TedStixon

Trivia: Almost the entire score was taken from "Phantasm II," with only a few minor tweaks and additions. As the film was low budget, this was done as a cost-saving measure.

TedStixon

Trivia: The character Rocky has the distinction of being the only female protagonist in a "Phantasm" movie to not be killed off.

TedStixon

Trivia: A. Michael Baldwin was allowed to return to the role of Mike as the film was not funded by studios. He had not been allowed to star in "Phantasm II" due to a studio mandate. Universal agreed to distribute the film once it was completed, but left the production to director Don Coscarelli.

TedStixon

Trivia: Star Reggie Bannister had actually quit acting after the first "Phantasm." He officially came out of retirement when the sequel was announced, as has appeared in over fifty roles since.

TedStixon

Trivia: The only entry in the series not to feature A. Michael Baldwin as "Mike." He played Mike in the first, third, fourth and fifth film. Instead, the character is played by James Le Gros in this film. Brad Pitt also reportedly auditioned for the role.

TedStixon

Trivia: The highest-budgeted film of the entire "Phantasm" series. It was also the final entry in the series to be released in theaters.

TedStixon

Trivia: Despite looking quite fancy and expensive, the interior of the mausoleum was actually a fairly cheap set made primarily of plywood and marble-textured contact paper.

TedStixon

Trivia: Angus Scrim, who played the villainous "Tall Man," really was quite tall in real life, coming in at 6'4." However, the director had him wear platform shoes to make him even taller. As seen in the film, he's about 6'7", or a full ten inches taller than the average man.

TedStixon

Trivia: The film was inspired by a dream writer/director Don Coscarelli had, in which he was being chased down an endless corridor by a floating metallic ball with a needle sticking out of it.

TedStixon

Trivia: Joss Whedon's original script, which was drastically altered by the studio, director and cast, was eventually adapted into a comic-book called "The Origin" in 1999. Whedon has said that while he has some small issues with the comic, he thinks it can be viewed as being canonical with the series, unlike the movie.

TedStixon

Trivia: Donald Sutherland reportedly rewrote or improvised much of his dialogue, much to the dismay of writer Joss Whedon. Whedon felt Sutherland's dialogue didn't fit with the script and was at times "unintelligible."

TedStixon

Trivia: Aside from the tragic death of Brandon Lee, the film's production was reportedly extremely difficult. A carpenter suffered electric burns in an accident. A crew-member injured himself with a screwdriver. Another crew-member crashed his car into a studio workshop. And a grip-truck caught fire. Drug use was also rampant on-set (much to the annoyance of star Brandon Lee and director Alex Proyas, who were trying to remain professional and do their best), which may explain some of the accidents.

TedStixon

Trivia: The film originally had a number of scenes featuring a decomposing, zombie-like character called the "Skull Cowboy," who was played by character-actor Michael Berryman. The character would act as a sort-of "spirit guide" for Eric Draven, and do things like explain the rules of the crow to him, and offer him advice. All of his scenes were ultimately scrapped, as they were deemed unnecessary.

TedStixon

Trivia: Michael Massee, the actor who shot the prop gun that inadvertently killed Brandon Lee, was deeply affected by the event. He took a year off from working on any projects to simply relax and deal with his emotional state. He also reportedly refused to watch the finished film, and still hadn't seen it at the time of his unfortunate passing in 2016 from cancer.

TedStixon

Trivia: Original "Crow" comic creator James O'Barr donated most of his earnings from the film because he felt it was "blood money" after the death of Brandon Lee. The only things he bought with it were a car for his mother and some speakers. The rest went to charity.

TedStixon

Trivia: Co-writer David J. Schow has a cameo as one of the goons that Eric takes out during the big shootout. (He's the guy who gets dragged under the table right after the first goon gets shot).

TedStixon

Trivia: The film was originally intended to be directed by Stephen Sommers, who is best known for directing 1999's "The Mummy." Sommers left the project following creative differences with the studio. Sommers poked fun at the film years later in a commentary track in 2018, noting that he saw a movie once where a character was constantly and annoying using a flashlight even though it was bright enough he wouldn't need one. Sommers wouldn't name the film, but slyly said "it took place at night in a museum."

TedStixon

Trivia: This film was originally produced as a direct-to-video movie, as the first film sold very well on DVD. However, the decision was eventually made to release it theatrically. It ended up grossing nearly twice what the first film did.

TedStixon

Trivia: Somewhat ironically, the mummy's actor Arnold Vosloo really didn't like the look of the CGI mummy when he is first awakened. He felt the design was a little hokey and over-the-top. (Although he did like the look of the later "stages" the mummy takes on as he begins to regenerate).

TedStixon

Trivia: This movie was originally meant to be the start of a new trilogy of "X-Men" movies that would follow the continued exploits of the younger "First Class" X-Men cast during the 90's. Characters such as Charles Xavier, Storm, Cyclops and Jean Gray/Phoenix were expected to return. However, after the merger of Disney and 20th Century Fox, future films were shelved and this movie was slightly retooled to serve as an impromptu finale for the franchise.

TedStixon