Phantasm Book now available

“You are in for a treat. As with the films, these stories will give you what some people call chicken skin, and others call goosebumps.” – best-selling author Joe R. Lansdale (Hap & Leonard, Cold in July)

“It’s magnificent. An impressive collection of remarkable short-story horror fiction that I can proudly display on my bookshelf next to Poe, King, Dahl, Barker, Bradbury, and Lovecraft.” – Nick DiGilio, WGN Chicago

In 1979, filmmaker Don Coscarelli (Bubba Ho-tep, The Beastmaster) wrote and directed what became one of the seminal sci-fi/horror films of that era, Phantasm. The film was a worldwide theatrical success and spawned four acclaimed sequels.

For the first time in the history of horror cinema, a celebrated filmmaker of a cult-classic horror film series has continued the adventure by swapping mediums and personally authoring a series of fictional works exploring in detail the characters he originally created. Coscarelli has now returned to the world of Phantasm to tell more tales of these inspiring phantasmic heroes.

Phiction comprises six stories set in the expansive Phantasm world that have never been told before:

In “Life and Death in the ‘Nam” we explore the origin story of our favorite ice cream vendor/hero Reggie and his first encounter with the supernatural forces of evil in the jungles of the Vietnam war. It’s a two-fisted tale of a young man enduring the horrors of war and at the same time facing down the horrors of the unknown.

In “Behind the Mortuary Door” we learn the secrets of the embalming trade from one of the most memorable characters from the original film.

In “He Was Home Alone” we revisit the young boy Tim, prior to the events from Phantasm III, and how, using only his wits and guile, he survives against unspeakable horrors.

In “Tobe” we follow the trail of one of Phantasm‘s forgotten characters as he witnesses the key events of that film from an entirely different perspective.

In “The Rocky Road” we track the events of one of the Phantasm saga’s fan-favorite characters, the nunchuck-wielding Rocky as she’s mustered out of the armed services and travels the backroads of the rural South in the early 90’s. In a desperate search to find her family she encounters love, vengeance and horror, frequently reacting in the only way she knows how, with her fists and her feet.

And finally in “Escape From New York” we join another Phantasm fan-favorite character, the diminutive Chunk from Phantasm Ravager as he attempts to flee his home in the big city from the horror of an oncoming apocalypse. Along the way he bonds with some unexpected allies on a thrilling quest for survival.

In association with illustrator Aaron Lea (GHOST, Rob Zombie), Molotov Press now presents Phiction: Tales from the World of Phantasm.