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". This isn't as violent and gory and part II, it goes overboard with comedy, and ends up silly and inane: the trio of thieves in the bright pink hearse were only there for comic relief, and the black karate chick (I can't even remember her name) was so irritating I couldn't wait to see if the Tall Man killed her character.
One of the story's most clever bits is when it sets it up to almost look like it was going to be Tim's character, who comes in late and ultimately is the hero, but ... it doesn't quite work out that way. By the very end of this story, Liz is beheaded by the killer midgets, Mike gets a silver sphere implanted into his skull, the spheres get Reggie, and the dwarfs get Tim, and there's no one left to stop The Tall Man. The bad guy wins, and - "It's never over" How's that for a surprise twist at the end?
Impressive set designs in the mortuary are an asset, but the film can't balance the humour and horror nearly as much as it wants to, and it ends up looking almost satirical.
That ending was, at the time, final, and although it's disappointing and anticlimactic, it was also a fitting and appropriate ending for this weird little series. Filmed in 1993, unreleased for about a year and a half upon completion.
One of the story's most clever bits is when it sets it up to almost look like it was going to be Tim's character, who comes in late and ultimately is the hero, but ... it doesn't quite work out that way. By the very end of this story, Liz is beheaded by the killer midgets, Mike gets a silver sphere implanted into his skull, the spheres get Reggie, and the dwarfs get Tim, and there's no one left to stop The Tall Man. The bad guy wins, and - "It's never over" How's that for a surprise twist at the end?
Impressive set designs in the mortuary are an asset, but the film can't balance the humour and horror nearly as much as it wants to, and it ends up looking almost satirical.
That ending was, at the time, final, and although it's disappointing and anticlimactic, it was also a fitting and appropriate ending for this weird little series. Filmed in 1993, unreleased for about a year and a half upon completion.