Back in 2005, New Line Cinema had announced plans to remake Don Coscarelli’s 1979 indie cult Phantasm.
Phantasm, about a young boy and his friends who face off against a mysterious grave robber known only as the Tall Man, is screening at the ongoing SXSW Film Festival after having been restored in 4K by J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot.
Coscarelli, who created the franchise and directed all four of the released films, is at the Austin-based festival talking about the brand new restoration that’s allegedly mind-blowing. AITH caught up with him to find out the status of a remake, considering it’s been over a decade.
“Nothing is ever off the table. You have a big casting hurdle there with Tall Man. Currently there’s nothing planned, but if you had the right director, the right story, the right direction in terms of making something unique and still staying true to the spirit of the story. You know, all these years working on Phantasm, I’m like a Phantasm fan too, so I would go see it!”
While details on New Line’s plans were never released, I had heard behind-the-scenes that they wanted to make a Star Wars trilogy for horror fans. Nothing ever came into fruition past the announcement.
Now, with remakes aplenty, could the revived interest bring the Tall Man back to the big screen? Maybe J.J. Abrams would get behind it?
Right now Anchor Bay is sitting on the fifth and final entry in the original franchise, Phantasm: Ravager, directed by David Hartman.
