Phantoms (1998). Cert 15. Director -
Joe Chappelle Writer -
Dean R Koontz. Starring -
Ben Affleck, Peter O'Toole, Joanna Going, Rose McGowan & Liev
Schrieber.
Premise - When two sisters
return to their small town home they discover that the entire towns
inhabitants have disappeared. After meeting up with the towns law officers
they try and piece together what happened. Phantoms wastes no time in
cutting to the chase. Barely five minutes into the film the tension is
racked up to eleven and the ride begins. In-fact the first half of the
film contains some of the tensest scenes I have seen in a long
time. Good use of sound, lighting and
camera positions place the viewer right in the heart of the movie. Wisely
the first half of the film uses the scariest special effect off all, the
imagination. Not a hair of the titular 'Phantoms' are seen in the first
half, instead they are merely suggested and the film benefits from
this. Unfortunately the it's all down
hill in the second half. As soon as Peter O'Toole appears the film moves
from edgy, tension filled chiller to sci-fi schlock horror at an alarming
rate. Gone is all the well paced build up of the first half as it is
replaced by shoddy CGI work and cheesy one-liners. If I were to compare the two
halves off the film to others I would say that the first is like The
Shining meets The Blair Witch Project. Whilst the Second half is like some
half assed amalgamation of The Thing and Aliens. Blame can't be placed on the
shoulders of the transition from book to film as Dean R Koontz himself
adapted his own book. The problem is clearly with the source material
itself. A shame really because the cast
puts in some good work. McGowan and Going play nicely as the sisters
dropped into this situation and Ben Affleck for me puts in one of his best
performances. Peter O'Toole though really hams it up, as if reacting to
the ludicrous events unfolding before him. If they had kept the
'spookiness' of the first half intact and ditched the whole sci-fi plot
then we could have been looking at a good solid chiller. As it stands we
are left with half a good movie. A serious case of what could have
been.
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6/10 for Phantoms. Poster Quote - Better heard and not seen. |