Eye For Film >> Movies >> Phantasm II (1988) DVD Review
Filmed in standard widescreen, Phantasm II benefits from having a brighter colour scheme from the first film but still not exactly vibrant. The 1.85:1 image looks pretty damn good but the stale photography stops it from ever being totally great looking. The cover artwork also erroneously states a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.
The sound has been re-mastered from plain old Dolby Stereo into Dolby/DTS 5.1 and is about as sophisticated as a late Eighties low-budget film is going to get. But the music comes through rather good and sounds fresh without being impressive
The commentary from Don, Reg and Angus Scrimm is just as good as the one they recorded for the first Phantasm and there's hardly a silent moment, as one of them seems to always have some story or trivia in store.
Unless I have a faulty copy, the DVD menu lists the "Fangoria Ad", starring the Tall Man, which I have seen and is actually very funny, but it's not what we get. Instead, it's a 10-minute amateur video footage of Scrimm at a Fangoria Convention, telling stories and doing acts for the audience. Weird!
Dull image galleries, trailers and TV spots are also included.
Reviewed on: 28 Feb 2006