Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead
Tags: good versus evil, paranormal, cult, comedy, violence

Plot synopsis:
Immediately after his apparent demise at the end of Phantasm II, a new Tall Man emerges from the white room dimension fork. During this time, the hearse driving Liz and Mike carries on and explodes. Reggie, who was attacked by the Alchemy/Tall Man creature, rushes over and finds Liz dead and a dwarf devouring her face. After killing a few dwarfs with his 4-barrel shotgun, the Tall Man appears, apprehending Reggie and an unconscious Mike but leaves when Reggie threatens to detonate a grenade. Stating that he wants Mike in one piece, the Tall Man leaves with Liz's head in hand claiming to return for Mike when he's well again.After apparently spending two years comatose in a hospital, Mike has a near death experience, in which his brother Jody appears and tells him he's not ready to cross over into the light. Mike walks on but the Tall Man stands in his way causing him to wake up. Just as Reggie arrives, Mike is attacked by a demon nurse but fights her off. A sphere emerges from her head and crashes out through the window. Back at home, Jody appears again to warn Mike but the Tall Man arrives via dimension fork, fights off Reggie and Jody (now forcibly transformed into a charred flying sphere) and draws Mike through the gate with him.The next morning, Reggie (with the Jody-sphere) travels to the small town of Holtsville, which turns out to be deserted. Reggie is captured by three looters who lock him in his Cuda's trunk and drive on to another house. There they are attacked and killed by a little boy named Tim, who also releases Reggie.After they have buried three looters in the yard, Tim tells Reggie how the Tall Man took his parents and destroyed the town. In the morning, Reggie and Tim find the three graves empty and their pink hearse gone. Setting out to find the Tall Man, Reggie wants to leave Tim with a woman looking after orphans but the boy hides in the trunk and comes along.Reggie enters the Holtsville mausoleum and is confronted by a sphere. Before he can destroy it, he is assaulted and subdued by two young black women, Tanesha and Rocky. Reg tries to warn them but the sphere kills Tanesha, as well as damaging Rocky's nunchaku. Tim appears and shoots it out of the air with his pistol. The three join forces and drive on, looking for a town called Boulton, which contains a large mortuary. On their way the come across a convoy of hearses driven by gravers and follow them.As they camp outside, the Jody-sphere floats over to Reggie. In a dream, Jody appears and leads Reggie to the Tall Man's lair, where Mike is imprisoned in a small cell. The two free him but the Tall Man reappears and pursues the three. Jody is transformed back into a sphere and Reggie awakes. Jody appears again, opens another gate and Mike emerges. The Tall Man tries to emerge as well but Reggie manages to shut the gate just as he was about to reach through, cutting off the Tall Man's hands. They manage to fight off the small creatures the hands morph into and also later the pink hearse containing the three comically-zombified looters.They reach Boulton mortuary, where they come across a cryonics facility, which reminds Mike that the Tall Man dislikes cold. While Reggie, Rocky and Tim are separately attacked by the looters, Mike consults with the Jody-sphere, who explains that the Tall Man is amassing an army to conquer dimensions. He also shows him in a dream what the Tall Man does with the dwarf creatures he has created from the dead: he removes the sapient part of the brains to create the spheres, turning the body into a drone and the mind into a killer. The Tall Man senses their presence and before they can leave, and paralyzes Mike. Surrounded by hundreds of spheres, the Tall Man reaches for Mike, who wakes up and finds himself strapped to the table. The Tall Man grabs and subdues the Jody-sphere and welcomes Mike. Soon after, two of the looters, Rufus and Henry, wheel in Tim. Mike tries to give a message to the boy, saying "There are thousands of them", but is paralyzed beyond speech by the Tall Man.Rocky meanwhile manages to shake off her attacker and goes on to fight off Reggie's. Cut free by the Jody-sphere, Tim runs into the remaining looters who are killed by the Jody-sphere and Reggie's 4-barrel shotgun. The trio crash into the embalming room, where the Tall Man has begun operating on Mike. Rocky impales the Tall Man with a spear dipped in liquid nitrogen, causing his flesh to begin melting. Rocky and Reggie lock him into the refrigerator room. A golden sphere breaks out of his head, crashes outside and chases through the corridors. Surprised by the golden sphere, Reggie catches it with a plunger and is almost overpowered by it. With help from Rocky and Tim, he submerges the sphere in the nitrogen tank neutralizing it.In the meantime, Mike climbs from the table and sees yellow blood issuing from his wound. He looks into a mirror and sees a golden sphere in his own head, concealed his torn skin. Just after the Tall Man's sphere has been dumped into the nitrogen, Mike appears, showing silver eyeballs, complaining of the cold and walking outside. Reggie chases after him but Mike warns him to stay away. Jody leaves as well telling Reggie that they'll be in touch.Reggie suggests searching the mortuary but Rocky leaves having had enough of dealing with the undead. Reggie and Tim go back inside and Tim reports that Mike said that "There are thousands of them." Unknown to them, dozens of spheres are hovering above them.In the next room, Tim finds the poles of the dimension fork and the nitrogen tank overturned. He goes back to find Reggie pinned to the wall by force of the spheres. Tim tries to get his gun but a new Tall Man reappears and watches as Tim is pulled through a window by a creature followed by the sound of him getting torn apart and killed... continuing the films' trademark ending.

Review: It also, like the second one, shows that the ending you THOUGHT you saw isn't exactly what happened...and somehow Reggie survived in order to keep fighting The Tall Man. However, Mike IS gone...and he only appears in the film as more of a guest star.
And let's not forget one of the creepiest screen villains in the last 30 years - Angus Scrimm as the ubiquitous Tall Man. This time around Reg and Mike continue to battle the Tall Man from the last scene in Phantasm II - eventually Mike is kidnapped and Reg finds some new pals - an eleven year old that has holed himself up in his house whilst battling intruders and killing many of them as well as a martial arts using woman with that Grace Jones look and the sizzle of speech that a film like this needs sometimes.
i remember being pumped up about seeing the original cast of mike and jody returning to the phantasm series but being just as dissapointed with this 3rd installment.for one you have too many villains to deal with.it's not just the TALL MAN but these hoodlums which eventually turn into zombies working for the tall man.the TALL MAN  doesn't need any more people helping him other than those dwarfs and it just takes away from his character.the spheres are back and just as impressive but this film is just a liitle too campy and does not satisfy your loyal phanatics like myself.the little boy character was a nice addition so he could tag along with reggie and help our hero, but the rocky character should have been left out.it is somewhat humorous watching reggie trying to snag her throughout the flick.good special effects for a low-budget movie and somewhat entertaining but not containing any real suspense and that weirdness factor if you will that the first one had and the second one had as well.definately the weakest in the series but does get you ready for the fourth one {OBLIVION}which is considerably better.
I just don't get it.Some people say this is the worst in the series and it's not.Phantasm 4 is,anyway Phantasm 3 picks up right where part 2 left off.Phantasm 3 has a great movie plot, in my opinion my favorite movie in the series.The characters are well played and seem life-like.The sets are stunning and give the movie more of an errie felling.I found the Boulton Masuleom the scariest and best set of them all.The zombies weren't that boring and there one liners are pretty funny.The music is great like always and the Tall Man returns will more deadly flying spheres, gore, and horror.I recently just bought the uncut version on Ebay and I must say it is better than the cut version.The cut version is good though.the movie is worth seeing..
Better Than Part One, Slightly worse than Part Two. After seeing Phantasm III about 5 or 7 Times i can only reach one conclusion...It is a Darn good movie, probably 2nd best in the Whole Series.
Continuing off "Phantasm 2", Reggie (Reggie Bannister) just lost Mike (Michael Baldwin) to that evil being called Tall-Man (Angus Scrimm).
Reggie joins with orphaned 11 year old Tim (Kevin Conners) and feisty militant woman Rocky (Gloria Lyn Henry) to ward off the Tall-Man's minions and try find out his secret.Another exciting installment of the unique Sci-fi horror fantasy saga "Phantasm" from writer and director Don Coscrelli.
Included are a kid who is a horror-movie version of Kevin McAllister, a butt-kicking karate fighting black woman who uses nun-chucks for no other reason than they differentiate her from the other characters, that guy with the skullet who has been in all the Phantasm movies so far, and the horribly uncharismatic kid from the first movie, who has thankfully grown up and is less annoying this time around, though his presence adds nothing to the movie besides a call back to the first one for those who still remember it.The Phantasm movies are famous for two things: Angus Scrimm in the role as the villainous Tall Man, and the flying silver balls he employs to drill into people's heads.
The second Phantasm movie provided some background to the Tall Man's movements in the series.
Michael Baldwin and Bill Thornbury return as brothers Mike and Jody in Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead.
With the story it was beginning to feel that Coscarelli is going back to the same well perhaps too many times by the third movie with some story points, but some of the new characters do assist with this (e.g. Rocky being the attempted love interest and giving Reg some attitude).
The two points though weren't enough for me to not enjoy the movie as a whole and Scrimm is still and always was great in the role as The Tall Man. But, if you love the spheres they get a real showing here with a lot more info about them, so if that interests you that may be a plus for you as well..
I just saw Phantasm 3 for the 1st (yup!) time, and one of the reasons is I'd seen the 2nd film, a (long!) whilst back, and was do turned off, I didn't feel like moving ahead to the next film.What a pleasant surprise!The 'hyphen'; 'director/writer/creator', Don CoscarellI, got his groove back on, and made what's a fun, road-trip-type film, with a wonderful threesome; Reggie, the young boy, Tim, and Rocky, a young woman, who's army-trained.I give the creators, and stars of this film kudos, because they could've made a(nother) clichéd film - and had they dine so, it would've really killed Phantasm.However, this straight-to-video film shows that it's NOT the amount of money spent on a project, it's TALENT, which makes a difference, and this is a film which should show ANY up-and-coming film maker that you do your W-O-R-K - get a good (decent 😉) script, and actors who know how to act, and you can actually make something which will easily be better than ANYthing the horrors, made by such no-talents as Bey, or any 'actor' who's 'talent' is equated with a price tag.A social thumb's up to both Ms. Gloria Lynne Henry, as 'Rocky', and Kevin Connors, as 'Tim'.
Like with every sequel in the series, "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" begins immediately where the previous film leaves off (in this case "Phantasm II").
Michael Baldwin after being replaced in part 2) get away, and run into Jody (Bill Thornbury), Mike's brother killed years earlier by The Tall Man and has become a servant of his.
During his search for Mike he runs into a sexy looter (Cindy Ambuehl) and her friends, a kid (Kevin Conners) who can shoot straight, a girl named Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry), and more of The Tall Man's flying silver spheres.
Plus the Anchor Bay US DVD is great pretty good.CONS: Killing/ignoring Liz, a few continuity errors annoyed me, Michael Baldwin's performance wasn't very good in comparison to the first and fourth films, seeing Bill Thornbury was nice was it wasn't really necessary, the thing with brains and extend able eyeballs in the silver spheres I wasn't really fond of, and of course, the whole thing with Liz.OVERALL: "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" is a very fun and humorous fantasy/action flick that is very enjoyable.
Michael Baldwin's return didn't really thrill me like it did others since he appears very little and gives a below par acting job (he gives a great one in "Phantasm IV: Oblivion" though) but Angus Scrimm and Reggie Bannister are great as usual.
In the third entry of the Phantasm series, Mike and Reggie continue chasing the Tall Man, assisted by a trigger-happy 9 year old, a black G.I. Jane and the spirit of Mike's deceased brother (he died in the original Phantasm).
Michael Baldwin as Mike, and Bill Thornbury as Jody, who returns from the dead(!) to warn his brother Mike that the tall man is more determined than ever to not only succeed in his plan of human enslavement, but that he also wants Mike himself this time.
This time, Reggie's got two new sidekicks (a tough kid and an even tougher chick) and he's out to track down the Tall Man, who has kidnapped Michael for some reason.
In this case it's the Silver Sentinel Balls of Hunting Death (or whatever they're called), which by this instalment have lost a fair bit of their menace.The film does serve it's purpose as a sequel though by fleshing out the Tall Man's motivations and revealing a bit more of what's going on whilst still confusing you with it's surreal logic (or lack there-of).There's also plenty of laughs, as it's mining the same vein of slapstick horror as the 2nd movie, and while the new sidekicks couldn't be more ludicrous if they tried, we have to assume that they are trying and that Coscarelli is every bit as aware of the ridiculousness of a nunchuk wielding ex-military hottie as the audience is.
It's also hilarious to watch Reggie continue to develop into a Bruce Campbell style horror hero, especially he's the least likely loverman you're likely to see in a movie.Like the 2nd film, you're not going to be scared but if the humour is on your wavelength then you should find it a very enjoyable fantasy adventure..
Being in college, and having recently rented the first Phantasm, and somewhat liking it, and renting the second one, and liking it more, and becoming an overnight Reggie Bannister fan, I had to get this one to see more of the story.This movie answers a lot from the first two, which suck at story telling and excel in plot holes.
Our heroes Reggie and Mike are going after The Tall Man once again.Chasing him they stumble across all manner of friends(a militant chick and the annoying kid who seems to pop up in films when all else fails).The comedy aspect featured here is pretty weak-Reggie Bannister has some good one-liners though!There is plenty of gore as people are dismembered in various ways.The film is never boring,so if you like "Phantasm" series give this one a look!.
However I would have preferred him to concentrate more on scenes like the creepy house where Tim is found and other times like when Reg is alone in a deserted town these scenes had a really good chance of being both suspenseful and creepy but little is made of them.Overall the movie is good for fans of the series, it answers questions and asks new ones which leave you wanting more.
More directors nowadays should attempt this when making horror films, because the style back then mixed with horror much better than the glossy atmosphere that is too often done today.Reggie Bannister is as much the Phantasm series as Don himself is.
In "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead," we learn that there are thousands of these balls, and it made me wonder how The Tall Man has so much time to construct them, in between robbing graveyards, dissecting bodies, creating evil dwarves and driving across the country in pursuit of new towns to ruin.
Just like the "Critters" series, "Phantasm" falls back on flashbacks, recurring characters, movie in-jokes that reference earlier sequels, and familiar gimmicks (such as the endings).
Did they really make that much money?Taking place directly after "Phantasm II," this film has Reggie joining up with Tim (Kevin Connors), an orphaned child, to help find Mike (now played by the original A.
With the help of old and new friends, Reggie finds himself face-to-face with The Tall Man and another dimension, where he finds Mike trapped and unable to escape.Hunky 80s teen icon James Le Gros (well, he was popular in Japan) looks absolutely nothing like puny A.
I didn't think was as good as Sequel, I did find some part of this movie just bit better then first.I really enjoyed how the movie started off, was really good, there a few good decent scare scenes at the start.I thought it was great to start this movie however the movies soon dies down and takes it's while for it's to get going again.There few scenes that enjoyed but it shame the scene before and after a little bit dull, I didn't really like that more people got involvedeven for few seconds I thought I was watch Home Alone Horror style, when added the new kid to the movie , I wasn't sure were the plot was going in this one, it all come together in the end.Near the end of the movie, I was only really half watching, So overallit's not were near as good as the second movie, i found some part of the movie better then first.The acting in this movie from some of the cast is really wooden at times,6 out of 10.
The Phantasm franchise starts to take an unfortunate dip as the story between Mike, Jody, Reggie and The Tall Man progresses.
I feel that that the Tall Man takes a back seat in this film and Reggie and the two new, over the top characters take the lead.
The best thing about all the movies is perhaps the evil tall man character, who deserved to be part of a better or at least more interesting movie series really.
With the help of Jody (who is mainly in the form of a silver sphere now) and some others that he picks up along his journey, including a young boy named Tim (Kevin Connors) and a woman from the Army, Rocky (Gloria Lynne Henry), Reggie begins a relentless search for the Tall Man's current location, where he has Mike, and what he plans to do with him.A different but very entertaining entry, "Phantasm III" is a very fun film.
Not only do we have The Tall Man plus his dwarve-creatures and army of spheres, but we also have a trio of thieves that Reggie stumbles upon, who end up as zombies that continue as antagonists throughout the film.
And while I thought the new character of Rocky almost seemed misplaced (kick ass Army chick with an attitude), I liked her a lot and I thought the actress portraying her did a great job.Overall, "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" is a sequel that has it's share of problems, and differs a lot in style from the other movies.
He teams up with a resourceful kid and an ex-army chick to find Mike and continue his hunt for the Tall Man while dwarfs, sentinel spheres, gravediggers and zombies are all on their trail.The following hokum will seem very familiar as it's almost exactly what happened in Phantasm II, so while it's certainly not original in this respect I still found it to be loads of fun as the pace just doesn't let up and new characters and locations keep popping up to keep things interesting.
Picking up after the dreary and depressing Phantasm II ended; The Tall Man kidnaps Mike, while Reggie and new kid Tim spend most of the rest of the movie trying to get him back, and not end up as slaves on the Tall Man's "Red Planet".
Like the other Phantasm movies, "Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead" has a colorful--arguably a little TOO colorful--set of characters.
Reggie finds out that the Tall Man has a lot of balls and gets nailed to the wall while some dwarves take that Tim kid away...Now try to explain all that with a straight face.Overall, it's a quirky, decent movie worthy of a 7 rating (10 being the highest).
Also there is a severe lack of midgets running about.The only good bits are the cracking start and, of course, Reggie B.(Possible SPOILER coming Up)To me this film seems like a filler between II and IV as extra characters just leave at the end so can continue with main 4 in IV.Overall very, VERY disappointing.
Universal Studios was going to put this out in theaters before differences with Coscarelli, yet the direct to video release of this film was in the top 100 rentals of that year - ah, the magic days when video rental could help a movie succeed!Right after the end of the last film, the Tall Man comes back from the Red Dimension just as the hearse with Liz and Mike in it explodes.
The minute he wakes up, his nurse turns into a demon with a ball inside her skull.Soon enough, the Tall Man is back, transforming Jody into a sphere and taking Mike with him, sending Reggie on a road trip.
He ends up in a small town where three gangsters - somehow this movie becomes The People Under the Stairs for a bit - throw him into the trunk of his car but are thwarted by Tim, a young kid who has been fighting the forces of the Tall Man.Of note, Tim's house is the same house from House!Much like how Princess from The Walking Dead comic has to be directly influenced by Alma from Warriors of the Wasteland, the way Carl Grimes dresses seems like too much of a coincidence when we see Tim in the film.Reggie and Tim make their way to a mausoleum where they team up with Rocky, a tough woman who is good with nunchakus.
Fans of the PHANTASM films are thrilled to be getting these movies released on blu-ray format from Well Go. Sure they've been available as DVDs but the clarity and crispness of these blu-rays feels like seeing them for the first time.At the end of the second film the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) was supposedly dead only to come back once more.
There they find the Tall Man & attempt to rescue Mike from his clutches...Written, produced & directed by Don Coscarelli the third film in the Phantasm franchise isn't an overly impressive one.
And to you who doesn't liked it "It's time for you boy" Phantasm III lets us follow Reggie and Mike from the end of PII.