How Cult Filmmaker Don Coscarelli Brought Phantasm From the Screen to the Page

io9 talked to cult filmmaker Don Coscarelli when he released his memoir in 2018. Now, the director of Phantasm I-IV, as properly as Bubba Ho-Tep, The Beastmaster, and John Dies at the Finish, is attempting some thing new: fiction. Or rather, Phiction—a book of quick stories that explores “tales from the globe of Phantasm.”

We caught up with Coscarelli more than video chat to discover extra about the book, as properly as what he’s been functioning on lately. What follows is a condensed and edited version of our conversation.

Cheryl Eddy, io9: Phiction expands on the globe of the Phantasm films. What was the genesis of writing the book?

Don Coscarelli: When I wrote the memoir, I seriously had a lot of enjoyable. The dilemma with me is that writing, well—wasn’t it Harlan Ellison’s popular quote, “Writing is [the hardest work in the world]”? With screenplays, I sit and I stare at the screen and it can be just seriously, seriously tough. But [the memoir] was simple simply because I was just writing about my life—it was enjoyable to revisit and I just enjoyed the procedure. So I believed, “I’ve got to attempt writing some fiction a single of these days.” Then as I kept revisiting the notion, I believed, “Go for the low hanging fruit. I’ll create some Phantasm stories,” simply because that would be simple for me, you know?

I began pondering about some of the characters and which ones would be intriguing I envisioned it as a collection of quick stories. I began writing the 1st a single about Reggie, and it was just enjoyable writing stories with no the issues that you do in film writing. Film writing is seriously, seriously really hard simply because you are often pondering, “Wait, I cannot concentrate on this character simply because who am I ever going to get to play that part?” Then you invest all this time writing a screenplay and it does not get created into a film, and it type of goes into your closet and it is like, I’ve got a stack of these writing projects that I labored more than that no a single will ever appear at. So I believed when I had completed the fiction book, it was like I had designed some thing tangible that I could give to individuals to study. It felt like, from a writer’s viewpoint, just a far better path, honestly … as opposed to a film, there are just no boundaries in this type of writing. And that was just completely refreshing to me. It was enjoyable. As opposed to the screenwriting, it seriously was enjoyable.

io9: How did you determine which characters to concentrate on?

Coscarelli: Of course, I wanted to go with some core characters who had perhaps had a small much less improvement. Reggie has been a important character and [Reggie Bannister, the actor who plays him] has been a important collaborator via all the films. I recall him telling me stories about how he was in this folk band, and they had been beginning to take off—then [his] draft notice came, and he went to the Vietnam War. It was often such a counterpoint to the character of Reggie. [Phiction tells] a absolutely fictional story I do not seriously know what he did more than Vietnam, but it was my fantasy of what the Reggie character as a young man more than there would be like.

io9: Has Reggie study the story about Reggie?

Coscarelli: Yeah. I got very good evaluations! Thank god, I was so concerned about that. But he loved it.

I also wanted to method a couple of the characters in the original Phantasm who had quite small screen time and construct them out a small bit. This is all present work—none of this is primarily based on what I was pondering of the time when I created the movie—but I often wondered, how did [the “Caretaker” character who dies early in the film] go to operate at the mausoleum? Who was he? I believed it would be intriguing [if we learned] exactly where he came from. 1 of the points that I’ve discovered a lot about, in this weird profession I’ve had, is—I got a lot of expertise in funeral houses and mortuaries and crematoriums. In a weird way, I’m like a student of that stuff. And so if I hear an intriguing story about an embalmer, what he did, I often my ears perked up. And so I believed, “It’ll be intriguing to pass on some of that stuff that I discovered in that character’s story,” so that is in the story “Behind the Mortuary Door.” In the story “Tobe”—he was an additional character from the original Phantasm. He was just absolutely there for exposition, then he leaves and we never ever hear from him once again. I believed, “Maybe he could see the Phantasm events from a distinctive viewpoint.” That was an intriguing way to attempt to plot the path of the character via Phantasm, and have him be in specific spots exactly where he could participate a small bit.

You know, I’ve been in the Phantasm game or globe for a lot of years now. And as the years go by, it seriously enables me to perhaps comprehend my personal nature. I do often delight in unlikely protagonists and heroes … none of them are your regular Stallone, Schwarzenegger varieties.

io9: In your introduction to the book, you address a query that I’m positive you get all the time, which is, “When are you going to make an additional Phantasm film?” Your answer is, fundamentally, “Never.” Does that imply there’s not going to be any extra Phantasm on screen at all? Is that some thing that you would assistance?

Coscarelli: Appear, you know a single day there will be a remake. There has been lots of speculation and speak about that, but practically nothing concrete. Lately I’ve been bouncing about the edges. I, along with the director of Phantasm Ravager, David Hartman, we co-directed a music video for Bill Thornbury, the actor [who plays Jody] in Phantasm. He’s a nation music talent. We did that, and it it felt like practically like producing a Phantasm film. I’m such fantastic pals with all the cast, and we speak about suggestions occasionally. Hell, with artificial intelligence there could be dozens of Phantasms with the original actors nevertheless to come. [Laughs]

io9: Let’s hope not! [Laughs] But you would want to make an additional function film that wasn’t Phantasm?

Coscarelli: Oh, yeah. I’m regularly nevertheless functioning on distinctive projects. Exactly where I match in the Hollywood pantheon is that I have to create my, screenplays for a specific spending budget, and then take him out to the usual suspects. And then when they all say no, figure out a way to make it on an independent basis. This is so considerably tougher than it ever was the foreign industry applied to be the staple and present so considerably chance and funding. Now, each and every foreign distributor, international distributor you speak to, they just go. “Yeah, properly, we want to sell it to to a streamer—have you sold the streaming rights? Are they accessible?” It is a challenge … I consider there’s going to be some enterprising, brilliant young filmmaker who’s going to figure out a way to make the subsequent Halloween, Evil Dead, or Phantasm and distribute it themselves on YouTube and make income on it. There are distribution possibilities out there, and the technologies to make the films is out there. But nobody’s seriously very figured out how to monetize it in a massive way, unless you are a single of these “influencers.” It just appears to me somebody could—if you could make some thing seriously shocking, and revolutionary, and surprising, there may possibly be a way to make income off of it, you know.

I’m also functioning on a Television series proposal with a fantastic young writer, a guy named Adair Cole. He’s sold a couple of shows not too long ago, and it is supernatural, this project that we have higher hopes for. So we’re going to take that out to industry.

io9: If you had any words of guidance for any up-and-coming horror creators, what would they be? 

Coscarelli: It is superb that individuals can express themselves visually now. It was so really hard back when we had been employing Super eight film—just the technologies was not possible. Now it is quite very simple, particularly in terms of the tools. My only suggestion is—as Hillary Clinton applied to say, it requires a village. You want to place with each other a small film pack, pals who assistance a single an additional, simply because you want several individuals to make films. Do not want a lot, but if you have 4 or 5 individuals that can assistance you in terms of assisting you to get your vision out there, that is an essential point.

io9: The collectible hardcover version of Phiction is sadly sold out, but fans can order a paperback and Kindle on Amazon?

Coscarelli: Yeah, that goes on sale April 30.

io9: There is a tease at the finish of the book, that possibly Phiction aspect two is coming. Is that some thing you hope takes place?

Coscarelli: Oh hell yeah. This is a single of the blessings of my profession and life, that there are these superb Phantasm fans who like the film and the story and the characters. I saw on Instagram that [a fan posted that he] took his book to a graveyard to do a small opening of it. And then all all through he was just going, “Remember Phantasm II? There was the character of Liz, and I’m on Group Liz. I want to see a story about her!” I do not know if I could make a story about her, but—I’m positive some of the other Phantasm actors who didn’t get stories about them are going to start out bothering me: “Why didn’t you create a story about my character?” … It would be enjoyable to do some extra for positive.

You can pre-order a copy of Phiction by Don Coscarelli on Amazon and maintain up with Phantasm news on the Phantasm internet site. Phantasm is streaming on Freevee, Peacock, Tubi, Pluto Television, and Plex.

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