Phantoms |  | Director: Joe Chappelle
Actors: Peter O'Toole, Ben Affleck, Rose McGowan, Joanna Going, Liev Schreiber
Studio: Dimension
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.99
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Rating:  94 reviews
Sales Rank: 16318
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 96 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: D14893D
ISBN: 1558908781
UPC: 711719813729
EAN: 9781558908789
ASIN: 1558908781
Theatrical Release Date: January 23, 1998
Release Date: August 19, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Either Dean Koontz shouldn't adapt his own bestsellers, or his 1983 novel Phantoms was a pack of horror clichés to begin with, or this movie is 15 years past its due date. What might have seemed fresh at the time of Poltergeist now feels like it was made from a derivative script with pages missing. Plagued by reckless leaps of logic, the movie starts with adequately eerie atmosphere and a perversely twisted performance by Scream 2's Liev Schreiber, but decays into a familiar hash of gross-out effects, resulting from the annihilation of a small Colorado town by an evil force known as "The Ancient Enemy." In a dreary role that insults the twilight of his distinguished career, Peter O'Toole plays a paleobiologist whose crackpot ideas have become tabloid fodder, but he holds the key to conquering the beast. Or does he? Sure enough, an obligatory coda leaves room for anticlimactic doubt. Phantoms has a few genuinely creepy highlights, including a devilish beastie resembling an angry flying scorpion, and horror fans will surely find something to admire, but everyone else is advised to proceed with caution and lowered expectations. --Jeff Shannon
Product Description
In the small town of snowfield colorado 700 people are missing and no one knows why. The survivors left behind the town sheriff his deputy and a professor. They suspect its a terrifying force of evil that has laid dormant below the earth for centuries powerful enough to destroy every human being. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 08/03/2004 Starring: Ben Affleck Peter Otoole Run time: 91 minutes Rating: R Director: Joe Chappelle
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 94
 A+ Sci-Fi Thiller March 3, 2010
Vida (Maryland)
If you hate Science Fiction than you may not like this movie. But if you love Sci-Fi horror I would recommend purchasing this movie now and watch it at night with all the lights turned off and your surround sound system turned up!
Dean Knootz is a MASTER at suspense! I heard the book Phantoms is better so buy the novel if you are looking for a good read. However, the movie was VERY good.
Basic Overview: Two sisters are driving into a small town nestled in the mid-west. Small town where everybody knows everybody. The town is surrounded by mountains which give the town a secluded feel. Once entering the town the sisters are introduced to empty streets and eerie sounds that fill the air.
The sisters try to solve the mystery of all the town people disappearance they encounter a lot of strange unexplained events. The eerie sounds of the wind blowing and the feeling of someone watching them will send chills up your spine.
You will not believe how the movie will unfold!! This movie is CREEPY!! and is very unpredictable!!
Black Sludge From Hell... January 7, 2010
Bindy Sue Frønkünschtein (under the rubble)
I've never been a huge Dean Koontz fan. So, I didn't expect much from this movie adaptation of PHANTOMS. What I saw wasn't a complete disaster, but not all that frightening either. Of course, having Ben Affleck play a small town sheriff does stretch believability to the breaking point! Rose McGowan (DEVIL IN THE FLESH) gets to scream and look scared a lot, and Peter O'Toole has certainly come quite far from his LAWRENCE OF ARABIA days, now playing a gossip-rag reporter battling an oil-sludge monster. As for the creature, it's not bad, although I was constantly reminded of THE THING. All in all, PHANTOMS is a good way to kill (murder) 90 minutes...
 Well done! September 20, 2009
Kathy J. Schmelzer (Prior Lake, MN)
I loved the book, Phantoms, and the movie followed the book closely. Since Dean Koontz did the screen play that was understandable. The characters were well played and engaging. I recommend this to any scifi fan.
Good scares, horrid acting July 21, 2009
Eric S. Kim (Southern California)
Phantoms, based on the novel by Dean Koontz, isn't as scary as The Shining and Gin Gwai (The Eye), but it really brings a creepy atmosphere for a horror film that doesn't try too hard. It sets itself apart from the horror flicks of the late 90's such as Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Urban Legend by focusing on a ghostly, seemingly demonic figure rather than a guy with a mask. What we get are some very impressive scares and some unusual creepiness throughout the entire film. But this isn't a great film overall. The weakest thing about Phantoms is the absoutely horrible acting. With the exception of O'Toole and Schreiber, the rest of the cast don't look and act very believable. They don't even look like they were really interested in making this horror film.
So if you can try to ignore the poor acting, you will be frightened by everything else.
The book is better, but the movie is watchable March 27, 2009
S. B. Dupre (Shadowland)
I didn't want to give it 4 stars except for the redeeming value of one of it's actors and for the scary suspense that it managed to carry nearly throughout the movie. Liev Schrieber as the nasty Stu Wargle is an absolute gem in the dark. Physically not a match for the "book" Wargle, even without the verbal nastiness of the original Schrieber gets his character across with absolute clarity. Peter O'Toole is always good and he did the Timothy Flyte character justice. Once again, while not true the book, it still worked. Everyone else in the movie (and honestly, even O'Toole) could have been replaced with any actors with adequate ability. I wish they'd have had all the deputies from the book and had allowed one or two of them to last a bit longer.
If not for Schrieber and the build up of suspense I probably would have gone for 3 1/2 otherwise. The reason being the special effects which keeps a decent horror movie from being a great horror movie. They're bloody awful. The creature in the horrible CLOVERFIELD was better than this. Yes, I know the monsters were different but if a low budget loser like CLOVERFIELD can make a credible monster, then PHANTOMS should have managed something a whole lot better. Actually wondered if the same person who did Carpenter's THE THING was involved in this monster also.
The book is wonderful. One of my favorite Koontz's efforts. Plot: A doctor is bringing her little sister (young teen in the book changed to a much older Rose Mcgowan for some reason) to live with her in a small Colorado tourist town. When they get there no one is around, the streets are deserted. PLOT SPOILER: This is another place where the movie deviates from the book. While in one of the shops you see a man's shadow coming up behind them and it's scary as heck. The sherrif (an absurdly young-looking Ben Affleck) and a couple of deputies are already in town trying to find out what's going on. It cut a lot of time out from the book and I have no objection to how it was done. In fact, I think it improved on the original story line there.
In the book Koontz came up with something, while not all that original probably, it wasn't anything that had ever occured to me. A group of scientists was with the military to see if there was an alien invasion, figuring aliens would be so different from us that we wouldn't be able to realize what was happening. Growing up with the flying saucer idea drilled into my head via countless SciFi movies, I found this really interesting and thought provoking.
Anyway, except for the monster and expendable actors, this is a decent movie. Might be a bit intense for youngsters but adults will enjoy getting the heck scared out of them on several occasions.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 94
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