PHANTASMANIA

It was the greatest event I have ever been to! This event was the biggest event ever held for the Phantasm Series. I started waiting at the door at 10:30 PM CST. About 5 Minutes later fans started showing up. While I waited in line for 15 minutes, I got to meet one of my good friends in person. Her name is Ann Morgan. She is a really wonderful person. Ann has written some of the Stories and Poems featured on this Webpage. She's a really talented writer! If you haven't seen her work yet go to the Stories & Poems section to see her work.

At 11:00 PM CST Steve Romano (festival director) came out to meet us. Due to my age I had to get special permission from him to enter this event. Thank you, Steve, for letting me get in! To enter the event you had to be at least 21 and up. Since I wasn't 21 I contacted Steve (with the help of Rob Long) fou r weeks before the event started. Luckily, Steve is a really cool person and understood my situation.

Around the same time I met up with Steve, the celebrities showed up. The first to show was the legendary Tall Man himself Angus Scrimm!!! He arrived in a Lincoln Town Car with close friend and assistant Kristen Deem. When Angus got out of the car he started shaking hands and meeting people in line. I got to meet Kristen Deem in person. She's a really sweet lady! I talked to Kristen and Angus for a few minutes before they had to go inside to setup.

Around 11:10 PM CST Reggie Bannister and Gigi Porter pulled up in the back of a Saturn. To my surprise, Reggie looked somewhat changed. He still had the ponytail, but now he had also grown a beard! I really dig Reggie's new look. It's "Hot as Love," man! Reggie had his hands full with a guitar and a bag. He noticed the huge lines and nodded to the crowd.

At 11:15 PM CST The ticket booth opened and I was first in line to receive a ticket. It was only $13.03 to enter. When I walked through the front door I had to walk up a huge staircase. After I made it to the top there they were wa iting at a table! Don Coscarelli, Angus Scrimm, and Reggie Bannister were sitting there ready to sign anything! Behind me, a crowd of people pushed their way through, eager to meet the three celebrities. It was amazing for me, too, seeing Angus, Reggie and Don in person!

Don Coscarelli is the genius director and writer behind the Phantasm series. I n addition to the "Phantasm" films, Don has made "Jim, The World's Greatest", "Kenny and Co.", "Beastmaster," "Survival Quest," etc. Angus Scrimm, who stars as evil Tall Man in the "Phantasm" series, also wrote liner notes for record albums, and featured in several films such as "Sweetkill," "Subspecies," etc. Reggie Bannister stars as the hero "Reggie" in the Phantasm series. Reggie is also a singer in the band Reggie "B" & The Jizz Wailin' Y'a' Doggies.

There was another table setup on the side with a bunch of PHANTASMANIA stuff! Some of it was free and some of it wasn't. There were some pretty neat buttons that said: "BOY!", "What we gotta do is Snag that tall dude and STOMP THE SHIT OUTTA HIM!!!! PHANTASMANIA APRIL FOOL'S DAY WEEKEND 2000 ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE CINEMA", and "I WAS GANG-BALLED BY THE TALL MAN AT PHANTASMANIA ...AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS FUCKING BUTTON! I thought all of these buttons were neat. For $5 there was a PHANTASMANIA poster for sale as well. For $1 a piece they had really informative Program books for sale too.

You could also find Production stills for sale as well. I bought one of Angus for $5 and a color still with Reggie and the demon cop for $15. At that table one of my good friends, Rob Long, was selling his "Phantasm, 20 Year of Terror 1979-1999" poster for only $10 bucks. It was nice to finally meet you in person, Rob! I decided to buy one of his fantastic posters, and to ask the cast and crew to sign it. If you haven't heard of the "20 year of Terror" poster click here. Sitting at that same table was Reggie's Girlfriend Gigi Porter. I talked with Gigi for a while. Her mom was there too. Both of them were nice, sweet, wonderful people.

I had to wait in long lines to get a few of my things autographed. The first person I met was Don Coscarelli. We shook hands and talked about Mopars. I also met Don's 17 year old son. Don was really informative about Phantasm's future. He knows his Mopars as well! When my time was up with Don, I moved on to Angus Scrimm. I told Angus about how I first got into "Phantasm" when I was six years old. He was so nice! He asked several questions too. He was concerned and really thoughtful. When I think of Angus Scrimm, I think of a kind and sweet guy. Not an evil Tall man from another dimension. At the end of the table was Reggie Bannister. Reggie graciously shook my and and was glad to meet me. We talked about Phantasm and its awesome Mopars. He was so talkative and a great speaker. Reggie seemed like an outgoing and fun person, kinda like Reggie in the "Phantasm" Series. All of the actors were wonderful! Some actors are snobbish and don't care about their fans. These guys are nothing like that. They loved seeing all the people that showed up for that event. I think this event made them very happy. Anyone that attended will never forget this experience.

Around 12:10 AM CST everyone entered the theater to get seated. At 12:15 AM CST Reggie and the Alamo band played songs such as "Transmission Overdrive", "Oh No Not Again", "Land of the Free", and "Have You Seen It". All of these songs are featured on Reggies CD Fool's Paradise. It's an awesome, jam-packed CD! There are twelve songs on this CD and the total running time is around 43 minutes. I think this CD is worth the $15. If you want to order this CD go to the Soundtrack Reviews section for more information.

Around 12:50 PM CST a segment called "The Secrets of Phantasm II" was presented by Don Coscarelli, Reggie Bannister, and Angus Scrimm. They showed deleted scenes that have never been shown before. Remember when Reggie and Mike encountered the apparition of Liz in the basement and Reggie torches it? That was suppose to be just a dream Mike was having! There is also a sex scene with Mike and Liz. Sorry guys, Liz was covered up. There was no nudity in this scene. You're probably asking, "When did they have time to have sex?" Remember when they are in the bedroom sleeping (At the abandoned Bed & Breakfa st)? Well after they stop talking to each other telepathically and start kissing they basically have sex during a dream sequence. At first they're rolling around in the sand on a beach, then they're kissing in a forest wilderness, and finally they're falling through the air. There are too many extra scenes to name off, I'll just leave you in suspense.

Don showed us a scene with him interviewing someone for the role of "Mike" on Phantasm II. That someone was Brad Pitt! That's right, Brad Pitt. When Brad walked into the room he shook Don's hand, gave him a picture of himself, and sat down, Don commented, "I wish I still had that picture". Brad was reading the lines from the cemetery scene: "That's the third one I dug up!" I thought he was awful! He read the lines without emotion. I thought I was a bad actor and I knew I could have done better than he could! He also showed video of some of the props used in "Phantasm II." Some gory, some not so gory.

Here's a little DVD news: In August "Phantasm: OblVion" will be released on DVD! Keep your eyes open for that DVD!

Don also mentioned some stuff about "Phantasm 2012." Don mentioned that Roger Avary and he haven't been able to get the "Phantasm 2012" script financed. But he said there not giving up just yet. About six months ago Don and Roger added a new role in the "Phantasm 2012" script. Guess who they have available to play that role? Bruce Campbell from the "Evil Dead" films! That's right, Bruce Campbell is interested in joining the "Phantasm" saga! Don nearly knocked me out of my seat when he said this!

After the movie ended (I'm not too sure when it did) the audience went out to the lobby. Don, Reggie, and Angus were walking through the crowd, talking with fans. It was amazing to seem them with the crowd instead of on stage or behind a table. I was one of the last people to leave the event. I left the event around 4:00 AM CST. It was sad to see such an amazing event come to an end. It felt like it only lasted minutes instead of hours.

Well, I covered my Friday experience for you. Imagine if I went to all three events? I would be forced to make 3 sections! I could talk about my one day experience all night long. I bet you are asking right now, Will there be another Phantasmania? Sadly, probably not. This was the first and last time this event will ever happen. The event brought crowds of people. You can't say it wasn't popular! With all the people I saw attending the festival on Friday night, it's a wonder they don't do this every year! And who know? Maybe things will change and there will be another Phantasmania? We'll have to wait and see. A few prayers to the Tall Man might help also!

I wasn't able to attend the Thursday and Saturday event but, I still know what went on those nights. On Thursday March 30th Don, Reggie, and Angus discussed the myth and making of Phantasm. They also answered questions and presented a few rarely-seen film clips of deleted footage. On Saturday April 1st Reggie played his rockin' tunes! It was an encore presentation of the music he played on Friday. Two history-making events happened that night. The first AUSTIN THEATRICAL PREMIRE of "Phantasm III" and AMERICAN THEATRICAL PREMIRE of "Phantasm OblIVion"!!! I wish I saw both of those films that night. It would have been amazing to see them play for the first time on the big screen.

Special thanks goes to Steve Romano for letting me attend this once in a lifetime event! Thanks also to Rob Long for putting me in touch with Steve. I also owe a sincere thanks to all my friends who attended this event. It was great to meet all of you in person. Best of all was meeting some new friends... those awesome "Phantasm" fans out there!