Phantom Town (1999 Video) User Reviews

Kid's horror from Full Moon Pictures

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 17 October 2017]

PHANTOM TOWN is a straight-to-video kid's horror movie, shot by Charles Band's Full Moon Pictures studio in Romania. The story is set in the Wild West, where some kids hunting for their missing parents end up in the titular location, full of creepy old cowboys possessed by some kind of green alien goo. What's impressive about this film isn't the slightly nonsensical story or the cheesy scripting, but the film's relatively good staging on what might have been a tiny budget. The sets are good enough to bring a little atmosphere to the proceedings, and the larger-than-life villains are quite memorable.

So-so family friendly horror with some decent special effects.

[capkronos · 5/10 · 4 December 2007]

Juvenile tale of teen Mike (John Patrick White), his genius younger brother Arnie (Taylor Locke, son of the producer, and worse than most kid actors) and little sister Cindy (Lauren Summers), who receive a weird phone call from their parents one night. Mom and dad (Belinda J. Montgomery and Jim Metzler) never come home so the kids track them down to a ghost town in some kind of time freeze (it's 1882 there). The town is full of alien cowboys that spit green goo, people wrapped in cocoons underground in catacombs and strange symbols painted on walls. The ghost of an old Indian shows up to help. The western town set is good and a handful of surprising effects (a mutant sheriff, a giant eye monster, an evil book that grows legs and runs) keep this watchable for younger horror fans, who are the target audience anyway. It was filmed in the U.S. and Romania from the same production company that brought us TEENAGE SPACE VAMPIRES.

A Mediocre Horror Film

[briandzwoniarek · 4/10 · 18 August 2020]

This movie was OK when I watched, but now it seems to be a mediocre mess. First off the intro credits where way to drawn out and a terrible introduction to the film. Second, the edits and cuts are nothing short of a seizure inducing nightmare. Third, they reuse a bunch of clips and the whole thing seems lazy overall. OK, so those are my main issues with the film. But is this movie as bad as I make it out to be? Well, at its core its just a generic kid-friendly horror film. But there are a lot of issues i have with the film. One issue i have is that the 4 year old girl is completely unnecessary to the plot. I get she's in there because the producers had to keep the audience in for something, but that's just a cheap move. The story is the best part, as it's just a generic horror film plot, not much else to say. The acting is mediocre, OK at best. I'll cut them some slack as it's probably there first film.The editing is the worst part. the camera is constantly zipping around and the cuts are seizure inducing. Overall the movie is not worth your time but if you want a generic horror film, go for it.

You know, I'm not sure if I like it, or not.

[super marauder · 27 March 2004]

This is one of those movies I rented because it sounded good by the description on the tape case, but after I watched it....well I just don't know. I try not to bash a movie for what it is not, so here is the problem. If it was trying to cash in on the Friday the 13th, or the Nightmare on Elm Street series, I hate it. But, if the idea behind it was to give kids under thirteen a scary movie, then it was pretty good. The plot was interesting, and the special effects were a little cheesy, so little kids won't be grossed out. Something else too, I do like the idea of the kids rescuing the parents for a change.

Love it, or hate, one could say it at least little kids might enjoy it, but if you as an adult want so see a good shocker, don't get this one.

A corny horror movie, that can be entertaining if you have absolutely nothing else to do.

[Stevex66 · 4/10 · 20 June 1999]

When I watched this movie it was an afternoon after I got home from work. I love horror movies and have seen some really cheesy ones, but this takes the cake. The plot presented to the viewer in the beginning of the movie seems a little intriguing, but as the movie progresses the script makes a wrong turn with horrible cliches and bad presentation, which in turn makes the movie completely dull and boring. I don't mean to keep criticizing the script and plot, because believe me that is not the worst part. I have to say as a whole the acting was not terrible for beginning actors, and I was impressed with Taylor Locke, this being one of his first movies. The worst part of the movie was the special effects. They reeked of low budget, and really ruined the viewers entertainment, even if he had been remotely interested in the plot. I do recommend you watch this movie to understand the power of a bad script and plot. Only then can you really appreciate good writers and directors.

Amazing!!!!

[rsrungaram · 1/10 · 5 February 2007]

Phantom Town is a great movie, It includes, comedy, adventure and most of all HORROR!!!! My eyes where glued to the TV screen from credits to credits. The acting is just mind boggling and the movie has cutting edge special effects. One my memorable moments of the film is when one characters utters "wow! talk about ugly, this thing is worse than my math teacher!!! Hahah. Cracked me up till the end!!! I highly recommend watching this film, however the film is so amazing that it can't be found on DVD or it's hard find on VHS at local video store, and it's to scary for HBO and ICONTROL so you must order it via internet.

" This movie is so amazing, It inspires me to make all my films,If you want! Horror,Comedy and Adventure, please take the time to order this great movie" stated James Edward Seyer, and aspiring filmmaker.

To some it all up. This movie is amazing! and to note, The music and score is awesome!

bad

[steven_kapo · 1/10 · 11 July 2010]

too predictable, the plot was very uninspired, the special effects look so bad, that even my friends and i had better zero dollar effects in our home movies, the ending was gross. i understand this movie may look innocent, but they had broke copyright laws, too, as in , the trailer features quiet riots "terrified" and the movies budget no money for the rights. yes, i did waste my time watching this movie, and i regretted it. now to be honest, for what it was, it wasn't the worst, i mean at least some the demonic voices are decent, but this movie has no place in history, period. now this is without a doubt benjamin carrs worst movie, not to say kraa wasn't bad, but at least that one was good enough to have a cult following, but anyways, this movie has nothing to offer, and im so gld its not on DVD!

Awesome Movie!

[daltonio823 · 9/10 · 25 July 2008]

"Phantom Town" was a great movie. I've had the VHS for a couple years but never watched it until now. It was great! The acting was good, the storyline was good, the ending was good. I give it a 9/10. I strongly suggest you watch this movie soon. They really need to put it on DVD now. :) The story begins when a sixteen year old boy and his two siblings hear that their parents are missing, with the only thing they know being that they had went to a town called Long Hand. SO the children go to rescue their parents. What they don't know about Long Hand is that everyone there are zombie-like creatures trying to take the children's souls. You really need to watch this movie right away.