Phantasm II

We return with a tribute episode honoring the late Reggie Bannister, the longtime anchor of the Phantasm series, by diving back into 1988’s Phantasm II.

We talk about Bannister’s unique career and background and how Reggie evolves here into a more action-hero figure. We break down how Universal’s higher budget and studio demands changed the sequel’s tone—more linear, more action-driven, recasting Mike, and adding love interests—while losing some of the original’s dreamlike surreal horror.

We discuss the road-trip structure, psychic subplot, mixed lore elements, standout practical effects, memorable set pieces, and the ending’s reset, plus where the series goes next and why we might revisit later entries like Ravager.

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Phantasm II (1988)

Episode 507, 2 Guys and a Chainsaw Horror Movie Review Podcast

Todd: Hello, and welcome to another episode of Two Guys and a Chainsaw. I’m Todd.

Craig: And I’m Craig.

Todd: Well, we come to you with another tribute episode. It’s been a little while since we’ve done one, ha- no, we did a tribute episode a couple episodes ago, didn’t we?

Craig: Yeah, but I bet our listeners won’t find this one much of a surprise if they keep up on the news at all.

Todd: Yeah. Today, we are mourning the death of Reggie Bannister, very prolific actor in horror, who is best known for his breakout role in Phantasm, one of my all-time favorite horror movies. So we decided that since we hadn’t really done much else in the Phantasm series in all these years, that we would dive back in there as tribute to him with 1988’s Phantasm II.

I had seen Phantasm II in high school, and I remember at the time thinking, “Whoa, this is quite different from the original in tone.” And so, uh, I was curious to see if my impressions of it this time around matched what I remembered, and I think, yeah, it kinda did. It really did match how I, I remember, and I can’t wait to talk about that.

What’s your history with this movie, Craig?

Craig: Uh, I really didn’t grow up watching this. I, I wish that I had given myself time to go back and listen to our original discussion on the first one because it’s been so long. And, and I feel like it was, you know, not long before that that I had watched the whole series from start to finish pretty much all at once.

So when I was introduced to Phantasm, I, I mean, I knew f- like, the orb and the Tall Man, the imagery was stuff that was familiar to me. I just hadn’t actually seen the movies. Mm. And once I finally got around to seeing them, I watched all of them. At that point, I think the first three, maybe the first four were out.

I know that Ravager wasn’t out yet. I remember that Ravager came out later, and I saw it later. But I kind of, I kind of knocked them all out at once, which is a different experience, I think. It’s, it’s an interesting series. I’m, I’m a little surprised that we haven’t come back to it. In hindsight, I don’t know.

I think this was the right choice. It might have been interesting to do something like Ravager, which, you know, Reggie Bannister, he was the, pretty much the anchor of this series along with Angus Scrimm, but I think Ravager came out even after Angus Scrimm had passed away. Reggie Bannister really was kind of the anchor of, of the whole series, and, and it spans almost four decades, so- Yeah

it might have been kind of interesting to look at the last one. But this one has some interesting backstory, and fan opinions are mixed, and so I think we’ll have plenty to talk about.

Todd: Yeah, we cer- we certainly will. I think Ravager came out in 2016. That was the only one except for the first two… Well, I guess the first two and that one got a theatrical release, and the rest went straight to video.

So I guess we’re talking the third one and the fourth one went straight to video. I think that same year is when Reggie Bannister was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease.

Craig: Yeah.

Todd: He acted quite a bit- Up to that point, and then he had a couple movies after that, and then I think just, uh, retired from acting to take care of his health.

And, uh, I think we knew last year that his health was deteriorating.

Craig: He’s been unwell for a while. I, I think that his, his family or, or whoever is in control of his estate was, uh, was even reaching out to fans, I think, to help finance his living situation and his healthcare needs. I mean, he’s, he’s been in bad shape for a while.

So this didn’t really come as a big surprise and, and that’s sad that he was unwell and that he’s passed, but he had a really unique but cool career. Like, he’s one of those… Phantasm, I feel like isn’t as well-known as, let’s just say, the Evil Dead franchise, ’cause I feel like that’s kind of the best comparison with Bruce Campbell as Ash.

I mean, he’s kind of the Bruce Campbell- Yeah … Reggie Bannister is the Bruce Campbell of this series. And this is another one of those unique series that follows a direct continuity start to finish. There really aren’t lots of contradictions. There’s evolution and some things change along the way, but it’s a, it’s a direct continuity following Reggie Bannister’s character, Reggie, and, and the other central characters with the central antagonists throughout all of them.

So he may not have been an A-list guy, but he certainly had like, you know, a storied career, uh- Yeah … and, and r- really cool connections with, with Don Coscarelli. And so it’s, it’s cool to be able to kind of talk about him and celebrate. This was such, so special and meaningful to him and, and he was always, uh, really appreciative of the support that he got from fans.

This is something that he really embraced, so to get to kind of celebrate him after his passing feels good.

Todd: Yeah. It’s kinda sad. He was, um… Well, it’s, it’s good. It’s great, actually, because he got into acting after a pretty rough time in the military. He was in the Vietnam War. He was drafted. He, he was against it, but he got drafted, so he became a, kind of more of a frontline soldier.

I think he was a radio operator for an automatic weapons specialty group. And because he was around these weapons so often, big weapons, like, he ultimately got some hearing loss- And, uh, he was exposed to Agent Orange. So I think he, when he retired, he got some disability and, uh, also took his GI Bill from the military and decided that the next thing he was gonna do was use that money to study acting.

So, uh, it’s really cool that he could transition into this, and very lucky that very early in his screen acting career, you know, basically within two years he got that role in Phantasm.

Craig: Mm-hmm.

Todd: He didn’t really get another role until nine years later with this movie.

Craig: Yeah, he had kinda quit. Like, I think he had intentionally kinda quit.

Todd: Um- W- yeah. Didn’t he even spend some time embalming bodies in a funeral home in the meantime? Yeah. This is crazy.

Craig: Yeah. A- and, and he was a musician, too, and he was in other stuff. I mean, this is what he’s known for, and a lot of the other stuff that he was in, he appears in, like, horror or indie cameos.

Todd: Small roles usually.

Craig: Yeah. Yeah. I, I remember seeing him in Wishmaster or one of the Wishmasters and-

Todd: Yeah, the first Wishmaster. He was a pharmacist in that. We did that one here. We did Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: The Initiation, one of my all-time favorites. Yeah,

Craig: yeah.

Todd: He was in that.

Craig: And he’s really recognizable because he’s n- got a unique look, and he’s not a glamorous Hollywood leading man type.

He’s much more of an everyman kinda guy. But over the course of this franchise, he got to… His character got to evolve from kind of a dopey sidekick to, you know, a badass chainsaw, sawed-off shotgun-wielding, leather-wearing …