A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 2 nominations
A. Michael Baldwin
- Mike
- (as Michael Baldwin)
Kenneth V. Jones
- Caretaker
- (as Ken Jones)
Lynn Eastman-Rossi
- Sally
- (as Lynn Eastman)
Dac Coscarelli
- Funeral Guest
- (uncredited)
Kate Coscarelli
- Funeral Guest
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDon Coscarelli rented all of the filming equipment used to make this movie, always on Fridays so he could use it all weekend and return it on Mondays, all the while only actually having to pay one day's rental on the equipment.
- GoofsWhen The Tall Man breaks down the door of Mike's house, at the bottom of the door, a crew person's feet are visible running and pushing the door.
- Quotes
The Tall Man: Boooy!
- Crazy creditsThe remastered version begins with the Bad Robot logo appearing in one of the Tall Man's spheres.
- Alternate versionsNew Line/Image Collector's Edition laserdisc features a separate section with one deleted scene (struck from a what appears to be a work print as there is no music and sound is limited to dialogue only). The scene has Mike telling big brother Jody about weird goings-on he has witnessed at the cemetery. Jody then gets Mike drunk and takes him to Reggie's ice cream parlor, where they start a food fight. Then it cuts to a scene the next day where Jody stops by the bank where he works and visits his girlfriend.
- ConnectionsEdited into Phantasm: Behind the Scenes 1995 Featurette (1995)
Featured review
In it's own way, a horror classic
Two orphaned boys, Mike (Michael Baldwin) and Jody (Bill Thornbury) notice some strange things happening at Morningside Mortuary. Bodies are disappearing from coffins; a lady in lavender has sex with men in the graveyard and then stabs them to death; little midgets in brown cloaks (making sounds like lions) are roaming about and there's a flying silver orb with spikes that embeds itself in people's heads! And then there's the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) overseeing it all...Soon Mike, Jody and their friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) are fighting for their lives...
The story is pretty thin (and REALLY out of whack at the end), the acting dismal, there's no characterizations or depth and some of the special effects are horrible but...this is STILL a classic horror film. It takes a while to get going (nothing much happens in the first half hour), but when it does there's scarcely a letup. Action leaps into high gear, there's some fairly graphic gore (including the now infamous flying sphere killing), there are plenty of scenes guaranteed to make you jump and the music score is very spooky...right up there with "Halloween". Also some of the special effects are impressive (considering there was no budget). Also Bill Thornbury is a VERY attractive man and there's gratuitous male and female nudity. What's even more surprising is Don Coscarelli wrote, produced, directed AND edited this at the age of 24! He's never matched it since and all the sequels really suck...but this stands alone as a classic. A must-see for all horror fans. Also Scrimm is EXCELLENT (and damn scary) as the Tall Man.
Trivia: This was awarded an X rating FOUR TIMES because of the sphere killing...Coscarelli went all the way to the head of the ratings board who overturned it and gave it an R--a rare occurrence that the ratings board kept in a gore scene!
The story is pretty thin (and REALLY out of whack at the end), the acting dismal, there's no characterizations or depth and some of the special effects are horrible but...this is STILL a classic horror film. It takes a while to get going (nothing much happens in the first half hour), but when it does there's scarcely a letup. Action leaps into high gear, there's some fairly graphic gore (including the now infamous flying sphere killing), there are plenty of scenes guaranteed to make you jump and the music score is very spooky...right up there with "Halloween". Also some of the special effects are impressive (considering there was no budget). Also Bill Thornbury is a VERY attractive man and there's gratuitous male and female nudity. What's even more surprising is Don Coscarelli wrote, produced, directed AND edited this at the age of 24! He's never matched it since and all the sequels really suck...but this stands alone as a classic. A must-see for all horror fans. Also Scrimm is EXCELLENT (and damn scary) as the Tall Man.
Trivia: This was awarded an X rating FOUR TIMES because of the sphere killing...Coscarelli went all the way to the head of the ratings board who overturned it and gave it an R--a rare occurrence that the ratings board kept in a gore scene!
helpful•7527
- preppy-3
- Jan 28, 2004
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Morningside
- Filming locations
- Dunsmuir House & Gardens - 2960 Peralta Oaks Court, Oakland, California, USA(Morningside cemetery)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $300,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $11,988,469
- Gross worldwide
- $11,988,469
- Runtime1 hour 29 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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