Like "Phantasm" before it, "Phantasm: Ravager" has a shambling dream logic that can be attributed to individual characters' subjective points-of-view. In the first "Phantasm," young Mike (A. Michael Baldwin) may or may not be projecting his adolescent fears of death onto the Tall Man (recently-deceased horror icon Angus Scrimm), his flying silver sphere heralds and his cloaked little people minions. "Phantasm: Ravager" has a similar logic, but the film isn't Mike's story.
In fact, "Ravager" is the first film to be told from the perspective of Reggie (Reggie Bannister), a happy-go-lucky ice cream man who vowed to stop the Tall Man after his family was, uh, blown up by Scrimm's inhuman villain. Reggie, like us, yearns for a sense of closure from his adventures. But he, now significantly older, can't think straight: his mind flashes back-and-forth between three competing timelines, one that takes place after the last sequel, one set in a far-flung future where the Tall Man has conquered the world, and one in a divergent timeline where Reggie's a doddering, dementia-addled old man in a retirement home.
This, understandably, makes Reggie confused. Thankfully, there's an internal logic and a lot of hand-holding expository voiceover narration to keep viewers oriented. Reggie, motivated by his sense of obligation to Mike's deceased older brother Jody (Bill Thornbury), still feels obligated to take care of Mike.
But Mike's an older man now, and the events Reggie's currently experiencing may or may not be happening. He's so disoriented because he, like us, can't understand a world where anti-Tall Man freedom fighters Dawn (Dawn Cody) and Chunk (Stephen Jutras) are more important than Mike or Jody's story. Where are the other guys we know and love? That question motivates Reggie's quest for resolution in "Ravager," making his reunion with multiple versions of Mike feel that much more satisfying.
Reggie is our surrogate, adrift in an ever-shifting history of a horror franchise that's gotten away from its original simplicity. I can't be too mad at the makers of "Ravager" because I am the ideal viewer they're trying to win over: the diehard fan that has seen all four previous "Phantasm" films, and suffered through many inane plot twists about the Tall Man's time-travel origins, and bizarre obsession with Mike.
Still, "Ravager" only works when it's a piece of straight-up fan service. Everything from the past is terribly important because it helps Reggie feel motivated enough to stop the Tall Man. Exhaustion has set in, so we need references to tuning forks, "thousands" of Tall Men, and even obscure references to supporting characters like the fortune-teller and Lady in Lavender that were previously only in the first "Phantasm." Think of "Ravager" as a memory exercise: if you can remember these characters, you'll probably leave feeling at least a little satisfied.
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