Phantasm Series (And Ranking)

I know Letterboxd has many Horror fans and there's got to be some Phantasm fans here. One of my very favorite Horror series if not my outright favorite, mainly purely based off of the first two although I also think the third and fourth ones were pretty good as well (and also quite impressive despite their small budgets). The first two always see regular rotation from me every October as part of my Halloween playlist. The Tall Man is definitely among the more unique of the Horror icons and he was played to perfection by the late, great Angus Scrimm throughout all five. The series is such a great blend of surrealism and mind-bending Horror with some fun Action elements sprinkled throughout. And who doesn't love the iconic flying death spheres.

May as well rank them while I'm at it. For other fans here, how would you rank them? Mine goes:

• Phantasm II
• Phantasm
• Phantasm IV: Oblivion
• Phantasm III: Lord Of The Dead
• Phantasm V: Ravager

2 has always very easily been my favorite of the series. It's literally not only my favorite Horror film, but one of my favorite movies in general. With the bigger budget you can tell so much more was able to be accomplished. It's like a vintage Survival Horror video game from the 90s as a movie. I have a lot of love and respect for the original as well, but it's always hard not to look at 2 as being the definitive entry.

The first two are classics, 3 and 4 are very good, but the fifth was sadly clearly held back by the very low budget. Still, I'm glad we finally got a fifth and final movie, and in light of the recent health issues afflicting series star and mainstay Reggie Bannister, the fifth film will certainly hit much harder.