Summaries

Mike travels through time and dimensions to find the Tall Man's origins.

Taking off immediately where the last one ended, in this episode Mike travels across dimensions and time fleeing from the Tall Man, at the same time he tries to find the origins of his enemy, and what really happened the night that his brother died. Meanwhile, Reggie (accompanied by a beauty he picked up on the road) battles the spheres and the undead in a quest to find Mike before the Tall Man can complete his transformation.—Parca Mortem <[email protected]>

In Boulton, Mike flees from the mortuary driving a hearse while Reggie is trapped by several spheres. The Tall Man arrives and surprisingly let him go. Reggie stumbles upon Jody that convinces him to seek out Mike. While driving on the road, Reggie rescues a woman, Jennifer, from a car accident and gives a ride to her. When Jennifer tries to kill him in a motel using spheres, Reggie learns that she is a Tall Man's minion. Meanwhile Mike uses a dimension fork expecting to escape from The Tall Man in another dimension.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Phantasm: Oblivion is the 4th installment of the series. The cast from the original Phantasm returns as Mike attempts to find how the tall man came to be. Mike, along with Cody and some help from Reggie, travels through various dimensions of time and space to find the source of the tall man.—Jason Squires <[email protected]>

Details

Keywords
  • alien invasion
  • ice cream truck
  • interdimensional being
  • interdimensional portal
  • four barreled shotgun
Genres
  • Fantasy
  • Horror
  • Sci-Fi
Release date Jul 30, 1998
Motion Picture Rating (MPA) R
Countries of origin United States
Official sites Official site
Language English
Filming locations Ventura, California, USA
Production companies Starway International Inc.

Box office

Budget $650000

Tech specs

Runtime 1h 30m
Color Color
Sound mix Dolby Digital
Aspect ratio 1.85 : 1

Synopsis

The film opens where its predecessor left off. Mike flees from Boulton mortuary in the hearse, while Reggie is trapped inside by The Tall Man's spheres. However, The Tall Man decides to let Reggie go for the moment.

Mike's spherical brother Jody persuades a reluctant Reggie to go looking for Mike. On the way, Reggie runs into a police car which pulls him over. He is attacked by the policeman, who turns out to be a mysterious psychopathic demon, but manages to escape after blowing up the police car and destroying the body.

The next morning, Reggie meets a woman called Jennifer, whom he rescues from her overturned car and takes her to the next town, which is also abandoned. They stay the night at an abandoned motel and Reggie tells her the story of The Tall Man. Jennifer doesn't believe him and also rejects his advances. Having dreamed of Mike, Reggie wakes up and unbuttons Jennifer's nightshirt, discovering two spheres sticking in her breasts. As they fly out and attack him, he smashes one with a sledgehammer but is pinned to the wall by the other. In desperation he strikes his tuning fork and the sphere explodes. Jennifer grabs his leg but he smashes her with the hammer and leaves.

Mike, trying to uncover the mysteries of The Tall Man and to escape the transformation, drives through abandoned towns and remembers the last days before The Tall Man's arrival. The Tall Man appears in the back of the hearse and takes control of the car before he disappears into the coffin.

Mike drives the hearse into Death Valley. Mike intends to force The Tall Man to a confrontation and writes his testament. He finds himself at a 19th Century colonial-style house with an earlier model of the gate inside. Mike meets a man resembling The Tall Man, who however welcomes him cordially and introduces himself as Jebediah Morningside. Jebediah wants to speak with Mike, who, however, is frightened and again escapes through the gate. Jebediah's wife (who resembles the Fortuneteller from the first Phantasm movie), appears and tells him to let Mike go.

Back in Death Valley, Mike realizes that he can move rocks by the power of his mind. Jody appears. Mike is distrustful and accuses his brother of having abandoned him. Jody defends his behavior and disappears. Mike works on his car, using parts to build a makeshift sphere. Hoping that he might stop Jebedaiah from becoming the evil Tall Man, he again goes through a gate, but finds himself in the deserted city of Los Angeles and escapes The Tall Man only with Jody's help.

Meanwhile, Reggie arrives at Death Valley and fights off a group of zombie dwarfs when Mike and Jody appear through a gate. Mike embraces Reggie and tells him not to trust Jody. Reggie passes Mike the tuning fork, as the two brothers pass through the gate, appearing in Jebediah's house. Invisible to the old man, they witness how he perfects his craft and approaches the inter-dimensional gate. Mike tries to stab him before he can pass through but misses him, as they are in another dimension. Jebedaiah vanishes and moments later is replaced by the evil Tall Man who emerges in his place, having taken his form and using his human appearance as a disguise.

Mike escapes through the gate, finding himself in a cemetery. He is attacked and overpowered by his brother and awakes on mortuary slab. Jody holds him as The Tall Man begins operating. A panicking Mike strikes the tuning fork, thus immobilizing his opponents. Mike then kills Jody with a sphere but The Tall Man revives and telekinetically takes the fork from Mike. Again, Mike escapes through the gate back to Death Valley, pursued by The Tall Man. Reggie tries to shoot The Tall Man but is overpowered. Mike summons the sphere he built. The Tall Man is impaled in the neck but he is unharmed and he pulls out the sphere and crushes it with his right hand, amused.

At that moment, Mike activates the hearse's motor, which turns out to be the true weapon against the Tall Man (a strange inter-dimensional bomb). A distracted Tall Man is vanquished after the explosion consumes both him and the car. However, a new Tall Man immediately comes through the gate, revealing that the Tall Man is but one of many. He resumes the surgery started by the last Tall Man he removes the golden sphere from Mike's head and disappears again through the gate. As Mike is close to death, Reggie arms himself with his 4-barrelled shotgun and enters the gate, determined to overcome The Tall Man.

As Mike lies dying on the desert floor near the gateway, he has a childhood memory, climbing into Reggie's ice cream truck with him and driving off into the night.

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