Ben Affleck was ‘the bomb’ in this movie.
The Big Picture
- Shout Factory is releasing a 4K edition of the 1998 horror film
Phantoms
for the first time. - Based on Dean Koontz’s novel,
Phantoms
follows survivors facing an ancient, shape-shifting entity. - The set retails for $35.99 USD, with preorders receiving a free movie poster replica.
In Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, comics writer Holden McNeil famously proclaims that Ben Affleck “was the bomb in Phantoms“. Although McNeil may have been biased, as he was played by Ben Affleck, you can now find out for yourself in ultra-high-definition. Shout Factory is releasing the 1998 Dean Koontz horror film in 4K for the first time.
Phantoms was directed by Joe Chappelle (Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers), who would later have success on TV with The Wire and Fringe, from a script by Koontz. The film received largely negative reviews and flopped at the box office, but does have its fans among devotees of ’90s horror. The special features for the 4K disc set are still in the works, but orders from Shout Factory’s website will receive a free replica of the film’s original movie poster while supplies last. The set will retail for $35.99 USD, and can be preordered now on ShoutFactory.com.
What Happens in ‘Phantoms’?
Based on Koontz’ 1983 novel of the same name, Phantoms takes place in the remote Colorado town Snowfield, whose residents have been mysteriously massacred. The lone survivors are sisters Lisa and Jenny Pailey (Scream‘s Rose McGowan and Kingdom‘s Joanna Going), local sheriff Bryce Hammond (Affleck, fresh off Good Will Hunting), and his deputies (Ray Donovan‘s Liev Schreiber and Boiler Room‘s Nicky Katt) They soon learn – the hard way – that the killer is an amorphous creature dwelling deep beneath the Earth that sends out moth-like “phantoms” to capture and consume its prey. The military soon arrives with scientist Timothy Flyte (Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia) in tow; Flyte theorizes that their foe is an ancient entity that absorbs the knowledge of everything it devours, and has laid waste to multiple civilizations over the course of its long existence. Even worse, much like the creature in The Thing, the entity can also take on the forms of its victims…
Although Koontz has sold over 450 million books worldwide, he has never had the Hollywood success of rival contemporaries Stephen King and Michael Crichton. Other notable Koontz screen adaptations include 1977’s Demon Seed, in which a supercomputer attempts to reproduce with Julie Christie; 1988’s Watchers, which pairs Corey Haim with a superintelligent golden retriever; and the 2013 Anton Yelchin/Willem Dafoe mystery thriller Odd Thomas.
Shout Factory’s 4K edition of Phantoms will be released on July 16, 2024, and can be pre-ordered now. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
This article was originally published on collider.com