PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, psychological*
PHANTASM IV: OBLIVION, filmed for less money than any of its predecessors, relies less on ultraviolent battles and more on jarring imagery. Mike and Reggie are separated, and although the spectre of Jody can still appear to Reggie and offer guidance, Mike seems more than ever under the thumb of his gaunt nemesis. While Reggie searches for Mike and encounters yet another sexy demon-woman, Mike flees the Tall Man and blunders through a gate in time. He ends up in the America of the late 1800s, where he meets a man, Jedediah Morningside, a dead ringer for the Tall Man. Coscarelli never spells things out, but since Jedediah is working on a dimensional-door device, he’s either transformed into a monstrous being or, more likely, he becomes the template for a whole series of monsters, given that every time the heroes destroy one Tall Man, another crops up to take the dead one’s place.
OBLIVION proves a fitting name for the fourth film. The distortions of time and memory constantly play havoc with the viewer’s expectations, so that, where an ordinary “origin story” would make things clearer, this one only confounds the viewer’s desire for clarity. Mike and Reggie are seemingly reunited after another temporary defeat of the Tall Man, or one of his clones. But even this minor triumph remains questionable, as if it may be a fantasy born from the oblivion of the subconscious.
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