Don Coscarelli: Writer and Director of Phantasm

Don Coscarelli: Writer and Director of Phantasm

Don Coscarelli is known for many films including The Beastmaster and Bubba Ho-Tep. But he is best known for his horror film series Phantasm, the movie in which good regular boys search and destroy only the darkest of evil. Coscarelli brought with Phantasm a new cultural phenomenon that fans, otherwise known as “Phans” would embrace and follow closer than they would follow just about anything else. It’s important when discussing Phantasm to also include the man who created it all.

Don Coscarelli grew up in Southern California although he was born in Libya. Throughout his childhood, he was already passionate about the filmmaking industry and was constantly seen videotaping different short movies. He often gathered his friends together to make these films and although they didn’t receive international recognition, they were often shown on television in and around his hometown.

He created Jim, The World’s Greatest when he was only nineteen years old and he sold it to Universal Pictures. This was a huge benchmark for him not only because it was a major accomplishment but it also made him the youngest director to ever have an independent film distributed by a major studio. This was the first time that Coscarelli had worked with Angus Scrimm, who played a role in Jim. Scrimm would later become one of the lead characters in Phantasm as well as have many other critically acclaimed roles.

Coscarelli’s next largest achievement was the four Phantasm films, all of which were not only hugely successful at the box office but also created a huge following of fans that became enraptured with the series of films. Phantasm was produced in 1977 and then released in 1979. It wasn’t until almost ten years later that Coscarelli released Phantasm II only to find that fans had not forgotten and they took Mike and Reggie into their hearts once again in their eternal fight against The Tall Man. Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead was released in 1994 and the last of the series, Phantasm IV was then released in 1998.

Don Coscarelli is about to bring to fans Phantasm V, which will not only feature the same characters of Mike and Reggie but also has the same actors, A. Michael Baldwin and Reggie Bannister playing them. Coscarelli has brought his team back to the silver screen once again and fans are eagerly waiting for the film to be released.