585: Phantoms (1998)

A whole town has vanished. Snowfield, Colorado, is empty except for a few corpses, a ringing phone, and a vibe that says “don’t touch anything.” Naturally, we touch everything.

This week we riff on Phantoms, the 1998 adaptation of Dean Koontz’s horror novel. Two sisters (Joanna Going and Rose McGowan) roll into town and find it deserted. Then they find Sheriff Ben Affleck, who is very serious about all of this. Then a scientist (Peter O’Toole, who is clearly there for the paycheck and the vibes) shows up to explain that the answer is an ancient shapeshifting horror from beneath the earth. Liev Schreiber is also here, to remind us that this was a very strange moment in everyone’s career.

We discuss:

• Why every small-town sheriff in a horror movie takes “the entire population is gone” so calmly
• Peter O’Toole delivering exposition like he’s reading the Magna Carta to a hostage
• A monster that is part Lovecraft, part Play-Doh, and part “the effects budget ran out”
• Where Phantoms sits in the great late-’90s tradition of horror movies that want to be Scream but can’t commit

Grab your snacks, check that your phone line isn’t dead, and join us for another round of riffing.

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How will Phantoms hold up?

Directed by Joe Chappelle
Starring: Peter O’Toole, Joanna Going, Rose McGowan, Liev Schreiber, Ben Affleck, Clifton Powell, Nicky Katt, Michael DeLorenzo