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 well as Bubba Ho-Tep, The Beastmaster, and John Dies at the End, is trying something new: fiction. Or rather, Phiction—a book of short stories that explores “tales from the world of Phantasm.”

We caught up with Coscarelli over video chat to learn more about the book— which features a coverand illustrations created by Coscarelli’s longtime collaborator Aaron Lea—as well as what he’s been working on lately. What follows is a condensed and edited version of our conversation.

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

Don Coscarelli: When I wrote the memoir, I really had a lot of fun. The problem with me is that writing, well—wasn’t it Harlan Ellison’s famous quote, “Writing is [the hardest work in the world]”? With screenplays, I sit and I stare at the screen and it can be just really, really difficult. But [the memoir] was easy because I was just writing about my life—it was fun to revisit and I just enjoyed the process. So I thought, “I’ve got to try writing some fiction one of these days.” Then as I kept revisiting the idea, I thought, “Go for the low hanging fruit. I’ll write some Phantasm stories,” because that would be easy for me, you know?

I started thinking about some of the characters and which ones would be interesting; I envisioned it as a collection of short stories. I started writing the first one about Reggie, and it was just fun writing stories without the concerns that you do in movie writing. Movie writing is really, really hard because you’re always thinking, “Wait, I can’t focus on this character because who am I ever going to get to play that role?” Then you spend all this time writing a screenplay and it doesn’t get made into a film, and it kind of goes into your closet and it’s like, I’ve got a stack of these writing projects that I labored over that no one will ever look at. So I thought once I had completed the fiction book, it was like I had created something tangible that I could give to people to read. It felt like, from a writer’s perspective, just a better path, honestly ... unlike a movie, there are just no boundaries in this kind of writing. And that was just totally refreshing to me. It was fun. Unlike the screenwriting, it really was fun.

io9: How did you decide which characters to focus on?

Coscarelli: Obviously, I wanted to go with some core characters who had maybe had a little less development. Reggie has been a key character and [Reggie Bannister, the actor who plays him] has been a key collaborator through all the movies. I remember him telling me stories about how he was in this folk band, and they were starting to take off—then [his] draft notice came, and he went to the Vietnam War. It was always such a counterpoint to the character of Reggie. [Phiction tells] a completely fictional story; I don’t really know what he did over Vietnam, but it was my fantasy of what the Reggie character as a young man over there would be like.

io9: Has Reggie read the story about Reggie?

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

I also wanted to approach a couple of the characters in the original Phantasm who had very little screen time and build them out a little bit. This is all current work—none of this is based on what I was thinking of the time when I made the movie—but I always wondered, how did [the “Caretaker” character who dies early in the film] go to work at the mausoleum? Who was he? I thought it would be interesting [if we learned] where he came from. One of the things that I’ve learned a lot about, in this weird career I’ve had, is—I got a lot of experience in funeral homes and mortuaries and crematoriums. In a weird way, I’m like a student of that stuff. And so if I hear an interesting story about an embalmer, what he did, I always my ears perked up. And so I thought, “It’ll be interesting to pass on some of that stuff that I learned in that character’s story,” so that’s in the story “Behind the Mortuary Door.” In the story “Tobe”—he was another character from the original Phantasm. He was just completely there for exposition, then he leaves and we never hear from him again. I thought, “Maybe he could see the Phantasm events from a different perspective.” That was an interesting way to try to plot the path of the character through Phantasm, and have him be in certain spots where he could participate a little bit.

You know, I’ve been in the Phantasm game or world for a lot of years now. And as the years go by, it really allows me to maybe understand my own nature. I do always enjoy unlikely protagonists and heroes ... none of them are your traditional Stallone, Schwarzenegger types.

io9: In your introduction to the book, you address a question that I’m sure you get all the time, which is, “When are you going to make another Phantasm movie?” Your answer is, basically, “Never.” Does that mean there’s not going to be any more Phantasm on screen at all? Is that something that you would support?

Coscarelli: Look, you know one day there will be a remake. There has been lots of speculation and talk about that, but nothing concrete. Lately I’ve been bouncing around 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 country music talent. We did that, and it it felt like almost like making a Phantasm movie. I’m such great friends with all the cast, and we talk about ideas sometimes. Hell, with artificial intelligence there may be dozens of Phantasms with the original actors still to come. [Laughs]

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

Coscarelli: Oh, yeah. I’m constantly still working on different projects. Where I fit in the Hollywood pantheon is that I have to write my, screenplays for a certain 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 much tougher than it ever was; the foreign market used to be the staple and provide so much opportunity and funding. Now, every foreign distributor, international distributor you talk to, they just go. “Yeah, well, we need to sell it to to a streamer—have you sold the streaming rights? Are they available?” It’s a challenge ... I think there’s going to be some enterprising, brilliant young filmmaker who’s going to figure out a way to make the next Halloween, Evil Dead, or Phantasm and distribute it themselves on YouTube and make money on it. There are distribution opportunities out there, and the technology to make the movies is out there. But nobody’s really quite figured out how to monetize it in a big way, unless you’re one of those “influencers.” It just seems to me somebody could—if you could make something really shocking, and innovative, and surprising, there might be a way to make money off of it, you know.

I’m also working on a TV series proposal with a great young writer, a guy named Adair Cole. He’s sold a couple of shows recently, and it’s supernatural, this project that we have high hopes for. So we’re going to take that out to market.

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

Coscarelli: It’s wonderful that people can express themselves visually now. It was so hard back when we were using Super 8 film—just the technology was impossible. Now it’s pretty simple, especially in terms of the tools. My only suggestion is—as Hillary Clinton used to say, it takes a village. You need to put together a little film pack, friends who support one another, because you need multiple people to make films. Don’t need a lot, but if you have four or five people that can support you in terms of helping you to get your vision out there, that’s an important thing.

io9: The collectible hardcover version of Phiction is unfortunately 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 end of the book, that possibly Phiction part two is coming. Is that something you hope happens?

Coscarelli: Oh hell yeah. This is one of the blessings of my career and life, that there are these wonderful Phantasm fans who love the movie 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 little opening of it. And then all throughout he was just going, “Remember Phantasm II? There was the character of Liz, and I’m on Team Liz. I want to see a story about her!” I don’t know if I could make a story about her, but—I’m sure some of the other Phantasm actors who didn’t get stories about them are going to start bothering me: “Why didn’t you write a story about my character?” ... It would be fun to do some more for sure.

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

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