Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead (1994)

Everyone from Phantasm II is back!  Except those people that died.  And that same kid from the first Phantasm is back playing the role of Mike.

Taking place right after the end of Phantasm II, Phantasm III follows Reggie and Mike's trail as they hunt the Tall Man, who has returned to life after being melted to death in the second movie.

The story itself is not a whole lot different from that in Phantasm II, but the tone is completely different.  It's much more of a dark action/fantasy/comedy movie and the gore has been turned down quite a bit.

Having said that, this has got to be the best Phantasm movie.  It's hilarious, and it does away with everything that annoyed me about the second movie (telepathy, love interest that goes nowhere, endless chains of "it was just a dream, no it's not" hijinx).  I just really hate dreams, and telepathy, and love.

Here's what I like: jokes and awesome spheres that fly through the air and drill your brains out, and these two things make up about 90% of Phantasm III.  The other 10% is an awesome take on Home Alone, except instead of putting marbles on the floor for the robbers to slip on, the kid stabs them in the face or throat.

It's a great looking movie, but not as good looking as Phantasm II.  Special effects are just as great, but there is just something about it that makes it look low budget compared with the previous movie.

There is only one more Phantasm movie left to go through, and sadly from what I remember it's a boring 90 minutes of people talking and flashbacks.