Phantasm

Phantasm (also released as The Never Dead in Australia) is an horror film produced in 1977 and released in 1979, directed, written, photographed, co-produced and edited by Don Coscarelli. Starring A. Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Reggie Bannister, and Angus Scrimm. To date the film has three sequels, Phantasm II, Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead and Phantasm IV: Oblivion.

Plot
After the death of their parents, 24 year old musician Jody Pearson is raising his 13 year old brother Mike in a small town disturbed by the mysterious deaths of its citizens. Reggie, a family man and ice cream vendor, joins the brothers in their suspicions that the local mortician, dubbed "The Tall Man", is responsible for the deaths. Mike relays his fears to a fortuneteller and her granddaughter about the possibility of Jody leaving town, and Mike in the care of his aunt along with the suspicions of The Tall Man. Mike is shown a small black box and told to put his hand into it. After the box grips his hand, Mike is told not to be afraid and as the panic subsides, the box relaxes its grip. The notion of fear itself as the killer is established and is what propels Mike towards his final confrontation in the film with The Tall Man.

Mike is pursued by minions of the Tall Man, zombie dwarfs made from the bodies of the recently deceased, and tries to convince his brother of what is happening.

After convincing his brother and Reggie, they find a strange white room with containers in the mausoleum. There is also a gateway to another dimension or planet that Mike enters briefly where he sees the dwarfs that have hunted him through the movie being used as slaves. While trying to escape the Tall Man, Reggie is killed. Mike and Jody barely escape. They devise a plan to lure the Tall Man into a local deserted mine shaft and trap him inside. After doing so successfully, Mike wakes with a start in his house, laying by the fireplace with Reggie sitting next to him.

Reggie explains that Mike was simply having a bad dream, something that was common since Jody died in a car crash. This implies that the entire movie has been a dream wherein Mike was trying to prevent Jody from leaving. Mike goes into his room where the Tall Man is waiting and pulls Mike through his bedroom mirror.

Cast

 * A. Michael Baldwin as Mike Pearson
 * Bill Thornbury as Jody Pearson
 * Reggie Bannister as Reggie
 * Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man
 * Kathy Lester as The Lady in Lavender
 * Kenneth V. Jones as The Caretaker
 * Mary Ellen Shaw as The Fortuneteller
 * Terrie Kalbus as The Fortuneteller's Granddaughter
 * Susan Harper as Susie
 * Lynn Eastman as Sally
 * David Arntzen as Toby
 * Ralph Richmond as Bartender
 * Bill Cone as Tommy
 * Laura Mann as Double Lavender
 * Myrle Scotton as The Maid