Two women arrive at a small town in Colorado for a skiing trip, only to find the town deserted and empty. After making some grim discoveries of individual townsfolk, they're joined by a sheriff and his deputies in the investigation. Not long afterwards, the revelation of what has eliminated everyone comes to light: an ancient evil said to be as old as prehistoric man itself.
You know, come to think of it, the late 90s produced some pretty underrated gems in the horror field. Phantoms is a 1998 scifi-horror flick based on the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz. The film's cast consists of Peter O'Toole and a moderate-sized cast of twenty-somethings who were the rage then (Ben Affleck before he ventured into directing, Rose McGowan before she aged by about twenty years in the span of only seven) and is directed by Joe Chappelle, who coincidentally (kind of) directed the last Hellraiser film I was able to stomach.
Admittedly, the film's first twenty minutes almost lost me, with its insistency on jumping right into the action rather than build up interesting characters, or even develop them whatsoever. Thankfully this is somewhat rectified with the introduction of O'Toole's character and a revelation about Affleck's own one. I couldn't feel a single thing for the sisters though. It felt like they only wanted you to root for them to stay alive because they're pretty. They also seem to love abusing the supporting cast with an overuse of "fake scare" moments. You know those moments in horror flicks when the music builds, stops, and the character realizes that whatever was potentially wrong actually isn't? But then suddenly, BAM! Yeah, Phantoms really seems to have a hard-on for that at times.
The effects work here is pretty solid, save for some typical average-looking 90s CGI, but they were in a feeling out process of sorts back then. There's a particularly awesome scene involving cannon fodder army soldiers and scientists who try to combat the creature, and we see some pretty gnarly creature work throughout it. The "phantoms" themselves are pretty darn creepy too, though like John Carpenter's The Thing, we never really see a true form it takes until the end, and even then we must question as to whether what we're seeing is the "original" monster.
Though it certainly isn't shy about wearing its influences on its sleeves, Phantoms is still a pretty good time. Think of it as a weird mix of The Blob (remake), The Thing, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. There's good tension, decent acting, and a delightfully silly performance from Liev Schreiber to boot.
Oh yeah, and Affleck is the bomb in it yo.
Speaking of John Carpenter, tomorrow, we get a double dose of the man with PRINCE OF DARKNESS and THE FOG.
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