Phantasm IV: Oblivion - The cracks are starting to show

The 'Phantasm' franchises reaches its fourth installment and it does feel like it's starting to run out of steam.  The first one was dark, creepy and original - when a group of friends start to realise a tall, old man has a sinister plot involving dead bodies and alternate dimensions.  It was great - well shot, excellent use of special effects, sets and cinematography.  Then came parts two and three, where the emphasis was taken off the 'fear factor' and centred more on bloodthirsty laughs - think 'Evil Dead.'

Now, for part four, the creator admitted that he wanted to get back to the franchise's roots and water down the humour in favour of scares again.  What we're left with is a bit of a mish mash of both that feels like a cross between 'Evil Dead, Twin Peaks' and the original source material.

I always enjoyed the exploits/performance of 'Reggie' - a balding, overweight ex ice cream salesman who now hunts demons with a souped-up (cool!) shotgun (again, think of him like the long lost uncle of 'Ash' from the 'Evil Dead' films).  He's back (thankfully!) and gives as good a performance as ever.  In fact - for me - his sections of the story were definitely the highlights.  They're gory, daft, cheesy and generally over the top.

However, then you have a - sort of - second story which runs in tandem with Reggie's as his former student, Mike, is captured by the tall man and taken to another dimension.  These scenes are nice.  That's about all I can say about them.  They're surreal, but don't seem to have the budget to be really memorable.  They're also a bit confusing, with Mike and the tall man bouncing through time periods and alternate dimensions.  Then, by the time we get back to Reggie, it feels like a totally different film.

'Phantasm IV: Oblivion' isn't a bad film, it's just definitely the weakest of the four so far.  I enjoyed the first three and could definitely binge watch them, but I doubt I'd bother with this entry.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights