Trivia for
Phantasm (1979)

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• The mansion used for the exterior shots of the mausoleum was also seen in the James Bond film A View to a Kill (1985).
  
  
• Sequels to the Phantasm films are made in comic book form.
  
  
• Don Coscarelli's and Reggie Bannister's parents can all be seen as extras in the funeral scene.
  
  

• The gnomes were played by children.
  
  
• The "ball" scenes were simple special effects. The sphere was being guided around a corner by a fishing line. The sphere was thrown from behind the camera by a baseball pitcher and then the shot was printed in reverse. The ball attaching itself to the man's head was filmed by sticking it on his head, then pulling it off, and printing the shot in reverse.
  
  
• The stone-looking interior of the mausoleum was actually constructed of plywood and marble colored plastic contact paper.
  
  
• Title was changed to "The Never Dead" for Australian audiences as not to confuse it with the popular Aussie sex comedy Fantasm (1976).
  
  
• The coffin that Mike sees the Tall Man lift by himself and shove back into the hearse was made out of balsa wood, empty, and had a rope on the side facing away from the camera to make it easier to handle.
  
  
• The copyright date shown during the closing credits of this film says MCMLXXVII (1977)
  
  
• This film's original running time was more than three hours, but writer/ director Don Coscarelli decided that that was far too long for it to hold people's attention and made numerous cuts to the film.
  
  
• Don Coscarelli rented all of the filming equipment used to make this movie, always on Fridays so he could use it all weekend and return it on Mondays, all the while only actually having to pay one day's rental on the equipment.
  
  
• The film's Turkish title, 'MANYAK', translates to 'Psycho'.
  
  
• Filmed at the same mansion location used in _Little Girls Blue (1977)_ .
  
  
• Don Coscarelli took the title "Phantasm" from the works of Edgar Allan Poe. It is a term frequently used by Poe in his writings.
  
  
• The genesis of the story came to Don Coscarelli in a dream. One night, being in his late teens, he dreamed of fleeing down endlessly long marble corridors, pursued by a chrome sphere intent on penetrating his skull with a wicked needle. There was also a quite futuristic "sphere dispenser" out of which the orbs would emerge and begin chase.
  
  
• To get the inspiration needed , Don Coscarelli spent a couple of weeks in an isolated cabin at the mountains outside Los Angeles while writing the script.
  
  
• Don Coscarelli got the idea of The Tall Man's living severed finger while drinking from a cup of plastic. He punched his finger through the bottom and started moving it. He loved the visual effect of it and decided to include it in the story.
  
  
• Although being very tall, standing at 6 feet 4 inches, Angus Scrimm wore suits several sizes smaller and boots with lifts inside that added 3 inches to his height.
  
  
• The role of Jody Pearson was originally intended for performer Gregory Harrison who played the title role in Don Coscarelli's first feature Jim the World's Greatest (1976)
  
  
• The song played on the front porch by Reggie and Jody, 'Sittin' Here At Midnight', was actually composed by Bill Thornbury himself.
  
  
• The spheres were designed by craftsman Willard Green who charged the production a little over $1,100 for his services. Sadly, he died just after production completed and never saw his work on the big screen.
  
  
• At the scene near the end when Reggie comes out of the funeral home, the production installed a wind machine with a huge fan blowing to create the effect of a very strong wind. As a joke, A. Michael Baldwin started throwing stones in front of the fan, that went to hit Reggie Bannister and Kathy Lester several times.
  
  
• The film was originally rated X by the MPAA because of the famous silver sphere sequence. Los Angeles Times film critic Charles Champlin made a phone call in a favor to a friend on the board. Thanks to him, Phantasm was downgraded from the original dreaded X-rating to a more acceptable R. Champlin's positive review was quoted on the film's promotional posters.
  
  
• Don Coscarelli's mother, novelist Kate Coscarelli, held several titles on the production such as production designer, make-up artist and costume designer.
  
  
• Co-Producer Paul Pepperman approached Angus Scrimm at a sneak preview of Kenny & Company (1976) and told him that Don Coscarelli had written a role for him in his next production. When informed that he would be playing an alien, Scrimm became very excited and immediately asked to know what country his character would hail from. Pepperman said: "He's not from another country, he's from another world."
  
  
• Several references to Frank Herbert's Dune, including a bar named "Dune" and a scene where Mike is forced to insert his hand into a black box that inflicts pain as part of a test.
  
  

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