The first one is great, but I didn’t care much for the rest of the series. The first has great atmosphere throughout.

Phantasm is a great series. Three and five are my least favorites, but they're still good. I like how they managed to keep the same core characters and actors around for every sequel (except for Mike's usual actor or Jody at all in the second movie). That's a rare thing for a horror franchise.

I feel like the finger turning into a fly is somehow meant to relate to the box at the fortune teller's house, since the finger's also in a box. The girl tells him, "Fear is the killer." Maybe Mike's fear manifested the fly from hell.

That sounds like a pretty good theory to me, about the finger. I have never thought about it in that way before. You could be right!

Just a few months ago, I briefly interacted with Barbara Crampton about this, on Twitter!!! That was a highlight of my life, for sure. She tweeted something about how she staye hom one evening and watched Phantasm. I tweeted back something about awesome that is, for a woman to choose to watch Phantasm, because it really is more of a movie for guys. I have not not known many girls or women who have ever mentioned Phantasm, or remembered it. A couple, but not many. So I said GGGGIIIIIRRRRLLLLLLLL to Barbara Crampton in that tweet, or possibly a separate tweet, and she gave some kind of very simple, basic response, I don't remember exactly what... she probably just clicked "like." This was back in November or so, I think. But anyway, Barbara Crampton responded to something I said! That's a highlight of my online horror life, probably even my real life.

That's a highlight of my online horror life, probably even my real life.

I have a Reggie B, CD!

Phantasm is one of my favorites. It's a fun series, but none of them are comparable to the first movie.

The first one has a strong 70s/dreamlike vibe to it, and with that dreamscape, I feel that the writing got very loose. Things didn't have to make sense, and the series kind of went aimless after that. The sequels always seem like they're going somewhere epic, but they never really get there. I think the series is like a road trip in a hemicuda... It's about the journey, and not the outcome, because none of the movies end up making sense. There's no great revelation, but these characters are definitely looking for one!

With that said, I don't think there was any logic in the fly bit. They were probably thinking, "When he looks in the box, how can we scare the audience? Ooh! Let's have a big-ass fly come out!", which is kinda weird, but whatever. Everything somehow works out wonderfully in the original movie, whereas the sequels turn to a more cheesy/adventure route, sustained by the grandeur of one Reggie Bannister. The dude is cool as hell.

I find the 1st and 2nd to be classic and enjoy 3+4 but Ravager was God-awful IMO.

I love the first one. It has atosphere in spades. I've tried to get into the second one several times but it just seems too try hard in comparison to the first. I haven't delved any further into the franchise.

I liked the flying ball, but didn't really like the movie as a whole. The rest of it was just boring. It was like Communion and Killer Party, where there was a few really good scenes that I wish could've been in much better movies.