Because Anchor Bay sucks now. I'd love to see Scream Factory tackle a box set; could happen.

http://www.cinematallica.com/directo...asm-v-ravager/

Director Hartman & Producer Coscarelli Talk PHANTASM V: RAVAGER

Well, now that you have the details on Phantasm V: Ravager, would you like to hear from the creative team involved? Of course you would! Here’s what director/writer David Hartman and producer Don Coscarelli have to say on the subject…

“I felt it was time to let someone else play with my train set,” Coscarelli told EW regarding the decision to let Hartman direct. “David and I go back to my film Bubba Ho-Tep. He did terrific visual effects on that, and more recently created a wild animated sequence and some amazing visual effects in my most recent film, John Dies at the End. Our aesthetics are in sync and he’s quite an experienced director in his own right.”

“Having worked with Don [Coscarelli] before, and being a huge fan of the entire Phantasm franchise, it was a great honor to do Ravager with him,” says Hartman. “This film is a real turning point in the series. There’s real closure for the core characters that I hope fans will respond to. We were fortunate to shoot amazing new sequences with horror icon Angus Scrimm—he has terrific scenes with Reggie (Bannister) and Mike (Michael Baldwin) that are truly powerful.”

“The Phantasm films have been a guerrilla operation for decades now, totally outside of the studio system,” Coscarelli notes. “We do them for the fans, and I think Ravager will definitely please them. In the past few years several studios have made offers to remake Phantasm with large budgets, but the fans were very vocal that they wanted the original cast to return and finish this iteration of the story with class. And for the first time there’s an extended sequence on the Tall Man’s home world. I know Phantasm fans will be as excited as I am to see it. There are also some surprises thrown in that I promise will astonish long-time fans.”

Ever since this news exploded onto the internet like a quad-shotgun blast this week, I’ve been wondering whether or not Ravager is intended to be the final film in the series. After all, while Scrimm is beyond getting up there, some story threads were put in motion that might make it possible to continue without him at some point, if necessary. Or could it potentially be the first in a new run of sequels? While Hartman and Coscarelli make no definitive statement either way, I get the feeling that this will be it for our ever-tormented characters. At least with Baldwin, Bannister, Thornbury, and Scrimm in the roles.

While things could change, it sounds like Ravager is intended to be a “for the phans” franchise capper before Coscarelli finally breaks down and sells remake rights to a major Hollywood studio. And you know what? That’s fine. A Phantasm remake is inevitable at this point, so why not allow our boys the chance at having one last hurrah and then actually making some money off it the rights afterwars. It’s not like the series has brought them much fame and fortune (phame & phortune?) over the decades, so they’ve definitely earned it. Let them say what they want to in Ravager as a final statement and then turn it over to (hopefully) another creative mind that can breathe a new and different kind of life into the series.

Let Don have his cake and eat it too. Especially if it ultimately scores us another weird little picture from him like Bubba Ho-Tep or John Dies at the End.

Coscarelli is the only one who can consistently take a simple horror or sci-fi concept, with almost no-budget, and turn it into something I sincerely enjoy.

I can't believe I missed that this was coming out. Slated for next year hopefully that gives them some time to work on the fx.

I'm impressed they've managed to keep the original series alive without going the reboot route or without the property getting into the hands of a studio that would just milk it with crap sequels (Dimension). I was disappointed with Oblivion, but I'm still looking forward to what I assume will be one last go for Scrimm given the long stretches between sequels.

I talked with Reggie Bannister at a horror convention this afternoon. They still have no idea when this movie will be released (other than "soon"). He did confirm that Gloria Lynne Henry reprises her role as Rocky from Phantasm III.

I paid $25 for Don Coscarelli to sign my Phantasm poster. He was really one of the nicest people I've met at one of these things. I can't say the same for the man who was collecting his money. I walked over to his table (approaching from the left, unintentionally bypassing the handler) and Don shook my hand and struck up a brief conversation. An older bald guy with a VIP badge seated to his left interrupted us after a few seconds and slid a DVD cover right under his nose to sign for another fan. Don apologized for the interruption, but I told them to go ahead because I assumed I'd accidentally cut in front of someone. So I patiently waited a couple minutes for this other fan to finish talking to him.

Don and I continued where we left off as I started to unroll my poster on the table for him to sign. The bald guy then shoved another person's poster right in front of him and barked at me to step away. At this point, Don and I both looked at the guy and I asked what the heck was going on. I knew for a fact I was there before this other fan came up. Finally, the bald guy noticed my poster and told me to fork over $25... as if I didn't know there was a fee involved. Don apologized again as the bald guy leaned over and whispered in his ear "I thought he was just talking. I didn't know he wanted an autograph." I told the guy it was cool, but he completely ignored me... so there was no direct apology from him for his rudeness. He was clearly running a money up front table for Don and didn't hesitate to shoo away someone he thought might want to speak to him without cash in hand. I know these guests are there to make some dough, but repeatedly cutting off anyone in the middle of a brief chat just to keep a line moving (especially one with only three people in it) was a dick move that tainted an otherwise pleasant memory.

I also finally met George A. Romero. He would only sign his name on my poster, no personalization. It wasn't a time issue, since he didn't have much of a line. He just chuckled and said "Sorry, they won't let me." I know this convention has never put that kind of restriction on guests before. Perhaps it was health related and his hands didn't need the extra strain? The real kicker was that he charged $50 per signature, apparently double what he was asking five years earlier at the same event. They don't call these things "cons" for nothing. Not proud of it, but I bit the bullet and paid since the man is probably my favorite living director. I knew I'd regret not meeting him when I had the opportunity. Once I was standing in front of him, I suddenly had trouble thinking of anything worthwhile to say -- so the encounter was a lot shorter than I'd anticipated. He did let me retake a few photos because the flash on my camera suddenly refused to go off. BTW, I wore a Day of the Dead t-shirt in his honor... but the only person who bothered commenting on it was Coscarelli. Just another reason to love that guy.

Does anyone else find it funny that during the dvd era we waited and hoped for Phantasm 2 to complete our collections, while during the BD era we have only gotten Phantasm 2 and now wait for the rest? WTF! I really hope this movie is released and prompts AB, or whoever has the rights, to move their ass.

Anyway, I can't wait to finally see this and agree with the post from a few years ago that this series could probably do a hell of a reboot!

Looks like this is finally coming out. New trailer here: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/09/20...lusive-trailer

It's down to $17.99 on BD from Amazon. I also noticed that it will be available on PRIME for Digital HD purchase on 10/4/16 - two months early.