“Phantasm” has got to be one of the silliest horror movies I’ve ever seen. By any normal standards, this is a terrible movie but it is so over the top and laughable that it does at least have some comedic value… just not enough to save it.

The mysterious grave robber, known only as the ‘Tall Man’ (Angus Scrimm “I Sell The Dead”), is busy collecting bodies when he’s spotted by a young boy by the name of Mike (A. Michael Baldwin). Mike and his older brother must try and stop the Tall Man before he kills more people and steals their dead bodies for a sinister plot involving another planet/dimension.

The characters are very goofy and they are played more like characters in a parody of horror movies. The teens in this movie have no class as they make out in a cemetery of all places. The Tall Man is the “Phantasm” franchise’s equivalent of Michael Myers from “Halloween” and Leatherface from “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” but instead of using a conventional weapon, he uses a metal sphere. The sphere uses an array of deadly instruments as it hooks onto a man’s face and then a drill emerges, which goes right through the man’s face in what is definitely the most iconic and creative scene in the movie.

The metal sphere scene goes over the top on the gore and looks about as fake as possible and another amusing scene features a giant fly-like creature that attacks Mike and his brother. “Phantasm” doesn’t really have much of a plot and ends with one of those clichéd horror movie endings that renders the events of the whole film as meaningless but unlike “Friday The 13th” or “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, you might get a few chuckles out of this film. “Phantasm” has gained a cult following over the years but I doubt I’ll hear anybody mention the Tall Man when discussing all-time great horror movie villains.