Read on Twitter
In anticipation of the glorious return of @joebobbriggs, @kinkyhorror, and the whole fam-damn-ily at #TheLastDriveIn this Friday... I'm rewatching A Very Joe Bob X-Mas on @shudder. AND I'm going to attempt to do something not even the illustious Joe Bob himself could do...
I'm going to try to explain the meaning of the entire Phantasm phranchise.
I'll start with the obvious: The Tall Man = Death. A little on the nose, but I think it's common ground for all interpretations. The story kicks off with Michael as the central character. He's someone who is attuned to Death.
Michael's lost his parents, and he fears being alone should anything happen to his older brother, Jody.
The world is a scary place. Death comes in many guises. Michael fights tooth and nail to keep his brother with him, but it's not enough. By the end of the first movie, Michael's fears are realized. He loses Jody, and Death is undefeated.
Here's the twist to the Phantasm movies. The 'real' world in these movies is the phantasm. The Tall Man, Death, is real, and the world beyond is what actually matters. The Tall Man manipulates the things of this world, and people generally remain blind...
But Michael is not taken in by the illusions. We see this theme reoccur through the movies: allies are hardened warriors who's lives have been marred by Death. Villains are either Death's illusions, or people taken in by the allures of the world.
Now, I know Joe Bob had to skip Phantasm II due to (ahem) his "strict code of ethics" but I'm including it, for the sake of continuity. And I'm a heathen who would sacrifice a Hemi Cuda so Phantasm II could live.
We kick things off with Michael having spent time in an asylum, as one typically would should they insist that Death is coming for everyone, and, not only that, but Death is working to turn humans into slave imps in a Hell dimension.
Reggie, meanwhile, has slid under the spell of the phantasm... ignore Death, and he may very well leave you alone. Throughout the movies, Michael is one who sees clearly, while Reggie struggles more with the temptations of the illusions of this life.
We meet Liz, another person who can see Death and his work. Liz and Michael are drawn together, but not even 'soulmates' can overcome Death. The Tall Man claims everyone in Liz's life.
The movie ends on a cold reminder that at a certain point, you can't slip back into the illusion. When you dance with Death enough, he can't be denied.
There's also some obvious metaphors about a young man growing up... guns, cars, relationships... again, some things are like The Tall Man = Death. Sometimes the subtext is the text. But we're driving at the heart of this series, not all the myriad veins.
Moving into Phantasm III - the carnage continues. Liz is dead. The losses continue to mount, but Micheal and Reggie fight on. They are aging, and the world around them is dying, too.
Jody returns from beyond; a sign that the fight continues on the other side. As we've seen from the start, Death is not an end, it's a transition. How you act on this side might determine where you end up on the other side.
Phantasm II and III share a common trajectory - growing up and fighting on in face of overwhelming odds and the inevitability of Death.
Phantasm IV really takes things in new directions. I completely agree with Joe Bob, this is the best philm of the phranchise, and one of my personal favorite movies ever. Oblivion really hinges on one man's meditation on his own Death.
A beautiful and twisting tale of two characters, Michael and Death, battling with each other through time and space; Oblivion is powerfully, painfully poignant. There's certainly a lot that could be bandied about here, but this thread is already WAY too long, so suffice to say...
This is the culmination of Michael's story. The inevitability of his own face off with Death. We know how it goes, and in an extra heart-wrenching moment, we see Reggie immediately try to follow after his dear friend Michael, straight into oblivion itself.
The final scene of Oblivion hits like a ton of bricks. Again, completely agree with Joe Bob, this is one of the best endings to a movie. Hauntingly beautiful.
So, Jody is dead. Michael has joined him. Practically everyone we've met along the way is also dead, and here we are at Ravager.
I know this one gets a lot of flack (including from Joe Bob), but I think it fits beautifully with the rest of the series. Our intrepid hero Reggie is soldiering on, this time on his own. Death is coming for him in a particularly cruel way.
Death preys on Reggie's susceptibility to his phantasmagoric illusions. Without Michael's steely conviction, will Reggie believe this has all been in his head all along? Will he give up and slip quietly into Death's grasp like so many others?
The answer is no. Reggie fights on, aware of the realm beyond and unbroken by the tests he faces. Mike comes to him from beyond, in a fashion similar to Jody's return. By the end of the film, Reggie joins his friends Jody and Michael on the other side.
When Death comes for Reggie, he doesn't slip quietly into the night, he rides off in a blaze of glory, fighting all the way.
