A Slasher Theater Casting Call: Phantasm

As I’ve said before, I started this blog because I feel as if most of the horror sites out there today are not fully exploring the genre. Sure, every website has movie reviews and previews and whatnot, so, with my blog, I wanted to get a bit more creative.

I’ve started with my slightly unoriginal Top 10 lists and now, in this newest Slasher Theater exclusive, I’ll be recasting some of the best horror films out there with a more updated cast.

Now, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with any of the films I choose to recast, I just think that a lot of horror remakes flop due to bad casting and below-par acting (I’m looking at you, 2009 Friday the 13^th) so these are the remakes that I think horror fans would really like to see.

This week’s Casting Call will be for one of my personal favorites; Phantasm.

The original Phantasm, released in 1979, was directed by Don Coscarelli and starred Angus Scrimm as one of the creepiest bad guys in history, The Tall Man. The film has since become a cult classic among horror fans and is often regarded as the best independent 70’s horror film around.

Might as well start this off with Mike, the film’s main character. Mike is a very hard role to cast but in the end I chose Kodi Smit-McPhee. You may know him from The Road, or 2010’s vampire hit Let Me In. Mike was a very hard spot to fill because of the very limited amount of child actors that aren’t on god-awful Disney shows (I won’t insult Phantasm and cast one of them) but I decided on Kodi Smit-McPhee because I think he could very effectively portray Mike’s innocent curiosity in the original film.

 The next role is Jody, Mike’s older brother. For this spot, I chose Armie Hammer. Once you get past his very fake-sounding name, you’ll see that he is the perfect person to fill this spot. After his phenomenal performance in The Social Network, there’s no denying that Armie Hammer has some very impressive acting abilities that would surely help in portraying the caring yet doubtful older brother Jody.

For the role of Reggie the ice cream man, Jody and Mike’s companion on their trip through inter-dimensional hell, I chose Sean Whalen. Whalen has some experience in the horror genre including his co-starring in 2009’s Laid to Rest, and would definitely be the perfect actor to portray Reggie.

And finally, you can’t make a good horror movie without a great bad guy, and who better to fill Angus Scrimm’s giant shoes than genre veteran Christopher Lee. Lee is, without a doubt, the greatest horror actor of all time. He’s portrayed Dracula, The Mummy AND Frankenstein’s monster during his long career at Hammer films. And the only two actors that even come close to being as talented as Lee? His two best friends, of course, Vincent Price and Peter Cushing. At age 89, Lee is a hardened veteran of horror and would the absolute perfect actor to play the Tall Man. Just picture it: Christopher Lee, with his wonderful voice, bellowing out the line “The funeral is about to begin... SIIIRRR!”

Well, there you have it, the first ever Slasher Theater Casting Call. This was a very difficult thing to do but I did enjoy it and will continue to create future Casting Calls. If you didn’t like or didn’t agree with my choices, speak up! Leave a comment and I’ll surely take your choice of actors into consideration and perhaps re-edit my Casting Call.