Paula Irvine Movies

This third entry in the Phantasm series is the poorest of all. This time, Mike (Michael Baldwin) and Reggie (Reggie Bannister) meet some new friends and join up with Jody (Bill Thornbury) from beyond the dead in their quest to stop the "Tall Man" (Angus Scrimm). The film has good special effects -- and Scrimm is at his best here -- but it answers all the wrong questions and not enough of the right ones. ~ Sean D. MacLaggan, All Movie Guide

Bluegrass was a two-part TV movie that resurrected virtually every "racetrack" cliche known to man. Widowed Cheryl Ladd heads to Kentucky to start up a horse farm. Her wicked neighbor is Wayne Rogers who seeks Ladd's downfall. Faithful farm manager Brian Kerwin won't let Rogers stand in the way of Ladd's dream. Anthony Andrews hangs around as a Harlequin romance-style Irish rake with a Dark Secret. And what would a horse-farm movie be without Mickey Rooney? Part One of Bluegrass raised a stir upon its February 28, 1988 debut, with a brief shot of horses mating. But it was the foaling sequence in Part Two that really made the headlines. All tangled plotlines knot together in the second half of Bluegrass. Part Two, first telecast on Leap Year day in 1988, Ladd literally bets the ranch on the Kentucky Derby, while mysterious Irish stranger Anthony Andrews reveals his (gasp!) terrible secret. One of the film's highlights was the genuine birth of a foal. The poor animal looked so shaky that the network issued an official statement insisting that the newborn horse survived. When the truth came out (the foal didn't make it), the producers were heartily condemned by animal activist groups--which may be why all current films bear the closing disclaimer about no animals being injured during shooting. Bluegrass was directed by Simon Wincer, who later helmed the epic miniseries Lonesome Dove. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "Tall Man" and his strange little Killer Sphere return for a second round in this sequel to the 1979 cult favorite. Mike Pearson (James LeGros) is still plagued by memories of the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), an evil mortician who has risen from the grave and bleeds embalming fluid -- and tried to kill him as a boy. Mike has been a patient in a mental institution for the last decade, insisting that the Tall Man is real; he still appears in his dreams ten years after their first encounter. When Mike changes his tune and says that the undead undertaker was merely a hallucination, he is finally released. However, Mike and his best friend, Reggie (Reggie Bannister), are actually out to find the Tall Man and put an end to his habits of grave-robbing and draining people's bodies with his flying brain-juicer. As they search for the Tall Man, Mike encounters Liz (Paula Irvine), a woman who has also appeared in his dreams, and she claims that she too has been pursued by the Tall Man. Phantasm II was followed by a third installment in 1994, and a fourth in 1998. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide