But, how could Jody have survived? Didn't he die in a car crash in Phantasm? How is it he is alive at the end at all was striking. In both 3 and 4, Jody is done in by the tall man. Even saying as much that he died in a car crash to Mike himself. That is how the first film ended with Reggie explaining this to Mike. So, I guess this is sort of like Lord of the Rings, there are many endings, you have to pick the one you like best.
Yes, Jody is "dead", but he was reanimated. When Jody told Mike he died at the end of the 4th movie, that was true. The Jody in this movie was likely one from another universe. If you recall in the 4th movie, after Mike stabbed Jody to death, another Jody appeared and dragged him through the portal, all while the dead Jody's body was in the background.
To be honest, I think the hospital scene really sealed it for me. It was very touching and if it ended at that point I would have would have been happy with that ending. He was surrounded by his friends and his only family. It was really hard to watch.
That was only one reality, one where the Tall Man never appeared. The realities were getting close, which is why Reggie was beginning to see what was happening, yet this was dismissed as dementia until Mike began to experience it as well. I too considered that it may all have been a dream, but the story continued (with Reggie alive), even after the Reggie in the hospital died. Also, the movies took place in several different characters points of view. If it was all a dream, then Reggie dreamed that he had dementia where he imagined a world where he dreamed that Mike dreamed of the Tall Man in the first movie, and even that is excluding a great deal and not taking a lot of things into consideration.
I also think that perhaps in one of those realities they were all dead. Thus the final scene during the credits. There was no way that Chunk could have lived he had 4 devices attached to him. Also, explaining where Rocky was and how she got to that location was never discussed. Notice how you only see Reg in the back seat and not Jody and Mike. You are only to surmise that they were in the front seats. This leaves everybody including us talking about it forever. It also has us thinking "That it never really ends". Again alluding to what you said above.
This is a possibility that. It's plausible to think that the Tall Man took over the afterlife, hence Reggie meeting up with Mike and Jody (if they did die at the end of the 4th film), and Rocky (if she died offscreen), and Chunk since he recently died. However, this is unlikely, as the Tall Man was conquering the living world and reanimating the dead to take back to his dimension.
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marylandcollector
8 years ago
SPOILER ALERT/ My 2 Cents on the ending....
While I do get the fact that Reggie was sliding in and out of alternate hemispheres, I still have to think about the car scene where Jody first shows up and Reg takes the back seat. The dementia angle kind of reinforces the idea of slipping between the here and now and your mind going into a full erase. That is what Ravager means, it means that dementia was ravaging his brain. Reggie was struggling to deal with reality as he knew it because his brain was ravaged by disease.
Jody doesn't realize everyone is dead at the end of P5. So, it comes back full circle to the first scene in the original Phantasm and the conversation between Reg and Jody "Heck of a way to start a trio" line. I feel at this point, both Jody and Mike are both dead and Reggie is about to join them via the hospital scene. Mike tells Reggie that they really "missed" him (they had moved on and Reg hadn't yet - they came back for him). If you notice after his death scene they show scenes from earlier in the film and from the first film of all three of them together as sort of a homage. Then you see a final scene where Reg passes out or on, depending on how you look at it. The Cuda rides into the sunset, they are all together again elsewhere. Roll the credits. This is where I felt the movie should've ended.
So, if you think about it, Mike at the end of P4 is talking to Reggie telepathically and saying "Reggie, I'm dying,". Reg then makes a break for it through the portals to try and save him in time. Jody had been dead since the first film only to cameo in P3 and P4. Mike could have died at the end of P4 (but if you take the last scene with the ice cream truck into consideration, you'd think that every thing that happened between P2 and P4 never occurred). There is an issue between POV here, who's perspective are we really looking at? The first film was clearly Mike, the rest Reggie.
I think the scene during the credits does nothing but add confusion and ambiguity. We weren't invested in Chunk. I think they had to give an out to the possibility that there could be a P6 (if this film does well). It should have ended at the beginning of first set of credits, let the audience make up it's mind what happened. There were at least 2 scenarios with this ending that seemed plausible. And it could have wrapped the series up neatly.
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watcher101
8 years ago
Unless they digitally create the Tall Man, I don't see how they can create a 6th film since Angus Scrimm is dead, unless they find a very convincing look alike.
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amazonprince71
7 years ago
I basically got this was all a dream, part of Reggie's dementia. Possibly caused by the grief he originally suffered from his wife and daughter's deaths.
The reason I believe this?
The Tall Man's big discussion with him about how he was willing to give him his wife and daughter back but he REFUSED to give him Mike and Jodi. Then the nursing home ending. So my personal opinion, the Tall Man was Reggie's subconscious trying to get him to give in to death at long last to be with his wife and child and the reason the "Tall Man" wouldn't or couldn't give him Mike and Jodi is because they were alive, and always have been.
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quridley
7 years ago
You nailed it. Pt 2, 3, 4 and 5 are all dreams in Reggie's mind. The only thing that doesn't work is how Pt 1 could be his dream or even have anything to do with Ravager as it was all a nightmare in Mike's head about dealing with Jodie's death. This movie ties up all of the sequels but it doesn't gel with the original, but thats cool because Pt 1 is fine on its own and never needed sequels. Ravager does work as a finish to Pt 1 if Jodie in the hospital is a vision or ghost taking Reggie to the next world. The end credits is Reggie's afterlife where he gets to hang with his buddies forever, fight evil and I guess they are driving to meet his wife and daughter. This would mean Pt 2 is about Reggie's mental breakdown after his own family died in an accident. I guess he started believing the same things Mike did as a child. Which would make the Tall Man in their dreams real in some way, kinda like Pennywise in the minds of the kids in "IT". He's like some ethereal boogeymen that grieving people dream about when they can't accept death. Mike blamed himself for Jodie's death and saw the Tall Man and Reggie did the same with his family's death.
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