Phantasm who is the tall man

In an earlier version of Phantasm 2 , the fact Alchemy was The Tall Man in disguise was made more explicit, as part of the transformation was shown onscreen, but it was cut due to effects issues. This inclusion is an odd one, but it's also one that fits perfectly in with the abject strangeness of the Phantasm franchise as a whole. Phantasm 3 picks up right where Phantasm 2 left off, with Reggie outside the hearse, and Mike and Liz still inside.

The vehicle then crashes and explodes, but things are a bit hard to make sense of from there concerning The Tall Man. Reggie runs over, collects Mike and tries to make a run for it, only for The Tall Man - now completely intact and without even a scratch - to march up from behind and try to get them. This Tall Man was shown emerging from an inter-dimensional portal earlier on in the opening scenes, with the embalming method having indeed killed the Tall Man that served as Phantasm 2 's primary villain.

This concept of more than one Tall Man existing was made even clearer later in the movie. Considering everything seen of The Tall Man in Phantasm , many no doubt justifiably assumed the creature was simply a monster or an alien, and was never a human being. That's not true though, as Phantasm 4: Oblivion revealed.

The Tall Man was once a 19th-century mortician named Jebediah Morningside, and was by all evidence a perfectly nice, normal person. That was until his macabre job eventually led Morningside to become overly fascinated with death, and where people go afterward. He was able to make a portal capable of taking him to an unknown other world, but this ultimately proved a terrible decision. It became even more so the first time The Tall Man displayed the ability to shape-shift.

Related: 11 Best Horror Movies of the s. As the Phantasm franchise went on, more and more was unveiled about The Tall Man's origins, and what exactly he was capable of.

While that never succeeded in making him less frightening, it did make him a bit less of a blank slate. As first explored in depth in sequel Phantasm 4: Oblivion, The Tall Man was once human, or at the very least had his appearance stolen by something inhuman.

The face we know as The Tall Man's once belonged to a normal 19th century man named Jebediah Morningside. Well, normal outside of being a mortician. Years of working with the dead led Morningside to become fascinated with death, and conduct experiments to try and find a way to the other side.

You come to us! Of course, over the course of time, more facts have come out about The Tall Man. His original name was Dr. Jedediah Morningside, and he began as a relatively humble mortician. He was even alive during the American Civil War! Mike decides to investigate, and discovers that the Tall Man, protected by his flying spheres, is shrinking dead bodies down to half their normal size and reanimating them as slaves.

It is then up to Mike, his brother, and Reggie the ice cream man to stop the Tall man. If you're looking for horror that's got balls Rated R for nudity, violence, and intense scenes. Did you know Edit. Trivia Don Coscarelli rented all of the filming equipment used to make this movie, always on Fridays so he could use it all weekend and return it on Mondays, all the while only actually having to pay one day's rental on the equipment.

Goofs When The Tall Man breaks down the door of Mike's house, at the bottom of the door, a crew person's feet are visible running and pushing the door. Quotes The Tall Man : Boooy! Crazy credits With the exception of the title Phantasm appearing on-screen, there are no opening credits. The scene has Mike telling big brother Jody about weird goings-on he has witnessed at the cemetery.

Jody then gets Mike drunk and takes him to Reggie's ice cream parlor, where they start a food fight. Then it cuts to a scene the next day where Jody stops by the bank where he works and visits his girlfriend. User reviews Review. Top review. Imaginative, Bizarre, And Thoroughly Entertaining. He is worried about losing his older brother, so he follows him everywhere, including a funeral. While hiding in the bushes during the funeral, Mike sees "The Tall Man" played by the creepy Angus Scrimm , the man who runs the funeral home, pick up a casket by himself.

Mike begins spying on the man afterwards, fascinated with uncovering the strange events surrounding the funeral home. While investigating, Mike discovers a strange world within the walls of the mortuary, including flying metal spheres with sharp arrows that drain the blood from your head, and many other horrors.

Turns out, the Tall Man is from another dimension, and is taking the bodies of the dead and reincarnating them in his world for slaves. Mike teams up with his older brother and the local ice cream man, Reggie, to stop the Tall Man's gruesome work. I remember my mother telling me about how much "Phantasm" scared her when she was a teenager, and she rented it one day and I watched it along with her I was about nine or ten at the time , and it was genuinely one of the most bizarre movies I've ever viewed.

Written as well as directed by Don Coscarelli, "Phantasm" has become something of a horror classic over the years, and deservedly so.

Coscarelli's writing here is so unique that it hurts.