Phantoms

Photo Source: http://imdb.com

Genre: Horror | Year: 1998 | Duration: 96 mins | Director: Joe Chhappelle | Medium: VCD (Eagle Entertainment) | Trailer: HERE |  My rating: 2.5*/5*

Favorite Dialogue: “Stu Wargle: Hey, you want to see somethin’?”

This movie is based on a novel with the same name by Dean Koontz. Dr. Lisa (Rose McGowan) and Jenny (Joanna Going) arrive at Snowfield, Colorado, only to discover that nearly the entire town is mysteriously dead, without any telltale sign of struggle. While trying to get themselves to a secure location they come across the Sheriff Hammond (Ben Affleck) and his deputies Steve (Nicky Katt) and the lecherous Stu (Liev Schreiber), who too are trying to find clues to this mass murder, and soon lose Steve and Stu to some unseen perpetrator. They successfully contact the FBI who gets Prof. Flyte (Peter O’Toole) an expert on ancient epidemics, who’s throughout squirming uncomfortably in the role of a loony scholar-turned-tabloid writer. After losing a dozen of highly trained soldiers to this ‘Ancient Enemy’, the team of the two sisters, Hammond and Flyte discovers the enemy to be a highly evolved form of Petrolatum, similar to petroleum formed of complex hydrocarbons. They load up their guns with syringes filled with a genetic strain of oil-spills clearing serum to kill this enemy who has the ability to enter any living being and control them and their collective memories through, which this mass believes itself to be equivalent of god. In the end, they manage to end the petrolatum, but the director cleverly leave an opening hoping to make a sequel.

This badly directed, awfully acted, with low grade animation and so called horror flick is my Movie of the Day.