It’s now Day 12 in our 30-Days of Horror Challenge, and on this twelfth day we’re tasked with “Your Favorite Horror from the 1970’s.”
Oh man, what an era! The 1970’s are known for being gritty and tumultuous, that bridge between the idealistic and land breaking 1960’s and the freshly-painted and commercially-successful 1980’s. It’s an era known for earth tones and bell-bottoms, cars in green, brown and orange, and telephones that made an aggressive “Klang!” when you slammed them down. A time of economic instability, job stagnancy, global political upheavals, Jim Jones, Iranian Revolution, gas shortages, the Brady Bunch, and lots of serial killers!
Well I mean there have always been serial killers, but the ones that serve as the biggest boogeymen in this capacity… John Wayne Gacy, The Zodiac Killer, Ted Bundy, Son of Sam, Hillside Stranglers, The Candyman Killer, the Co-Ed Killer… THOSE guys.
Likewise, horrors from the 1970’s have their particular unpolished flavor. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, The Omen, Amityville Horror, I Spit On Your Grave, The Exorcist, Wicker Man, Carrie, House, Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, The Crazies, Susperia and Alien.
While it seems most likely that my favorite would be Texas Chainsaw Massacre (because why wouldn’t it?) I think I’d have to stack “Phantasm” slightly above Chainsaw in my list of 70’s favorites.
Don Coscarelli started up with a coming-of-age flick called “Kenny and Company.” I loved this movie as a kid. It was a zero-bullshit movie dealing with normal kid stuff like school bullies, coping with the loss of a pet, ‘what cool shit are we gonna do for Halloween?’ and lots of skateboarding. Less of Hollywood’s version of coming-of-age in the mid-70’s and more like what actually is happening with ordinary kids. It was one of my favorite movies growing up, as an ordinary kid in the late-70’s.
A couple years later, Coscarelli decided “Meh, eff that stuff!” and plunged headlong into the world of horror movies along with cast members of Kenny and Company. The production was about as independent as you could get. Financed by Coscarelli, his dad, and some local people he knew. The cast and crew were all amateurs, mostly friends of his and people he knew around town. His mom did a lot of the special effects, and the screenplay was more or less written as they went along during filming. It’s a small miracle this movie succeeded at all, when you think about it.
Phantasm pulls a lot of themes explored in Coscarelli’s earlier film – death, grief, sex and coming-of-age, and centers around fears and insecurities of teenaged boys. It’s often dreamlike and surreal, which makes you wonder “Is this a thing that’s happening or is it a grieving kid’s daydream?”
Phantasm is an unpolished gem for sure. The second Phantasm movie was pretty decent as well. The rest were all trash, but I still kinda liked them, much in the way someone would enjoy a movie late at night in a dark bedroom drinking beer after their second-shift job in upstate New York… or so I’ve been told.