Before me on my desk sit three items. One is my MacBook laptop which I'm typing to you on at the moment, another is my R2 copy of Phantasm II and another is the shooting script for the same film. I'm about to carefully thumb through all hundred odd pages and log the discrepancies between it and the finished product. I can already tell you from preliminary skimming that the script more closely resembles the lesser but famed workprint version of Phantasm II than the theatrical cut.

The first interesting tidbit about the shooting script I have in hand is that it contains a subtitle, one that I've not heard before. The cover page reads "Phantasm II" and beneath it: "Morningside" by Don Coscarelli. Knowledgeable Phan John Klyza once told me that Don likes to shoot his projects under fake names presumably to avoid a crowd. Phantasm II was "Morningside", III was "Eternity" and Oblivion was "Infinity". Bubba Ho-Tep was shot as "The Home" . Very interesting tidbit if you ask me.

The film originally opened with The Tall Man blazing in his hearse down an empty country road, skidding tires around a corner and pulling into Mike's neighborhood. A fun detail that sadly never materialized was the added touch of Reggie's Ice Cream truck sitting in the drive way, steam rising from the refrigeration compartment. You'll recall that because the events of Phantasm were either retroactively altered by The Tall Man or entirely made up, Reggie's truck is in fact, not demolished. I'm going to guess that because it would've only appeared in one shot, the price of securing a look-a-like ice cream truck wasn't cost-effective to the production.

For those of you wondering just how many dwarves had invaded Reggie's kitchen in the opening sequence, the scripts cites the number as being sixteen little buggers. That's a lot of dwarf.

It's also curious that the house exploding sequence had a countdown in the script. Just after Reggie turns out the pilot lights on his stove, he looks at the clock which reads twenty seconds to midnight. The script shows that information as an insert shot and Reggie mumbles to himself "25 seconds... max." None of this made the final version, I dont believe.

An unfortunate detail in this script that wasn't realized on screen was the "crash" of flaming dwarves on the front lawn. Don notes that they start small fires on the ground where they land. This would've been a marvelous addition.

The scene where Reggie first finds Mike in the graveyard has much different dialogue in this shooting script. Reggie sneaks up on Mike and is almost struck with the pick-axe. He remarks "Still crazy after all these years" to which Mike responds "I'm not crazy. I never was." I imagine this was cut because it's wildly insensitive on Reggie's part to say something like this to a friend he hasn't seen in some years.
The scene directly after Reggie's house is blown skyward resembles the work-print version. Mike and Reggie have their "Mike, you're not crazy so I'll join you" talk against the backdrop of a burning house instead of at the funeral of Reggie's family. It's just as unrealistic here as it was in the work-print. There is no way the Regman would be thinking clearly enough for meaningful conversation so soon after his family was incinerated. I'm very glad this was cut.

When Mike and Reggie go shopping for their hunt, they pick up and extra weapon that I personally didn't see surface in the movie. They grab a nail gun. It might've been in that cart somewhere, but I didn't see it.

The scene in the mausoleum involving Liz and the Tall Man-esque creature in her back originally had a slightly modified dialogue. The Tall Man says "I'm waiting for you. Come east. If you dare." instead of just "Come east if you dare." However, just like the work-print; this was all a dream.

Father Meyers has an added line as Liz and her Grandmother enter the church. He goes to the side of the building to take a nervous swig from his flask as in the work-print, but sees a row of ten hearses. He remarks "Enough damn hearses to bury an army." Hmm... you don't say!?

Later when Father Meyers is at his home drinking, an entirely new scene reveals itself. Meyers calls a friend, Father Luchese, and tries to get help with his problems in Perigord, specifically the Tall Man. He tells Luchese that he needs an exorcism. His friend accuses him of drinking again and makes a reference to risking his neck to get Meyers out his "last jam". The phone call ends with Luchese saying he'll sign Meyers up for an AA program. The scene then continues as normal.

A continuation of the scene happens when Liz tries to find Father Meyers later that evening. She finds a letter addressed to "Father Domenico Luchese, Trenton Scepter of the Holy Trinity." It reads: "Dom, I'm sorry you wouldn't help me. I have administered the Last Rites to myself, because in most probability I won't return. Something horrible, an unspeakable evil has descended on this town. And it is incumbent on me to try and stop it. For I know his precise location. In the marble halls. Dom, pray for me and my immortal soul."

This script contains an extra Graver death not found in any version of the film I've seen. Shortly after scoping the graveyard out with Reggie in the Hemi-Cuda, Mike is walking along and is pulled into an open-plot by a Graver. They struggle and our hero bumps into a headstone which tips enough to fall into the plot and "with a sickening thud, squashes" the Graver. Mike grabs the gas mask off this guy which explains why he's wearing it a little bit later when he bumps into Liz. This small detail leads me to believe that this scene was shot.

After being choked with his own crucifix necklace, Father Meyers gets off another line at the Tall Man. He says "God help me... you're the devil himself!"

When Reggie walks up on Mike and Liz's warm embrace, he has an exchange with Liz not seen in the film. She says to him "You're probably wondering how he knew my name" and to which Reg replies "No, not at all. He's told me all about you. Kid's got... crystal balls."

The "dream sex" sequence as seen in the work-print gets an entire page in this shooting script. I'll spare you the gory details and in doing so spare myself. Shortly thereafter, there's an extra detail in the passionate exchange between Reggie and Kemy (that's how they spell it in the script.) As Reggie leaves her to investigate the explosion with Mike, she looks down at her hand and sees a large clump of hair. She shrugs and drops it to the ground. That's a major clue!

As Mike and Reggie head out to the Hemi-Cuda to go after Liz and the Tall Man, Reggie gives different instructions to Kemy on how to find them. She's near tears in this version of the scene. Reggie says "When you hit the state line, go to the nearest Holiday Inn." She worries that she might not be able to find one. Reggie quips back "Then go to a Ramada, a Motel Six, anything... I'll find you, if I'm able." I imagine these instructions were cut because Universal Studios wasn't about to hand out free advertising in a summer blockbuster.

For the record, the Sam Raimi reference on the bag of ashes in the crematorium is actually in the script. It says "Sam Raimi, Male - 170 lbs., Deliver in brass urn." Funny.

Here is a *VERY* interesting detail I think really should've been included in the finished version. As the Tall Man grabs Liz and prepares to embalm her, he "tears open her blouse, revealing her chest." While it would've been weird to have seen Angus do this, that Paula Irvine was smokin' hot. Was she not?

This brings to a close the discrepancies between the shooting script and finished version of Phantasm II. Some changes were left out for the better, some for the worse. Some I even accuse the production of having filmed. Hopefully if we ever get a R1 release of the film, these scenes will make it to the phans.