PHANTOMS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: An evil older than life on Earth
takes possession of a Colorado town in a horror
film featuring Peter O'Toole. The popular horror
novelist Dean R. Koontz adapts one of his most
enjoyable novels, but it loses a great deal on its
way to the screen. All of the gunfire is here, but
the intriguing possibilities are sadly toned down.
Rating: 6 (0 to 10), high +1 (-4 to +4) A Heavy
Duty Spoiler follows the review, but I really want
to discuss the ideas.
New York Critics: 1 positive, 5 negative, 0 mixed
If you are going to take a long novel and adapt it for the screen, you are essentially cutting it to the length of a novelette. Something has to go. It must have been a painful task for Dean Koontz to cut down the scope of his novel. He had to make a lot of choices as to what would play to a horror film audience. I remember consciously thinking when I read the novel PHANTOMS that I would have been willing to go through everything in the novel up to this point, all the horror, if I could just be in on this one conversation between a human and... well... something that was definitely a long way beyond human. That moment--chapters long in the book--either did not make it to the film or passes by so quickly that it is hardly noticeable. The moments when something violent or repulsive is happening seem to go on forever, but my little moment with its sense of wonder seems to have been pushed aside. Shame on you, Mr. Koontz, for not recognizing what was really unique powerful about your own novel. Instead we have one more horror film with grisly gore and in-your-face special effects. On the other hand, at least it is played seriously. This is all material that could have been played for laughs and perhaps the film's greatest strength is that it was not If anyone is going to treat Koontz's ideas seriously, it is going to be Koontz.
Dr. Jennifer Pailey (played by Joanna Going) lives in the high Colorado town of Snowfield. She brings her sister Lisa (Rose McGowan) to the town for a visit and to get her away from the corrupting influence of life in Los Angeles. She does not imagine that what she is bringing Lisa to is far worse than what she is leaving. Their first discovery on arriving is that Jenny's landlady is lying dead on the floor of her home, her skin having turned strange colors. It is quite a shock, and it is only the first. When they go to report it to the police, the officer on duty is dead with identical symptoms. Most of the town is empty and those that are still there are dead. This explains why the streets seem so quiet. As in ANDROMEDA STRAIN they find that whenever it happened, whatever "it" was, some people died immediately and some went slowly insane. Finally after wandering the museum of horror that had been Snowfield, they find three living people, the sheriff (played by Ben Affleck) and his two deputies, also returning from out of town. As they investigate they find the telephones will connect them only with a mumbling presence, but whatever killed the town is still present and still a danger. More exploration turns up no new survivors, but a cryptic message "Timothy Flyte the Ancient Enemy." It is on this clue that the whole understanding of the nature of the menace will hinge. Eventually the military is informed of what has happened and they enter the town to find out what has happened. The Army brings in a scientist (Peter O'Toole) with an oddball theory as to what happened to Snowfield, tying it into previously unexplained historical incidents.
The cast is of lesser-known actors, all but Ben Affleck and, of course, Peter O'Toole. Frankly, great actors are not really needed here, though the script calls for some, the doctor and the sheriff, perhaps to be a little older than the very young actors featured in this film. Under the direction Joe Chappelle the principles give their lines but add little to the film beyond acting menaced. There is only one actor who has to go beyond that. Peter O'Toole has to act the role of a latter-day Dr. Van Helsing, a joke in the scientific community but with the spark of an idea that might explain a lot of history. He has to walk a gentle tightrope between being wise and being a little unstrung. That is the same tightrope that O'Toole had to walk in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, and in spite of my initial skepticism on seeing him in the role, perhaps he was just what it needed.
PHANTOMS runs its good ideas past the viewer much too fast, but at least they are there. It feels like a very much scaled down version of the novel. I give it a 6 on the 0 to 10 scale and high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Spoiler...Spoiler...Spoiler...Spoiler.. .
What is nicely done in the film but far better in the book is how the theories of the nature of the enemy change in the course of the book. It starts seeming like some sort of disease, a la THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN. Then it appears more malevolent and seems like some sort of shape-changer. Then the characters realize they are in contact with, and talking to, the force of evil going back to the beginning of time. They are essentially in conversation with the Devil and it is affably talking to them. Think of what an opportunity that would be. The film sort of flashes over it, but what if you really could discuss history with the force behind all evil. Suppose you could discuss history with a being that has been here since the beginnings of time, marshaling the most powerful side in the battle between good and evil. What would you ask first? I mean this would be better than getting Saddam Hussein on MEET THE PRESS. Finally the concept transforms again to come up with a science fictional explanation for the Devil through the ages and even that concept is intriguing. It is much muted in this adaptation, but even in the film some intriguing possibilities come through.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
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