BALLS TO THE WALL:
AN INTERVIEW WITH DON COSCARELLI
By Greg T. Reifsteck
 

Sometimes it takes a lot of balls to make a good horror movie. In the case of writer/director Don Coscarelli, they’re made of steel, fly through the air and drill holes into people’s heads. Every horror fan knows these spherical assailants and their evil master, the Tall Man, whose machinations have driven Coscarelli’s Phantasm series to box office and home video gold. But the man behind the ball wasn’t always scaring audiences. He actually started by tugging at their heartstrings with Jim the World’s Greatest in 1976. This is where he began a cinematic journey with actors Angus Scrimm and Reggie Bannister. Three years later he would enlist them again to star in Phantasm. With Scrimm as the Tall Man and Bannister as Reggie – an ice cream man and unlikely hero – the film would become a bona fide genre classic.

Coscarelli’s success has come from his choice of beyond-the-pale material. He conceived the original action/adventure flick Beastmaster, about a martial-arts master who communicates with animals. While the film’s vision became clouded by controlling producers, its inventive elements remain.

In 2002, Coscarelli unleashed the horror comedy Bubba Ho-Tep, an instant cult favorite based on a short story by Joe R. Lansdale. The film finds Elvis, played by Bruce Campbell, languishing with a bad hip – among other afflictions - in a rural retirement home, trying to save geriatrics from a soul-sucking mummy. He has since contributed another Lansdale adaptation, Incident On and Off a Mountain Road, to Showtime’s Master’s of Horror series.

Penny Blood spoke to Coscarelli about his unconventional career in cinema.

PENNY BLOOD: What is the first film you can remember seeing in your youth, and how did that film influence you?

COSCARELLI: The first film I can remember seeing was Frankenstein. I saw it on TV and Karloff terrified me. I was too young to appreciate the subtle and sweet nuances of the film; I was just in awe of that monster.  I enjoyed the feeling caused by screen terror. It made me seek out other monster films - Godzilla, The Wolf Man and Dracula. I think it was also responsible for me sending in my first subscription to Forry Ackerman’s Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine. 

PENNY BLOOD: When did you first pick up a camera and decide filmmaking would be your profession?

COSCARELLI: I took my family’s 8mm film camera to summer camp and enlisted my fellow campers in doing tricks where we would make people disappear on screen. I brought these films home and screened them for my neighborhood friends in Long Beach, CA. We all pitched in and started making epic student productions including westerns, thrillers and even documentaries for school projects. At the same time I was watching great films in theaters like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Goldfinger and The Wild Bunch.

PENNY BLOOD: Did you go to film school? What was the path to making your first film?

COSCARELLI: My film school was my first feature film. It took about four years from the time I was 17 until I was 21. It started as an independent feature project made with friends and students and was ultimately picked up for distribution by Universal. It was one hell of an education.

PENNY BLOOD: Were you a big horror fan growing up and did you have any favorites?  What films would you say influenced you when you started developing Phantasm?

COSCARELLI: My mother banned me from watching horror films on television. Luckily for me, my babysitter was more interested in her boyfriend than in supervising me, so every Saturday night I was able to watch some great horror films on our local TV show Chiller.   I saw all the great Universal titles this way, and a lot of the ‘50s sci-fi horror, also. Certainly Phantasm was influenced by William Cameron Menzies’ classic Invaders from Mars. There were the Kubrick influences, and of course the writings of the master and legend Ray Bradbury.

PENNY BLOOD: Your first films in the ‘70s, Kenny and Company and Jim The World’s Greatest, were much more of the drama and family genres.  Do you ever see yourself going back to that place, or, with your proven horror and fantasy track record do you see yourself pigeonholed?

COSCARELLI: The problem with having success in the horror field is that it is very difficult to extricate yourself from the genre in the minds of the people who fund the films. The original Phantasm has a lot of great comedic moments, yet no one has ever offered me a comedy based on my making Phantasm.  This is a problem for all of us who work in the genre. But that’s okay. Horror films are probably more fun than most films to work on. The fans of the genre are intelligent, passionate and loyal and great to meet and talk with.

PENNY BLOOD:  Why large killer spheres with blades that drill into people?  This was a dream you had?

COSCARELLI: I had a dream about being pursued down long corridors by a flying metal ball. It’s probably the only element of a dream I have ever included in a film. I find it fascinating that it has had such an impact on audiences.

PENNY BLOOD: If you could, tell us about your longtime working relationships with Reggie Bannister and Angus Scrimm for fans not in the know.

COSCARELLI: Angus and Reggie were both in my first film, so we go way back. They have become fast friends. We’ve shared the worldwide success in the Phantasm franchise and have a lot of shared “war stories” from making those films. Both are talented and intelligent actors and a joy to work with. I hope to make many more films with them.

PENNY BLOOD: Can you remember one of your favorite days on the set of any of the Phantasm films? 

COSCARELLI: My favorite scene might be a short sequence from Phantasm IV: Oblivion, a fantasy/flashback, where Mike [A. Michael Baldwin], Jody [Bill Thornbury] and Reggie are leaning against the muscle car down by the beach at sundown, playing guitar and drinking Dos Equis beer.  We’d been shooting in the rain all day and we ran down to the beach to get the shot and, at sunset, the clouds parted and we got the shot. I think the loyal friendship of Mike, Jody and Reggie - which also exists in real life – where they would go to hell and back for one another is pretty cool.

PENNY BLOOD: Can you remember one of the most frustrating days?

COSCARELLI: I try to forget the frustrating days; it’s the only way I can cope.

PENNY BLOOD: It’s well known that you had struggles with the producers of your film Beast Master. What happened?

COSCARELLI: The powers-that-be exerted control over every facet of the production. I fought them constantly but there was no way I could prevail. The ultimate film is a combination of great scenes and characters that I am very proud of, and also sequences I can’t bear to watch.
 

PENNY BLOOD: Moving on to Bubba Ho-Tep, how was it working with Bruce Campbell? Did you let him improvise his role as The King, or was he kept to the script?

COSCARELLI: I now know why I see so many postings on the Internet which read “Bruce is God”. He is simply the greatest. It was a joy to work with him and I always appreciated any suggestions he made. He made many critical creative suggestions and his portrayal of Elvis and Sebastian in the film is superb.

PENNY BLOOD: What do you see in your future? Will there be another Phantasm?

COSCARELLI: I would like to see at least one more Phantasm before we hang up the old balls. I’m also currently working on something that’s outside the genre which I think could be pretty interesting.