Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994)

Truly Dreadful Film

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

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'. I hope that the work they both did here would pay off with casting directors.If you're a fan of these Phantasm films, and felt let-down by N°2, I hope you give this film atry, it's well worth it.

This was one of the crappiest movies I've EVER watched. Well at least in the bottom five. I liked the first two from the installation were quite good and entertaining and also got some real horror too. That's why I watched this third one although I almost turned the TV off middle ways. "Lord of the Dead" is just too ludicrous and not even fun in a b-class horror movie way. This time we get to see Home Alone -kid that kills people with razor blade -Frisbee in cold blood, unattractive lesbian kun-fu afro lady, stupid zombies (no more just midgets) who survive massive explosion seemingly unharmed, baddies popping up around every corner, silver sentry balls that were supposed to be just guarding the premise all the sudden have brains inside and can transform to people, just very very bad acting from pretty much everybody in the cast,.. List can go on and on. What happened with this one? All the good qualities from the first two are pretty much absent and replaced with random crap. What is there left to say? Director seemed to make up the story while filming. I could make up a better script sitting on a can taking a dump. Just horrible...I'm speechless. 1/10.

Really the biggest compliment I can give this movie is that it didn't annoyed me half as much as the previous 2 movies did. I'm still obviously not the biggest fan of the entire series but I can actually take and enjoy this movie for what it is.They changed a couple of things around for this sequel again. First of all Reggie Bannister is a returning character and actor who this time really got made the main lead of the movie. Secondary character is a kid again, as was also the case with the first movie. It makes this movie more in tone with the first one, more so than the second one was. In that regard alone this movie already is a better sequel.I still don't understand though what is going on half of the time in this movie. I really enjoyed the first half but after that the movie started to get crazy again and I started to loose interest in it all pretty fast.I never really understood why this movie appealed to so many horror fans. As an horror this movie really isn't any good. It only has some gore at times but it just never features any well build up tension or mystery and doesn't have any scare moments, or other classic genre elements, in it. 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. He besides is far too little in this movie and really doesn't get an awful lot to do, until the very end of the movie.But oh well, this movie at least made me somewhat interested in watching the fourth movie as well, even though it is obvious to me that I will just never become a fan of this series and I highly doubt that the fourth movie "Phantasm IV: Oblivion" can change this around.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Phantasm III keeps its promise of continuing with the Phantasm story and the Phantasm characters. Mike and Reg are back - and so is Jody from the first Phantasm. 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. We get the spheres, the mausoleums, the suspenseful, frightening scenes you know are coming but still are ill-prepared for, and some imaginative script-telling and directing from Don Coscarelli. Phantsm III has all that one might look for in a sequel like this and keeps the Phantasm flame burning gloriously brightly. The acting is as always very solid. Reggie Bannister is particularly good in his reprising role, and let's face it when Angus Scrimm says, "BOY!" that he makes even the most lithe heart beat a bit faster. Some of the plot elements like the little eleven year old are somewhat far-fetched as the three thugs in living and non-living form became tiresome. The layout of the film with its vast empty towns and sense of decay in the American heartland as well as the hugely reverential-look given to the mausoleum showcase Coscarelli's skills as a director with a wonderful eye for detail.