This Saturday, September 24, the Hollywood Theatre is screening the classic horror film Phantasm. Unfortunately, I won’t be in Portland that evening, though I wish so much I could attend. Phantasm has a special meaning for me. May I take a few moments of your time to tell you why?
During Labor Day weekend 1979, on my first visit to Hollywood, I was introduced to the actor Angus Scrimm, also known as Rory Guy, who had just completed his starring role in Phantasm. A surreal horror film, Phantasm featured an unforgettable monster—a grave robber known only as “The Tall Man,” who was played, of course, by the 6-foot-4-inch-tall Angus. That day in Hollywood, Angus bought us lunch, and we returned to his home for the interview. He then asked if I would like to watch his new movie. I could not imagine how this was possible in someone’s living room. He then explained a new technology called “videotape,” which I had never heard of in Scotland. I sat on his couch and watched this horror movie on the star’s television set.
I was blown away at such a thing. Imagine my expressions as I watched the Tall Man, menacing and devoid of kindness, scaring people on screen—all while I saw him smile benignly from across the room. That afternoon was forever frozen in my 28-year-old, impressionable, journalistic mind. Days later, after my return, I raved about this experience on the BBC and in the pages of The Dundee Courier. Later, I even became a paid consultant to local business friends who were starting a videotape rental store in the blue-collar city of Dundee.
From that day, Angus and I became friends.