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Phantoms
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
I think more people have heard about "Phantoms" during the commentary on the "Mallrats" DVD where the film was mentioned I believe briefly by star Ben Affleck than saw the film in its theatrical run. Well, maybe not, but still, "Phantoms" was a shelf item at Miramax films that flopped pretty hard when it was released.
And still, believe it or not, I kinda like it. It's certainly not great or even good, but it exists in that kind of "made-for-cable" universe where you might sit down and watch it if it's on cable and be mildly entertained by some of the events. The film stars Rose McGowan and Joana Going as two sisters who drive through a small Colorado town one day to find that the town is completely deserted. Many are found dead, and no reason for their death is at first apparent. The sheriff and his deputy arrive to find that they are the only ones who survived the incident.
The government along with a Dr. Timothy Flyte (Peter O'Toole) are quickly called in to investigate; their findings are what the doctor has imagined - an "anicent evil" that has now come up from the deepest reaches of the Earth to take over, starting in the small Colorado town. The begining starts slow and actually builds a very solid atmosphere. Of course, when the creature finally shows up, all hell breaks loose and characters and dialogue go out the window in favor of effects and shocks. Still, I can't deny that some of the scares are actually quite effective.
The performances are probably nothing that the stars involved would want to remember soon. McGowan and Going are decent as the sisters - Affleck seems to be the only performer here with much energy, and does a fine job with what little material he has. O'Toole is perfect as the "X-Files"-ish doctor, whose predictions have come true.
All in all, "Phantoms" isn't great, or even that good, but if you're looking for a few decent scares and a moderately entertaining couple hours, you might want to check it out as a rental. I've heard the Dean Koontz novel is better, and maybe that might be worth looking into as well.
The DVD
VIDEO: This is an early release from Miramax that is non-anamorphic and also, not that great looking when it comes to image quality. The biggest problem is that the entire presentation looks at least noticably soft, and its best, only slightly so. Detail is fair, and sometimes clarity is lacking. Most of the movie takes place at night, and it least the film doesn't look overly dark, with most night scenes looking crisp. Aside from the softness that takes away from the presentation, there is also some pixelation, but these are slight instances that I never really felt too away from the movie too much. The print is generally in very good condition, with only a few minor marks and speckles.
Colors aren't very bold in the film; the movie maintains a pretty limited color palette in the town sequences, but what colors are shown do look accurate and without problems. All in all, not a terrible effort, but obviously not the best that the studio produced, even compared to some of its other early releases.
SOUND: While the video quality is below average, I wasn't prepared for how exciting the audio from the film would be. As a smaller film, I'd expected an underdone sound mix that tried for a few scares, but didn't deliver. Watching this film on cable with television sound is a decent experience, but watching it in Dolby Digital 5.1 on this DVD is a different experience altogether that almost makes the film...dare I say, thrilling at times. Surrounds are used constantly and very agressively for some creepy sound effects and ambient sounds. Bass is suprisingly powerful, and even in the quieter scenes, the sound really brings the viewer into the film with impressive dimension to the sound. Dialogue sometimes is a bit hard to hear over the rest of the sounds, but overall, I was still extremely pleased with this soundtrack, which is entertaining and a lot of fun.
MENUS:: Extremely basic menus with film themed images; the main menu is pretty much based on the cover art.
EXTRAS: Not a thing.
Final Thoughts: It's too bad that not even a trailer is included here. The film is sometimes entertaining, and the sound quality is excellent. Fans of horror might enjoy it as a rental.
I think more people have heard about "Phantoms" during the commentary on the "Mallrats" DVD where the film was mentioned I believe briefly by star Ben Affleck than saw the film in its theatrical run. Well, maybe not, but still, "Phantoms" was a shelf item at Miramax films that flopped pretty hard when it was released.
And still, believe it or not, I kinda like it. It's certainly not great or even good, but it exists in that kind of "made-for-cable" universe where you might sit down and watch it if it's on cable and be mildly entertained by some of the events. The film stars Rose McGowan and Joana Going as two sisters who drive through a small Colorado town one day to find that the town is completely deserted. Many are found dead, and no reason for their death is at first apparent. The sheriff and his deputy arrive to find that they are the only ones who survived the incident.
The government along with a Dr. Timothy Flyte (Peter O'Toole) are quickly called in to investigate; their findings are what the doctor has imagined - an "anicent evil" that has now come up from the deepest reaches of the Earth to take over, starting in the small Colorado town. The begining starts slow and actually builds a very solid atmosphere. Of course, when the creature finally shows up, all hell breaks loose and characters and dialogue go out the window in favor of effects and shocks. Still, I can't deny that some of the scares are actually quite effective.
The performances are probably nothing that the stars involved would want to remember soon. McGowan and Going are decent as the sisters - Affleck seems to be the only performer here with much energy, and does a fine job with what little material he has. O'Toole is perfect as the "X-Files"-ish doctor, whose predictions have come true.
All in all, "Phantoms" isn't great, or even that good, but if you're looking for a few decent scares and a moderately entertaining couple hours, you might want to check it out as a rental. I've heard the Dean Koontz novel is better, and maybe that might be worth looking into as well.
The DVD
VIDEO: This is an early release from Miramax that is non-anamorphic and also, not that great looking when it comes to image quality. The biggest problem is that the entire presentation looks at least noticably soft, and its best, only slightly so. Detail is fair, and sometimes clarity is lacking. Most of the movie takes place at night, and it least the film doesn't look overly dark, with most night scenes looking crisp. Aside from the softness that takes away from the presentation, there is also some pixelation, but these are slight instances that I never really felt too away from the movie too much. The print is generally in very good condition, with only a few minor marks and speckles.
Colors aren't very bold in the film; the movie maintains a pretty limited color palette in the town sequences, but what colors are shown do look accurate and without problems. All in all, not a terrible effort, but obviously not the best that the studio produced, even compared to some of its other early releases.
SOUND: While the video quality is below average, I wasn't prepared for how exciting the audio from the film would be. As a smaller film, I'd expected an underdone sound mix that tried for a few scares, but didn't deliver. Watching this film on cable with television sound is a decent experience, but watching it in Dolby Digital 5.1 on this DVD is a different experience altogether that almost makes the film...dare I say, thrilling at times. Surrounds are used constantly and very agressively for some creepy sound effects and ambient sounds. Bass is suprisingly powerful, and even in the quieter scenes, the sound really brings the viewer into the film with impressive dimension to the sound. Dialogue sometimes is a bit hard to hear over the rest of the sounds, but overall, I was still extremely pleased with this soundtrack, which is entertaining and a lot of fun.
MENUS:: Extremely basic menus with film themed images; the main menu is pretty much based on the cover art.
EXTRAS: Not a thing.
Final Thoughts: It's too bad that not even a trailer is included here. The film is sometimes entertaining, and the sound quality is excellent. Fans of horror might enjoy it as a rental.
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