Movies - Phantoms

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	Movies - Phantoms

Phantoms is a novel by science fiction/horror writer Dean R. Koontz. The plot centers on two sisters discovering that every living being in their California mountain resort hometown has mysteriously disappeared. Police and scientists come to investigate, revealing a horrible and ancient evil.

Plot

The sisters arrive in the town and find almost no one around, and those they do find are either mutilated, or reveal some strange form of death. Finally, after growing more and more wary, and learning that almost nothing electrical works, they run into the Sheriff and some of his deputies.

Together, the girls and the police are eventually able to make some contact with outside world, requesting help from the military before they get cut off. When the military comes to investigate, they bring along a writer for a tabloid magazine, much in the same vein as the Weekly World News, named Timothy Flyte, a man who has long theorized the existence of a population destroying creature, and has dubbed said creature, "The Ancient Enemy."

It is discovered that the town was built over the hibernating place of a monster, an amoeboid shapeshifter. It was theorized that the Enemy either caused or aided in the extinction of the dinosaurs, as well as many of the great mysterious mass vanishings: Mayan civilization, Jamestown, Roanoke, ghost ships, etc.

The monster consumes other life forms to increase its mass and is able to perfectly mimic other creatures. It can create small "probes" or "phantoms" imitating consumed life forms to go forth and hunt more prey, obeying the orders of its "hive mind;" in addition the creature absorbs the mental capacity of those it consumes.

Its only vital organ is a nucleus located in the center of its main body. The creature's cells are similar in molecular structure to fossil fuels; upon discovering this the scientists use oil-eating bacteria to destroy the Enemy's core. (The genetically-modified bacteria are the real-life creations of Ananda Mohan Chakrabarty)

The Ancient Enemy

The creature's abilities and form greatly resemble John Carpenter's version of The Thing, the movie monster The Blob and the "shoggoths" envisioned in the works of H. P. Lovecraft. Throughout the book the creature came to think of itself as Satan, due to the minds of the humans it absorbed (notably a devil worshipper). This absorption changed the creature from predatory to sadistic; it engages in a number of non-predatory evils including torture, psychological warfare, blasphemy, profanity, bigotry, rape, and overall cruelty.

Film Adaptation

Phantoms was adapted into a movie in 1998 starring Peter O'Toole, Rose McGowan, Liev Schreiber, Ben Affleck and Joanna Going. It was directed by Joe Chappelle and produced by Neo Art & Logic.

Inspirations

Much of the first Silent Hill video game takes visual cues from Phantoms, such as the abandoned town and bizarre flying creatures.

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Movies - Phantoms

Plot

The Ancient Enemy

Film Adaptation

Inspirations

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