The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Phantasm
Horror · Science Fiction · 1979
A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.
Movie details
Phantasm
“If this one doesn't scare you...you're already dead!”
1979 Horror · Science Fiction 1h 29m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
6.6 / 10
44.6K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
72 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
72 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
6.5 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
A teenage boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber, known only as the Tall Man, who employs a lethal arsenal of unearthly weapons.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Phantasm?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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The Resurrected
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Don Coscarelli
Written by
Don Coscarelli
A. Michael Baldwin
Mike
Bill Thornbury
Jody
Reggie Bannister
Reggie
Kathy Lester
Lady in Lavender
Angus Scrimm
The Tall Man
T
Terrie Kalbus
Fortuneteller's Granddaughter
Kenneth V. Jones
Caretaker
Court is in session
Put Phantasm on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.