It is one of the most talked about aspects of PHANTASM II. What is the connection between PHANTASM II and horror great Sam Raimi? We will break it down for you in today’s blog.

It has been a frequent question from PHANTASM II viewers since the film was released back in July of 1988. Was that Evil Dead director Sam Raimi’s name in the crematorium on a bag of cremated remains?!

Yes it was! About halfway through PHANTASM II, in a sequence set inside the mortuary crematorium, the camera pans past a bag of ashes of a deceased person. For eagle-eyed fans the following text is visible on the bag: “Mr. Sam Raimi, Male, 170 lbs,  Deliver in Brass Urn.”

SO WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

Phantasm creator Don Coscarelli and Raimi were both working on new films, PHANTASM II and Darkman respectively on the Universal Studios lot. Sam asked if he could “be in” the sequel to PHANTASM. Coscarelli had no on screen role available so, as he recounts in his recent memoir, True Indie Life and Death in Filmmaking:

“My workaround was to place Sam Raimi’s name on a bag of ashes and bone that the Tall Man’s assistant was hammering into dust in the crematorium scene. I thought Sam might like this “shout out” and that fans-in-the-know would enjoy seeing an obscure horror director’s name referenced. Too bad Sam had to go on to such great success directing the Spider- Man films, among many others. Now when folks watch that scene and this world-famous director’s name becomes visible, I think it’s a real head-scratcher for most of them as to why it’s there.”

During the production of Phantasm II, there was a lot of crossover between the worlds of Evil Dead and Phantasm. Makeup effects artists Greg Nicotero and Robert Kurtzman had just finished working on Evil Dead 2 when they were hired on to create some of the great Phantasm II makeup effects.

A few years later, Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell was attached to star in a big-budget Phantasm sequel.

And of course fans have fantasized about what an Ash-Reggie team-up might look like.

This has been an exciting year for PHANTASM II as the long awaited X-rated cut was recently released in the extremely limited The Phantasm Sphere Collection box set. You can now see the uncut gore created by Nicotero and Kurtzman in all its bloody glory!.

So, if you ever ask to be appear in a PHANTASM film, be careful what you wish for. You might end up as a bag of ashes.