Phantasm IV: Oblivion Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Phantasm IV: Oblivion Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 7, 2017

Note: This film is available as part of The Phantasm Collection.

It really hasn’t been all that long since Well Go USA released both Phantasm and Phantasm: Ravager on Blu- ray, and so the label’s decision just a few months later to revisit the Phantasm well with a new Phantasm Collection may seem at least a little risky, perhaps especially considering the fact that Shout! Factory offered up Phantasm II in its own “Collector’s Edition” several years ago, a version which is included in this release down to the Shout! banner at disc boot up. That would mean that some devoted Phantasm fans may already have three of the five films, albeit perhaps not in the version presented on this release with regard to the first and fifth film, since Well Go USA has sweetened the pot and offered up a handsomely packaged deluxe set with this new release, one with quite a bit of new bonus material (even for some of the previously released Well Go versions) and an in depth book as added allure.

Just in case you need a salient example of how boneheaded some bean counters in Hollywood are, consider this scenario. Roger Avary, then a recent Academy Award winner for co-writing the screenplay for Pulp Fiction , decided to follow up that achievement by writing a sequel to Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead. Not only did Avary provide franchise creator Don Coscarelli with a completed script, at some point along the way Bruce Campbell got attached as a co-star, an unconsummated casting choice that may haunt certain horror fans to this day. Despite an intriguing post-Apocalyptic premise that saw the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) as the major domo of a devastated world, Coscarelli couldn’t get funding for the film, and the result was Phantasm IV: Oblivion, a perhaps intentionally ironic title given the sadness that Coscarelli and his team may have been experiencing in the wake of the planned Avary sequel. (Coscarelli seems to have a sense of humor about not just this but his career in general, at least as evidenced by some of his self effacing comments in the new “Making Of” featurettes included on both this disc and Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead. Coscarelli admits without much compunction that his career tends to be him making plans to do something else that he never is able to get funding for, which is quickly followed by yet another Phantasm sequel.)

There’s a certain delaying tactic that Coscarelli began using in the third Phantasm film, where the Tall Man seems on the verge of completing his perhaps mystifying quest to subsume Mike, only to more or less say, “Wait a minute—I’ll be back to finish this later.” That’s once again the case in Phantasm IV: Oblivion, a film which, like its two predecessors, picks up pretty much from where the last film left off. That said, the roles are somewhat reversed in the opening of this film as opposed to the third film, with Reggie now in the throes of Tall Man domination, while Mike is out and about. That said, the Tall Man just kind of lets Reggie go, seemingly for no reason other than the fact that this sequel couldn’t exist if Reggie was disposed of early in the film, a conceit that this franchise may rely on a few too many times for some fans' complete comfort.

This fourth film continues to offer Reggie as the putative hero, though Mike is on hand kind of interstitially, plotting some way to take down the Tall Man, which ultimately leads to a bit of time traveling and an attempt to uncover the villain’s past. As with this entire franchise, the film’s emotional impact comes from the fact that Mike is an obviously distressed guy who is trying to figure out why all of this bad karma has come calling, but one of Phantasm IV: Oblivion’s nice achievements is letting Mike at least partially detach from victim status. The melancholic undertone which is an unmistakable part of Phantasm rears its sad head again in the closing moments of this film, when Mike’s memories take him back to happier times with Reggie.

Phantasm IV: Oblivion Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Phantasm IV: Oblivion is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Despite this having been shot on a relatively miniscule budget (as Coscarelli gets into in some of the supplements), this fourth Phantasm film looks great in high definition, with detail levels, sharpness and clarity all bolstered by the many scenes that take place in rather brightly lit desert environments. The palette pops quite convincingly in these scenes, and close-ups offer really excellent levels of fine detail. Some of the "flashback" material has been desaturated and/or graded to represent the time differences and detail levels are perhaps minimally depleted in a few short shots. The special effects work is very good, given the film's budgetary restraints, and some of the outdoor photography is really rather luscious looking.

Phantasm IV: Oblivion Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Phantasm IV: Oblivion features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 tracks. As with the other films in this set, the surround track gets quite a bit of energy due to the whirling silver spheres, but this particular entry benefits from the wide open spaces of its desert locations, where ambient environmental sounds, while subtle at times, help to create a very lifelike sonic environment. Dialogue, effects and score are all rendered cleanly and clearly on these problem free tracks.

Phantasm IV: Oblivion Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Death is No Escape: The Making of Phantasm IV: Oblivion (1080p; 47:34) is another extremely enjoyable and informative retrospective, with some typically comical comments from Don Coscarelli and a few cool looks at the Avary film that might have been.


• Behind the Scenes Compilation (1080i; 30:25)


• Phantasm Sequels: Conceptual Art Gallery by Justin Zaharczuk (1080p; 8:36)


• Phantasm IV: Behind the Scenes (1080p; 10:48) intercuts candid footage with snippets from the film.


• Promo (1080i; 1:33)


• Trailer (1080p; 1:42)


• Behind the Scenes Still Gallery (1080p; 4:00) defaults to an Auto Advance mode, but also offers a Manual Advance option.


• Audio Commentary with Director Don Coscarelli and Actors Reggie Bannister and Angus Scrimm

Phantasm IV: Oblivion Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's more of an accrual of "hurry up and wait" moments in this fourth film, with what some might argue is padding as Mike and Reggie move toward yet another showdown with the Tall Man. This film belies its miniscule budget, though, with some decent special effects and a kind of weirdly resonant use of (the appropriately named) Death Valley. Technical merits are strong, the supplementary package enjoyable, and Phantasm IV: Oblivion comes Recommended.