PHANTASM's Don Coscarelli: The CFQ Interview

Rob Mayes (left), Chase Williamson (center) and Allison Weissman fight the intangible and slightly ridiculous in JOHN DIES AT THE END.
Rob Mayes (left), Chase Williamson (center) and Allison Weissman fight the intangible and slightly ridiculous in JOHN DIES AT THE END.

There’s something about a Don Coscarelli film, something that says, “We’re gonna mess with your brain, now.” But if power-drill-equipped flying orbs, interplanetary gateways stashed away in funeral homes, or Elvis battling soul-sucking mummies didn’t freak you out in such films as PHANTASM and BUBBA HO-TEP, maybe the director’s latest, JOHN DIES AT THE END, will do it, featuring as it does a couple of paranormal crime-fighters who have to contend with hallucinogenic soy sauce, trans-temporal cell phones, and sentient, cannibalistic sludge.
We got to talk with Coscarelli about the influences that led to the fevered insanity of his films, the shock of being hailed as one the godfathers of horror’s rebirth, and odds of the world ever seeing BUBBA NOSFERATU. Click on the player to hear the show.

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