Phantom Town (1999)

Phantom Town is a 1999 independent horror film. It stars John Patrick White as Mike, Taylor Locke as Arnie, Lauren Summers as Cindy, Jim Metzler as Dad, and Belinda Montgomery as Mom. The producers are Charles Band, Harlan Freedman, Kirk Edward Hansen, Donald Kushner, Christopher Landry, Peter Locke, Vlad Paunescu, and Dana Scanlan. The director is Jeff Burr.

Three siblings go in search of their parents, who went missing near a mysterious town known as Long Hand. Eventually, they arrive there but they quickly discover that Long Hand is no ordinary desert town.

The characteristic of the film I found most fascinating was the idea that the town itself was a living being. Everything in the town, the buildings, roads, and people, were all a part of that being. So when newcomers came, they had to promise their soul to Long Hand in order to become a part of it. Otherwise, they would be destroyed, like some foreign virus.

The idea that this is considered a horror movie is quite ridiculous. Yes, the movie does have its intense and somewhat scary moments. But overall I think this would be a movie one might see on Nickelodeon. (Yes, it was the green slime that made me think of Nickelodeon.)

Speaking of Nickelodeon, I’m curious as to why they didn’t pick this movie up. This whole movie would have been a perfect episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? which was once a show on that network. It could have been the Are You Afraid of the Dark full length feature movie. It’s a shame Nick never pursued that. As I said before, it even has their signature green slime. If I didn’t know any better, I would have assumed Nickelodeon had something to do with Phantom Town.

To wrap, Phantom Town is a “not-so-scary” horror movie that I think the whole family would love!

write by romeo santiago