Phantasm II Adds to Strong Horror Library of 1980s

Deadly silver balls. That creepy mortuary dude. Bad attempts at tough-guy humor from bald men.

Yes, 1979's Phantasm had it all. And I finally got around to - in honor of Friday the 13th - watching Phantasm II.

The horrendous acting and sometimes-slow pace make this arguably painful. But if you loved the first installment, you'll be pretty happy with this one. And, in all honesty, its Evil Dead 2-like stylings help it stack up well against the best movies of an incredible decade of horror flicks. (Released in 1988, with a budget of $3 million, it is supposedly the lowest-budget Universal production of the 1980s.)

Young Mike gets out of the mental ward where he landed at the end of the first film, realizes the "Tall Man" (pictured) and his Jawa-like creatures are still terrorizing his loved ones, and sets out on his personal quest to eradicate the bad guys.

Phantasm II takes a while to get going, but the second half is filled with (if not a discernible plot) wildly creative horror vignettes.

*** out of ***** stars