This is one of my favorite films of all time, and I only saw it like a year or two ago.
WILDLY imaginative, and weirdly personal to Walter Hill (one of my all time favorite directors), and looks just BEAUTIFUL in the way that Walter Hill films tend to look beautiful, with a just INCREDIBLE OST!
Stephen Root is possibly the most G.O.A.T.ed character actor of all time.
Mans has been consistently EXCELLENT in the background of things for like 30 years, and gotten ZERO flowers for it.
And his imagination leans surreal...he's not very concerned with the logic of things; such as a visit to a local psychic and a pretty obvious reference to a scene in the DUNE novels about Fear being the Mind Killer; instead focusing on investing the film with FEELING.
Yeah...this FUCKED.
I like how it all feels like a strange and frightening dream...because it IS.
Coscarelli balances the weird and frightening with moments of absurdity and violence, making it all a really fun ride, and it looks WAY better than it should for it's budget.
Coscarelli is serving as his own DP on this joint, and he's very careful and deliberate in how he frames and lights things, and invests the film with as much visual rizz as he possibly can, creating a really great and effective atmosphere very quickly.
Everything is very somber and eerie.
GOOD/BAD Flicks did a really good video on PHANTASM that I watched, where they talked about how Coscarelli came up with PHANTASM, investing the film with his own personal fears and experiences, related to grief and the mysteries of death, having lived near a funeral home as a child.
I don't understand why people don't seem to fuck with the Silver Surfer any more.
The Silver Surfer is great, and most Silver Surfer comics are fucking excellent...?