Director Don Coscarelli talks 'Phantasm: Ravager' — exclusive image

On Monday, director Don Coscarelli revealed that both the J.J. Abrams-assisted 4K restoration of his 1979 terror tale Phantasm and the fifth film in the horror franchise, Phantasm: Ravager, will be ready for release next year. So, what can fans of the series — in which Angus Scrimm plays a flying, sphere-assisted evildoer known as The Tall Man — expect from Ravager?

“It’s a swan song to the series,” says Coscarelli, who co-wrote Phantasm: Ravager with the film’s director, David Hartman. “Almost every one of the original cast is back. They’re all great in it. Angus Scrimm is magnificent. There’s some new iterations of those brain-shucking spheres and a lot of good struff that the fans will enjoy. It ties up a lot of the storylines and answers some questions that fans have had.”

The filmmaker also promises that the film will include an extended sequence set on the Tall Man’s planet. “What’s really cool is, with the rise of the Internet over the past few years and going to the conventions, myself and my collaborators, and David Hartman, the director on it, we’ve been listening to the fans,” says Coscarelli. “They have always said, ‘Well, what about the Tall Man’s red world? What’s going on there?'”

Finally, the director is considering the possibility of releasing Phantasm: Ravager and the restored Phantasm as a theatrical double bill. “I think maybe the best way is to put both of those movies out and show them together,” he says. “We’ll come up with something special.”

You can see an exclusive image from Phantasm: Ravager above and a teaser trailer, below.