Ahoy, squirts! Quint here, taking a quick break from BNAT to share some awesome news. Well, we know one great thing has come out of JJ Abrams' relaunch of the Star Wars franchise and the movie isn't even out yet!

Abrams and his team at Bad Robot have been secretly restoring Don Coscarelli's cult classic PHANTASM. You may have heard that The Force Awakens baddie Captain Phasma was named after this film, no doubt inspired by the iconic chrome sphere, but Abrams wasn't content just giving that film a nod. No sir. He put his money where his mouth was and has meticulously spearheaded a complete 4k restoration from the original camera negative, which is incredible since we've never had a flat out beautiful release (high def or otherwise) of the film.

Here's an exclusive still to give you an idea of how clear this restoration is:

Phantasm has never looked so pretty, right?!? I love that it's so clear you can see how glooped on the eye makeup is.

Coscarelli has been hard at work producing a fifth Phantasm Installment (called Ravager), but word around the campfire is he had to put it on hold to focus on this restoration (which is why it's not in your living rooms just yet).

I'll have more detailed thoughts on the restoration (and some words about the Ravager footage that screened at BNAT) once BNAT wraps up, but I was too excited not to share the news about this amazing thing Bad Robot did for one of the best cult films ever! Now to get back to the fest! I'll leave you with another still showing off Mike, Jody and the Reg-man!

-Eric Vespe

”Quint”

quint@aintitcool.com

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