SCRIMM VISAGE

The new Phantasm sequel, Phantasm: Ravager, opens tomorrow at Harkins Valley Art, alternating showtimes with the original 1979 Phantasm. So…

Monster-of the-Week: …here’s the ultimate honoree from that series: the body-snatching, shape-shifting, yellow-blooded mortician known as The Tall Man...

The Tall Man was the signature role of Angus Scrimm, the screen name of a music writer turned actor named Rory Guy who passed on in January of this year at the age of 89. Let’s hope his mortal coil received better treatment then the corpses that came under The Tall Man’s care…

AVID PHANTASM

As part of its participation in the first annual Art House Theater Day this Saturday, September 24, FilmBar Phoenix is showing Don Coscarelli's scrappy and wonderful 1979 indie horror fantasy Phantasm, remastered under the auspices of J.J. Abrams, at 8 p.m. Saturday evening...

Tickets are $9; if you've never seen this goofy gem, I recommend. Many of the crazy images and low-tech effects from this tale of the gruesome and otherworldly side business of a small-town mortuary presided over by the baleful, corpse-hijacking Tall Man (Angus Scrimm) have remained in my memory far more vividly than many more prestigious films: The Tall Man luxuriating in the cold mist from the ice cream cart, the hooded trolls that haunt the cemetery, and, of course, the lethal flying silver ball that patrols the halls of the mausoleum. It seems as if I saw it just last week.

No less vivid is...

Monster-of-the-Week: ...this week's honoree, the snaggle-pussed little bug creature...

...that emerges from the little wooden box that previously contained...

Never mind. See it for yourself.