check the body bags in the basement: they're both empty. They begin to speculate: could it be moving through the town through the sewers and drains?Dr. Flyte is en route to Snowfield with General Leland Copperfield (Clayton Powell), as part of a large, specialized response team: scientists and military personnel, a couple of large, sophisticated mobile labs, and an armored strike vehicle...prepared to deal with whatever threat they may find. General Copperfield asks Dr. Flyte to tell him about his theory of the Ancient Enemy. Dr. Flyte explains that throughout history there have been incidents of unexplained mass disappearances. He cites the abandoned Mayan cities of Copan, Piedras Negras and Palenque; the "Lost Colony" at Roanoke; the army that vanished outside Nanking, China in 1939. He postulates that an undiscovered entity that exists deep in the earth may be responsible for these incidents...and if not stopped, it could eventually cause the extinction of the human race.They arrive in Snowfield, and Bryce, Jenny and Lisa come out to meet them. "The first thing we need to know," says General Copperfield, "is what kind of threat we're dealing with... chemical, biological, or other." "At the moment," replies Bryce, ruefully, "I'm kind of leaning toward 'other'." The team spreads out and the scientists begin gathering data. They encounter many weird and frightening sights... including another pile of metallic objects in the church, in front of the altar. "Like an offering," says one of the scientists. Dr. Flyte corrects him: "Undigested remains," he says.Over the next few minutes, in a stunning series of horrific events, the whole contingent is wiped out, leaving only Dr. Flyte, Sheriff Bryce, Jenny and Lisa. General Copperfield is last to be killed: a pair of oily black tentacles seeps up through the pavement, penetrates his hazmat suit, and an oily black liquid fills the suit and smothers him. Dead, but still standing, he leans over and smacks the faceplate of his helmet against the pavement, shattering it. He straightens up again, slowly removes a large curved piece of the glass from his mouth, regurgitates into it and puts it on the pavement in front of Dr. Flyte. The eerie voice that was heard on the phone now speaks clearly from his mouth. "My Flesh," It says, and as It does so, the liquid in the glass resolves itself into a small, spotted gecko. "Study it. Write the gospel. But do not try to leave. Witnesses to the Miracle." Message delivered, the general's body topples over, and the oily black substance oozes out of the suit, leaving it collapsed and empty on the pavement.They take shelter in one of the mobile labs. Dr. Flyte begins to analyze the tissue sample. Theorizing, they come to the conclusion that this Entity has lived in the depths of the earth for eons, growing to immense size, and absorbing knowledge from its prey. It can separate off parts of Itself to send as drones, warriors, phantoms... having them assume the shapes of anything or anyone It has absorbed, even of people or monsters from their memories and dreams. With these, It has manipulated Bryce, Jenny and Lisa into bringing Dr. Flyte here... to be Its prophet... to write Its gospel. For It has come to think of Itself as God--or Devil, perhaps because this is what some of Its terrified victims may have thought in their final extremity: Omnipotent... Immortal... Indestructible.Dr. Flyte's analysis reveals that It is closely akin to oil in Its chemical composition. He tells the others that there is a manmade bacterium among the samples in the lab that was developed to break up and disperse oil spills. IF...they can culture enough of it, and IF...they can figure out a way to deliver it, and IF...they can draw the whole mass of It to them long enough to infect It... they MIGHT be able to destroy It. Bryce asks Dr. Flyte if he's sure this will work, and Dr. Flyte says yes...then adds, "Unless there's a nucleus, a small inner mass, that can tear itself away from the core and survive on its own." "You know," says Bryce, wearily, "I really just wanted you to say yes, there."The bacterium is cultured, and loaded into glass vials to be launched by compressed air guns of the type used to shoot tranquilizers into large animals. Dr. Flyte steps outside, walks up to an open manhole and calls to It. He says that he must see It--all of It--in order to be able to write of It. It remains silent, hidden. He says that he knows It has been wondering what they're up to in the mobile lab. He tells It that the others have been preparing a weapon to destroy It. "Even after all they've witnessed tonight," he says, "they still don't believe you're a god. They think you're just a thing, an animal." He waits...still It doesn't appear. His voice turns warm and inviting, as he continues: "What they don't know is that death is for mortals, not for gods. Show yourself... gods have nothing to fear." He waits a few moments longer. Then with just the right taunting note in his voice, he adds, "or DO they???"It appears first as a single person, standing silently on the other side of the manhole, opposite Dr. Flyte... an instant later all 400 residents of the town are standing there before him. Then all the people begin to merge and meld into one swirling mass, which resolves Itself into an immense, hideous, writhing millipede, standing upright. Bryce, Jenny and Lisa run out of the mobile lab, and fire their weapons into the It... "INFECTED!!!" shouts Dr. Flyte, triumphantly. It screams, and begins to flail around violently. Jenny and Lisa run for shelter into the nearby deputy's office, and there, reload their guns. They are pursued by a drone of Deputy Stu. They empty their shotguns into him, knocking him down, blowing away great chunks of his legs and arms. They pause, finally...he is still for a moment, as if dead... then he begins to sing: "I Fall To Pieces". Tentacles shoot out of his arm- and leg-stumps, which he uses to drag himself toward them. They flee up into the ceiling, and he follows...but he is ill, infected by the bacteria, and this makes him more angry and dangerous. "What did you do to me?!?" he bellows at the women. Jenny blows his head off with a shotgun. Incredibly, a hand shoots out of the neck stump and reaches for Lisa. Jenny fires her last vial of the bacteria into the neck stump, and at last he stops...the Deputy Stu drone rapidly dissolves into a revolting liquid.The greater mass of the Entity is also breaking up, like a drop of oil in soapy water. Bryce follows the last of It down into the sewer. He turns a corner, and finds himself face to face with the boy he shot and killed during the drug raid. He hesitates...a tentacle shoots out of the boy's mouth, and knocks him literally for a loop. The air gun is knocked in one direction, and the extra bacteria viles are scattered on the ground in another. Before Bryce can get to them, the boy scoops them up. He balances them in his hand, with an insinuating smile. Bryce draws his handgun. "Always this urge to shoot little boys," says the drone, mockingly. "No," says Bryce, "this time I'm going to miss." He shoots the vials in the drone's hand... they explode, spraying liquid all over him. There is a moment of quiet, then the drone begins to tremble, and then to shake violently... It cannot hold Its shape any longer, It shrieks and groans as It devolves...with one final ear-shattering scream It is gone, and Bryce makes his way back to the others.As a helicopter arrives to rescue them, Dr. Flyte announces to the others that the Entity has won after all: It wanted him to tell the world, and that's just what he's going to do. The scene shifts to a quiet bar, where an old cowboy (Lonnie Chapman, uncredited) and a young cowgirl (Yvette Nipar) are watching Dr. Flyte on the bar's TV. He's wrapping up the narrative of a documentary about the Entity, saying that a watch must be kept for It...for if It wasn't completely destroyed, one day It may destroy mankind."Do you believe that crap?" asks the old cowboy. "I dunno," says the cowgirl, "stranger things have happened. Patty said that Glen was abducted by aliens." The cowboy scoffs: "Glen wasn't abducted by aliens, he run off to Los Angeles... and if you was married to Patty, you'd run off too." A strange, wheezing snicker is heard at the other end of the bar. The other two look in that direction, and the girl asks, "Does that sound funny to you... officer?"Stu Wargle stifles his laughter, and swallows one of the peanuts he's been eating with his beer. "No, ma'am," he says, with mock sincerity... and then he adds slyly, "Hey... you wanna see somethin'?"

Tags: suspenseful, murder, violence

Review:
Inappropriately titled, like the book itself by Koontz, Phantoms is a surprisingly effective monster movie, especially in the first half.
Recently deciding to rent it again for the hell of it, this film is so much better than the previous viewing, I mean REALLY good, one of the best Hollywood-produced horror films I've seen in a while, not to mention THE best Dean Koontz adaptation.
Joe Chappelle, who's films in the past unfortunately haven't been very good, does an excellent job directing here, delivering a dark & genuinely haunting atmosphere, not to mention great cinematography and a strong visual style.
There's some nice gore too."Phantoms" is a smart, creepy, underrated horror gem that deserves better than it's gotten and really makes you think.9/10..
Phantoms is a cracking film...I'm slightly reluctant to admit this given it's standing (and the fact it stars Ben Affleck) but I went into it with low expectations and enjoyed it thoroughly.
Its a fast paced piece of sci-fi/horror hokum with some great shock moments that'll have you jumping out of your seat or cowering behing the sofa..If you're looking for a scary film for Halloween that doesnt revolt, try this..
This may have been based on a Dean Koontz novel, but Phantoms should acknowledge itself as being an unofficial remake of an old Hammer Studios film, X The Unknown, with which it shares it's main antagonist.
Thus, it comes as a surprise that Phantoms is an often terrifying thriller; it's not particularly original, but it delivers the thrills and suspense that it promises .Dr. Jenny Pailey (Joanna Going) is bringing her younger sister, Lisa (Rose Mcgowan), home from L.A. to the small quiet town of Snowfield, Colorado.
They try to leave, but find their car and every other vehicle in town dead.Exploring further, they enter a bakery, where they encounter Sheriff Bryce Hammond (Ben Affleck) and his two deputies, Shanning (Nicky Katt) and Stu Wargle (Liev Schrieber).
He may have seemed like a dubious choice to direct this film, but he does a fine job, creating heavy doses of suspense through some clever uses in the small-town setting and the suggestion of an unseen force lurking around every corner.The film is overall scary, working best when you have no idea what's causing this terror.
While all movies like this need to do that, for nearly 20 minutes the movie loses most of its suspense when the characters discuss to each other all the things they know about this mysterious presence.
Thankfully, Chappelle brings back the horror and suspense that was so effective in the first hour back into the last ten minutes, and the film ends on a tense note.
The only weak link in the acting is Rose Mcgowan, who seems more suited for jokey, "hip" horror films rather than a serious one, and she's sorely out of place here.David Williams' score is creepy and good in creating some tension.
It's obvious Koontz has become influenced by far too many modern-day horror films.Phantoms isn't a classic film, since it has its own flaws and doesn't delve deeply into some interesting ideas, but it blends action and horror into a suspenseful and often scary mixture, with non-stop thrills and tension that keep the material fun to watch, even if the story's not always logical.
Phantoms (1998) Ben Affleck, Peter O' Toole, Rose McGowan, Joanna Going, Liev Schreiber, Nicky Katt, Clifton Powell, D: Joe Chappelle.
Better-than-average from a Dean Koontz novel, written by its author and well-acted for a thriller this ridiculous, that really pushes your buttons with suspenseful scenes and doesn't need to rely fully on special effects.
I had no idea that a movie was made of it until I was REALLY bored with looking through the New-Releases at Blockbuster, trying to find a good horror flick.
I watched this movie mainly because Peter O'Toole is in it, and I also like Rose McGowan for her edgy roles.I was impressed, but not in a good way, by three things.
This movie should have made more time to know more about the characters and the thing they were fighting than trying lame ways to scare people.
Even though the story is a bit hard to follow the film "Phantoms" does have it shocks and thrills with the human race battling this ancient enemy that has resurfaced again to claim it's share of victims like it did over and over on earth since time immemorial.
The movie has a very young and teenage-looking Ben Afflect playing not only the town's sheriff Bryce Hammond but also being a Harvard graduate as well as a former FBI agent who quit because he killed a little boy by accident and never wanted to touch a gun again.
It did exactly what a good B-movie Sci-fi should do: Rip off better films and do it knowingly with tongue firmly in cheek.
The cast was interesting and had decent star power for the grade of motion picture (film legend Peter O'Toole, "Scream 2" Star Liev Schreiber, Ben Affleck and "Boston Publics" Nicky Katt"), except for Rose McGowan, who, as talented as she is, was way too old to play a 14-year-old.
Whoever did the makeup effects must have seen 1989's "Leviathan" and the script had elements of the movies "Leviathan," "The Thing," "Virus" and even the remake of "The Blob" (the final scene had shots that were exactly the same, minus the snow machine, of course) In short, if you are kicking back and want to see something with some cool effects but not much thought, rent this and have some fun..
Soon the authorities show up, as does journalist Timothy Flyte, played by Peter O'Toole, who may know what is going on.Phantoms is a mysterious, spooky film that is also fun and enjoyable.
Most horror movies seem to have been produced at a pitch though how on earth you pitch a movie that has horny teenagers getting their heads chopped ( Yawn ) I have no idea , so I guess a Dean R Koontz novel being produced is a rare event and the original author has adapted his own novel but my gut instinct is that the author has adapted it very badly for the screen Two sisters Lisa and Jennifer Pailey arrive in a small California town in Winter and find it deserted .
Of course in a book you can print characters thought process and why they thought such and such a thing , on screen it's impossible but Koontz obviously thought everyone who rushed out to watch this film had read the source novel so explanation wasn't a priority .
Sorry Dean I won't be writing off to Santa for a copy of PHANTOMS - Or any other of your novels PHANTOMS comes across as a good idea but a very mediocre movie and would perhaps have worked better as an episode of THE X FILES .
So only foreplay, no sex and no orgasm either...that's just cruel.The movie is based on a novel by popular horror writer Dean Koontz.
The first halve is a mystery/thriller/horror, with the Ben Affleck and Rose McGowan character, among others, walking around in the ghost town, trying to figure out a way to survive and what is happening around them.
Basically in the first minutes of the movie the two sisters played by Rose McGowan and Joanna Going are the main characters.
Then when Ben Affleck pops up he becomes the main character but even before the halve way point he gets relieved again by Peter O'Toole.The movie features Ben Affleck and Rose McGowan before their days of fame.
He of course also is a great actor, which also can be seen from the fact that ever since his "Lawrence of Arabia" role he has received 7 more Oscar nominations, to this date, though he has never won one yet, except for an Honorary Award, he received in 2003.For 1998 standards the special effects are simply good within this movie.
It starts off as a spooky tale just like anotherX files episode (without Fox Moulder, but with a Scully alternative!),then develops into a typical effect-packed horror film with all theloud SFX and intimidating camera angle, and further develops into asci-fi film with full of special effects (and yes, yet again, a madprofessor with an English accent!!!), then ends with some room for asequel.As for casting, I have very little to complain, but as others havesuggested, if even just one of the main characters would have been a"big gun", this film just might have made it to a huge hit.
The richness of the characters (of ALL Mr. Koontz's characters, in ANY book, in fact) is lost when brought to the silver screen, and in order (I assume) to shorten the film, several of the relationships (especially that between Lisa and Jenny) are changed, often for the worst.On the other hand, if you've read the book, you've at least got an unofficial explanation for why some of the cops act the way they do, which is better than you'll get if you've not read it....
"Phantoms" was pretty decent book by Dean Koontz that I was looking forward to seeing on screen.
Rose McGowan, who wasn't bad in "Scream," though her cleavage did the acting for her there didn't improve any bit from "Doom Generation," and what the hell was the great Peter O'Toole thinking when he signed on this film.
Since I hated so much about this movie, the only good thing about the film was the performance by Joanna Going, she isn't given much to do, but she makes the best out of her one-dimensional character and is the only one who you hope won't get hacked to pieces.
Yes, the American army does try to help, but it's fair to say that Ben and Peter are better at saving the world than any trained military force.Somehow I managed to watch Stephen King's (much maligned) 'Dreamcatcher' before I saw Phantoms and I found the two were pretty similar - both decent enough sci-fi/horror movies, but both also a bit flawed.
Neither seems to know really which direction it's going and throws one new element into the mix after the next.If you regularly watch sci-fi/horror B-movies, then Phantoms is definitely a cut above those.
I liked the ending better than the one Dean Koontz gave in the book, because in the movie, you kinda keep on guessing.
But this time Koontz, tired of Hollywood raping and murdering his novels for the screen, decided he would pen the screenplay for Phantoms his own self, and I think he did a pretty bang up job.
Ben Affleck fans looking for a deep and intense performance may be disappointed, but I felt given the type of movie this is , Affleck handled things the best he could.In the end, Phantoms gets a 7.5 on my 1-10 scale..
He, along with another cop (Liev Schreiber) and an occult professor (Peter O'Toole), must take on the Ancient Enemy, a creature of evil incarnate from before the dawn of man.Starting in the Kevin Smith film "Mallrats" and escalating to Smith's "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", there has been the cult joke that "Affleck was the bomb in Phantoms".
The story might be a little lacking, but when you keep in mind it's a Dean Koontz story, it's not a big shock.Fans of "The Thing" might like this, and any Affleck or McGowan fans should definitely check this one out.
i watched this film a few years ago and can remember being disappointed by the end.Mainly because the first half of the film was good and quite tense as you didn't know what was coming up next,but then it became all too predictable.i remember Ben Affleck starring in this movie and i can honestly say i don't know how he got to where he is today because he was not impressive at all.i read the book a while before and enjoyed that and the film is certainly not a patch on the book by dean Koontz but then again you could argue that most movies are not as good as their books.Overall i would give it a 7 but it had the potential for a 8..
The thought of Peter O'Toole in a movie about a group of twenty-somethings discovering that an ancient evil has killed everyone in a small Colorado town would at first sound like such a joke that it would most likely have to star Leslie Nielsen.
But overall, I think that this movie was more targeted at younger crowds, given the presence of Joanna Going, Ben Affleck, Rose McGowan, and Liev Schreiber.And now that Peter O'Toole has won an honorary Oscar, does he intend to make another movie?
I have never read Dean Koontz, (personally, I love Stephen King for my horror), but I've been told that the screenplay is consistent with the book.
This big screen adaptation of one of the best of Koontz novels with a great cast and really gory effects is a good one.
If you've got Affleck, O'Toole and cutie Rose McGowan, a movie just needs to become somehow good, or acceptable at least.
Affleck does a good job, one of his better movies like Reindeer Games.
It's even more surprising that Koontz himself, one of the world's greatest novelists sidetracked by his genre as "just another sci-fi/horror writer," wrote the screenplay to this dreadful movie.Still, I'm going to give the film credit for having one great premise.
This adaptation of Dean Koontz's page-turning source novel is a perfect example of how sometimes, a movie that seems to have all the right ingredients can still manage to miss the mark: Despite a terrific storyline, a likable cast, and first-rate special effects (at least for its time period), this monster movie lands with a thud and a whimper.
Peter O'Toole is on hand as an eccentric British writer who assists the group while Clifton Powell plays the commanding officer of an Army unit sent to the town.The movie came out in 1998 and was written by heralded horror author Dean Koontz (both the screenplay and the novel).
...one of THE WORST movies I've ever seen...paper thin characters that the viewer could care-less about....Ben Affleck could not be more inexperienced in acting...the entire movie feels like it's being made up on the spot...very uninformative in it's delivery....this movie truly is a waste of time...other movies with the same "vibe" but much more effective: The Blob, Children of the Corn, Event Horizon, all of which use similar filming techniques to build suspense but they actually work in most cases...also, nothing is worse than a movie that tries to incorporate elements of the occult or physics without providing anything in the way of true explanation...Outer Limits would have done this one better.....
First off Dean Koontz is an awesome writer, the Phantoms novel is excellent, the movie is absolutely awful.
Seems a lot of people who reviewed the movie don't know that Dean Koontz is an author.
Dean Koontz came up with a good idea when he wrote the book this film was based on.
When the residents of Snowfield, California start mysteriously missing and dying, there turns out to be an old evil at work.The cast includes stars like Ben Affleck, Peter O'Toole, and Liev Schreiber.
The synopsis of the empty town appealed and then I saw it was based on a Koontz book, so I stuck with it.If I had rated this movie on the first 10 minutes it would be a 2 or 3.
Not that "The Thing" isn't a decent movie, I just think 80's- and "The-first-sci-fi-horror-I-watched"-nostalgia has caused some to look with gentler eyes on it, as well as some might have judged "Phantoms" harder because of Ben Affleck..
A young female doctor (Joanna Going) and her younger sister (Rose McGowan) have arrived in town at the worst possible moment, but soon hook up with the local sheriff (Ben Affleck) and his deputies (Liev Schreiber and Nicky Katt).
I like Ben Affleck, but the reason I watched this film is Rose McGowan.
My wife considers it a "Very Good" movie (for someone who doesn't like Horror of any kind) and watches it with me at least 3 - 4 times a year.
Maybe those who didn't like it might not want to watch it on TV!I enjoy Sci-Fi files and some Horror (Not a Blood and Gut's kind of Guy) and look more towards the story line and the Actors/Actresses in the film itself.
Overall, I think this movie would have been great if it were made in 2005, the special effects would have made it much better in the end.
Also, if Hollywood hadn't tried so hard to appeal to the young people by casting Affleck and Mcgowen, the movie would have been that much better.There is still hope for the Koontz fans however, I would love to see a version of "The Taking" which is almost like Phantoms but with a sci-fi twist..
Dean Koontz adapted his novel of the same name for this good, but shallow Horror film.
Directed by Joe Chappelle and written by Dean Koontz, who adapts from his own novel, Phantoms (not the greatest title all things considered) is a considerably well put together amalgamation of horror/sci-fi/creature feature tropes.
Whatever "It" is shows good taste in music by liking Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces".**** Phantoms (1/23/98) Joe Chappelle ~ Ben Affleck, Joanna Going, Peter O'Toole, Rose McGowan.
Most horror / monster movies never get half as good as this, so on that level, I'm pretty impressed.Basically, the story is about two sisters that arrive at a town that seems to be empty.
Stephen King-wanna-be Dean Koontz' ode to supernatural confusion and chaos as two sisters (Joanna Going and Rose McGowan) arrive in a small California town that has pretty much been wiped out by some unknown force.