the plot: Having already lost his parents in a tragic car accident, young Mike (Baldwin) is afraid to let his older brother Jody (Thornbury) out of his sight. And so he follows Jody everywhere, even to the funeral of Jody's best friend Tommy. Once the service is over and everyone is gone, Mike, hiding in the bushes, watches the town's creepy mortician (Scrimm) pick up Tommy's coffin with one hand and toss it into a hearse. Sensing that something is amiss, Mike starts poking around the labyrinthine Morningside Mortuary and discovers the building is populated by a gang of vicious hooded dwarfs and guarded by a flying silver sphere that sprouts knives. After Mike narrowly escapes the clutches of the mortician (whom he dubs the Tall Man), the boy enlists the aid of Jody and their friend Reggie (Bannister) in solving the mystery of Morningside. But the Tall Man is more than a regular gravedigger-he's an alien from another dimension out to turn Morningside's corpses into slaves, and he's more dangerous than Mike and his cohorts think.

why it's good: Though not as well known as Freddy or Jason, Scrimm's Tall Man and his deadly silver ball have become enduring horror icons. That staying power can be chalked up to Phantasm's effectiveness as an exciting and surprising low-budget blend of horror and sci-fi. Scrimm is clearly the star of the show; with his lanky, gaunt frame and sunken face, he's a creepy, menacing villain. What makes Phantasm so much fun is its high-concept plot about multi-dimensional aliens, dwarf corpse slaves and severed fingers that turn into giant bugs. Coscarelli is one of the best creators working in the genre-he's also responsible for 2002's Bubba Ho-Tep, a comedy-horror extravaganza starring Bruce Campbell as an elderly Elvis who must fight a mummy in a Texas nursing home. Phantasm is so popular and enduring that, much like the '70s classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, it's scheduled to be remade by New Line Cinema.

why you should own it: Phantasm is a classic, and MGM's DVD edition pulls out all the stops. The disc includes commentary from Coscarelli, Bannister, Baldwin and Thornbury, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage (also with commentary), trailers and a 1979 promotional interview done by Coscarelli and Scrimm.