Phantoms

1998 Horror

Dean Koontz scripted this adaptation of his fantasy novel. The tale begins when two sisters, Lisa (Rose McGowan) and Jenny (Joanna Going) arrive for a ski vacation in the mountain resort town of Snowfield, Colorado, where they discover their landlady is dead and the town is deserted except for a single dead police officer. Lisa and Jenny are soon joined by Sheriff Bryce Hammond (Ben Affleck) and his deputies Stu Wargle (Liev Schreiber) and Steve Shanning (Nicky Katt). The five conclude that the entire town is missing or dead, but after they head for a local hotel, they hear a Patsy Cline tune emanating from the second floor -- where a scribbled message mentions "Timothy Flyte" and the "Ancient Enemy." After Wargle is attacked by a bizarre creature that sucks out his brain, Hammond radios for help. The Feds find Flyte (Peter O'Toole), a British professor who explains his theory of an Ancient Enemy, periodically emerging from inside the Earth to decimate civilizations. Human extinction looms, but Flyte and an Army commando unit arrive in Colorado with a plan of action. Directed by Joe Chappelle, who made Thieves Quartet (1994). more..

Director: Joe Chappelle

Starring: Peter O'Toole, Rose McGowan, Joanna Going,Liev Schreiber

Reviews

  • Until it coughs up a ridiculously convoluted explanation of why an isolated town in Colorado suddenly goes deader than a weekday matinee of "The Postman," Phantoms delivers the shivers.

    Susan Wloszczyna - USA Today

    26 April 2013

  • Director Joe Chapelle knows how to stage a spooky scene, and Going and McGowan supply a refreshing alternative to the shrieking bimbos so familiar to horror fans.

    Maitland McDonagh - TV Guide

    26 April 2013

  • A movie, based on the popular Dean Koontz novel, that seems to have been made by grinding up other films and feeding them to this one.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    26 April 2013

  • A horror movie that has the distinction of not even being scary... Although Koontz wrote the screenplay, the suspense for which he is supposed to be famous doesn't translate to the screen.

    - The San Francisco Chronicle

    26 April 2013

  • It's nearly unwatchable, a farrago of confusing direction, stupid plot coincidences, and banal dialogue.

    Ty Burr - Entertainment Weekly

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Horror Film

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1998)