Theory: "It's All In His Head"


"Ice Cream Man, it's all in his head..." - The Tall Man

These intriguing words were among the Tall Man's last in Phantasm: Oblivion. They've sparked an eruption of phan-speculation as to their meaning. Might this mean the whole series was a dream inside of Mike's own head and that the Tall Man represents reality constantly trying to catch up to him? Or might he have actually been talking about Reggie and this is a dream within his head? Or might this be some reference to the transformation Mike is undergoing? I dig all three... but really gravitate towards that last idea. To further explain my thoughts on it, I'm going to need to try and explain what precisely the Tall Man is.

Defining the Tall Man and his kind is not an easy task. He's undeniably alien and seemingly endless for each time anyone kills him, he simply returns through a space-gate portal good as new. He is in essence a gold sphere. Although spherical, he can take any human form he likes (Lady in Lavender, Alchemy and most commonly Jebediah Morningside). With this information, we should be suspecting that Mike at the completion of his transformation will be spherical in nature. This is why the Tall Man wanted to free him from his imperfect flesh In P3. It's an easy conclusion to reach that Mike is indeed nearing completion of his transformation. His eyes have been dilated with gold spheres, his blood has turned yellow, he has a new sensitivity to coldness and the ability to create and manipulate his own spheres.

The postulate here is that when the transformation into a Tall being is complete, it's time for the Tall Man to "collect" his harvested helper and leave behind their old "flesh construct". This explains why at the start of P3, the dwarves rip-off Liz's head and hand it to their master who walks off with it. It's collection time. She was, after all, just like Mike and a target of the sinister mortician.

P4 was particularly helpful in showing us how these transformations begin with the Civil War flashback. An ancestor of Mike Pearson lay on the Tall Man's operating table in a surgical tent. Through a long, painful-looking trocar device, something is inserted through the nostril deep into the brain cavity. This something will take generations to develop and mature into a full-blown gold sphere. The interesting thing about this future helper the Tall Man is trying to recruit is that he'll be a mighty unwilling participant, one that could possibly overthrow the Tall Man, but I'm getting too far into "chosen one" territory.

If we can assume the above to be true then the ending of Phantasm: Oblivion shows the Tall Man kidnapping Mike in his most basic, elemental form.... a gold sphere. Many people view Oblivion's ending as the Tall Man leaving Mike to die. To that I say yes and no. In a way, Mike is re-born in sphere form and killed off in the flesh. The result is the character existing on an entirely new plane. I don't see it as him merely collecting an object but rather collecting a harvested helper at the end of his transformation.

After the Tall Man leaves through the space-gate in Oblivion, Mike Pearson's host body is left by the fiery hearse for dead. I wonder if when Reggie heads through the portal after his nemesis, does he realize that Mike is now with the Tall Man? Not the physical Mike dying by the hearse, but the new evolved Mike Pearson. The one who exists solely as a sphere with the ability to project his own form as he chooses. Now that Mike has completed his evolution and left behind his body, to whom will his alliance fall? Reggie or the Tall Man? Will he succumb to the evil or fight back on a whole new playing field where he has a fighting chance?

Even if Phantasm V is never made, I'm fond of the idea that Oblivion just leaves it open-ended. In a way, it's saying that the story continues on even if the films do not. It keeps Phantasm alive in the hearts and imaginations of the audience and that, my friends, is a great thing.