Hey folks, Harry here... read Quint's story and decided that it was absolutely necessary to get the right scoop, right now. Here's the scoop. Angus Scrimm is definitely back. So is Reggie Bannister. Oh - and Bruce Campbell joins for the 2nd and 3rd films "He's integral & heroic. He, Jody & Reggie are ultimately Mike's true friends!" - (at least that's the plan - deal to be worked out!) Think of Reggie as an ex-hippie Obi-Wan with a four-barrelled shotgun of death. The trick is all about Mike - New Line sees Mike as being the Luke Skywalker of Horror. Fact is, in 1979 - Bob Shaye wanted to buy PHANTASM. And then with PHANTASM 2 - he lost it to Universal. And we all are well familiar with how Universal treated this series like a pox upon mankind instead of the AWESOME work that it is! The word is the script will be having, it looks like, Stephen Susco giving it a polish. The first film will have Michael at age 15 or so. The films will really hone in on Michael vs The Tall Man. The vision for the three films is essentially the story of Michael and his abilities versus the Tall Man's mission to lead his army of dead slaves and chrome constructs over humanity. In that unique fusion of horror and sci-fi. Coscarelli will be the Lucas of these projects - overseeing and keeping it true. Fact is, Don has had to bend over backwards to make the originals - compromised by budget short-comings, studio interference and just plain uncoolness. Now through that adversity - he created something unique and cool in the world of horror. Here, the hope is he'll get to see his dream given the treatment fans have always said it deserved. Essentially - this is Phantasm with "MORE BALLS THAN EVER BEFORE!"

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here... Ironically I just returned from a screening of the original PHANTASM here at the new Alamo Drafthouse (S. Lamar) with star Michael Baldwin in attendance. I come back to find info about the Hollywood Reporter breaking a story I've heard was in the works for a while... New Line is going to produce a new PHANTASM trilogy based on the characters and films by Don Coscarelli.

I'm a little torn here. I love the originals and would love for a new audience to find them, but as much as I trust a few key people inside New Line to be respectful of the material... remakes are iffy with me. The only recent remake I really think was just as good or better than the original film was ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, which isn't a horror movie. The big questions are about the cast and new director. Coscarelli won't be helming the remakes... but will Angus come back as The Tall Man? I know he's getting on in years, but it won't be PHANTASM without him... even if he just shows up at the beginning to pass the torch or something. I'll be mega-pissed if Angus isn't in this. Same goes for Reggie. There is no PHANTASM without Reggie.

On top of the Hollywood Reporter article I can give out a few more details... The script (for the first film, I'm assuming) was written by Don Coscarelli and Austinite Stephen Romano, who was also at the PHANTASM screening tonight. I've heard in whispers tonight that there might be a bigger screenwriter to come in and polish up the script. No names were mentioned, unfortunately.

I think if New Line concentrates on the feel that Coscarelli captured perfectly in the 2nd and 3rd films of the series... a great mixture of action, horror and one-liners... with a pinch of the dreamlike quality of the original... I think they may make something worthy of being called PHANTASM... I guess from here we just hope they get some good people involved. What do you folks think about this news?

CLICK IT HERE FOR THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER STORY!

UPDATED!!!

Ahoy... Quint here again. So it looks like the folks at BLOODY DISGUSTING have even more small pieces of info about this. Here's what they have to say:

-Obviously the spheres will be receiving a major upgrade.

- The PLAN is to keep Angus Scrimm as the Tallman, but nothing can be guaranteed yet

-This will be the "Definitive Phantasm trilogy."

-This "will be the 'Star Wars' of Horror."

-Mike "will be become the Luke Skywalker of Horror."

READ THE WHOLE BD STORY HERE!

Hrmm... I like the ambition of making this a STAR WARS of horror, but I'm not entirely sure if that isn't missing the point a little bit. I gotta think on that a bit. And hell yes Angus needs to be the Tall Man. I hope they don't majorly upgrade the spheres too much. There will be a point when it'll start to look ridiculous, if you know what I mean... Knives, drills, corkscrews, plastic toothpicks, spoons, foot massagers... see how easily it gets out of control? Um... Ok, so that one surely won't happen... but you know what I mean.

I'm working on getting a few questions out to Don Coscarelli to see what's what. You know... does this mean no PHANTASM 5? That kind of thing... Keep your eyes on the site, squirts!