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Phantoms the Ultimate Black Goo Movie
About this Episode
Watch Phantoms | Prime Video (amazon.com)
“Phantoms is a 1998 American science fiction horror film adapted from Dean Koontz's 1983 novel of the same name. Directed by Joe Chappelle with a screenplay by Koontz, the film stars Peter O'Toole, Rose McGowan, Joanna Going, Liev Schreiber, Ben Affleck, Nicky Katt and Clifton Powell. The film takes place in the peaceful town of Snowfield, Colorado, where something evil has wiped out the community. It is up to a group of people to stop it or at least get out of Snowfield alive.
While Koontz's novel included many literary tips of the hat to the work of H.P. Lovecraft, these are largely excised from the film.[2]
Phantoms was filmed on location in Georgetown, Colorado.[3] The Hotel de Paris Museum was used to depict the bakery and hotel where several scenes were set.
Plot[edit]
Dr. Jennifer Pailey brings her sister Lisa to the resort town of Snowfield, Colorado, a small ski resort village nestled in the Rocky Mountains where Jenny works as a doctor. Once in town, the sisters find no one around but a few corpses. At first their suspicions are that of a serial killer on the loose in town. The sisters stumble upon the severed heads of the town baker and his wife in an oven when they are found by Sheriff Bryce Hammond, a former FBI agent, and his deputies Stu Wargle and Steve Shanning. Hammond and his deputies are investigating the killings.
The group arrives at a nearby hotel and find the writing of a victim on the mirror reading "Timothy Flyte". Shanning leaves to investigate a sound outside but doesn't return. The others find only his gun, hat and shoes while the rest of him is gone. They return to the sheriff's office to request aid and create roadblocks around Snowfield. The group gets a strange phone call but are interrupted by an attack by a bizarre moth-like creature that rips Wargle's face off before Hammond is able to kill it. Lisa later encounters Wargle while in the bathroom. They quickly return to the morgue and find his body missing.
Hammond's FBI associates find Flyte, a British academic who theorizes the town has fallen victim to the Ancient Enemy, an entity he generalizes as "chaos in the flesh". It periodically wipes out civilizations including that of the Mayans and the Roanoke Island colonists.
They are soon joined by an Army commando unit and a group of scientists led by General Copperfield who has come to Snowfield. They, along with Flyte, investigate the town. The creature kills soldiers investigating the sewers, while a dog approaches Flyte and the scientists and transforms into a gruesome monster that converts the group, except for Flyte. Flyte regroups with Hammond, Jenny, Lisa, and Copperfield. The creature attacks Copperfield through a manhole, converting him. Copperfield vomits a sample before melting into a puddle of black liquid. Through it, Flyte and the group learn the nature of the Ancient Enemy.
Revealed to actually be an Earth-based amoebic life form that mimics its absorbed victims while gaining their knowledge, the Enemy creates Phantoms as temporary detachments for it to act through before absorbing them back into it. Furthermore, the Enemy absorbs all of the thoughts of its victims, making it extremely intelligent, and because of the previous civilizations' perception of it, it believes itself to be a god. It had arranged all of the prior events so Flyte can assist the creature in revealing its existence to the world. Flyte also learns that the creature's body is physiologically almost identical to crude oil, and could be killed by bacteria bio-engineered to ingest fossil fuels. They deduce that with the limited amount of the bacteria they have, they need to get the bacteria into the nucleus that is within the main body of the Enemy.
They form a plan to use the Ancient Enemy's extreme arrogance and god complex against itself. To do so, Flyte acts as if he is turning against the group by revealing their entire plan to the Enemy. In anger (and believing itself indestructible due to being a god), it reabsorbs all the Phantoms and then emerges from the sewers to assume a Mother Mass form. Hammond and the Pailey sisters fire the bacteria into the Ancient Enemy before it retreats underground with Hammond in pursuit.
While the Pailey sisters find themselves dealing with Wargle's Phantom, Jenny seemingly kills it with a gun containing the bacteria. Hammond finds the Ancient Enemy as it has assumed the form of the boy he accidentally killed during an FBI drug raid. When the boy grabs the last vial from him, Hammond shoots at it to expose the creature to its contents. It dies from the bacteria.
Though Hammond reassures Lisa and Jenny that it is gone, with the former stating the townsfolk are at peace, Flyte admits the Ancient Enemy did achieve its victory as he has decided to tell the world what happened with a book based on what occurred in Snowfield. Some time later, watching Flyte being interviewed about his book, The Ancient Enemy, two bar patrons argue about the existence of alien life. Hearing laughter nearby, the patrons turn to see Wargle as he asks them if they want to see something interesting.” Wikipedia
Phils Search: Movies about Black Goo
1. Phantoms (1998)
R | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
5.4
Rate
26 Metascore
In the peaceful town of Snowfield, Colorado something evil has wiped out the community. And now, its up to a group of people to stop it, or at least get out of Snowfield alive.
Director: Joe Chappelle | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Rose McGowan, Joanna Going, Liev Schreiber
Votes: 21,393 | Gross: $5.66M
2. Spider-Man 3 (2007)
PG-13 | 139 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
6.3
Rate
59 Metascore
A strange black entity from another world bonds with Peter Parker and causes inner turmoil as he contends with new villains, temptations, and revenge.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Topher Grace, Thomas Haden Church
Votes: 597,395 | Gross: $336.53M
3. District 9 (2009)
R | 112 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
7.9
Rate
81 Metascore
Violence ensues after an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth finds a kindred spirit in a government agent exposed to their biotechnology.
Director: Neill Blomkamp | Stars: Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope, Nathalie Boltt
Votes: 687,392 | Gross: $115.65M
4. Jennifer's Body (2009)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Horror
5.4
Rate
47 Metascore
A newly-possessed high-school cheerleader turns into a succubus who specializes in killing her male classmates. Can her best friend put an end to the horror?
Director: Karyn Kusama | Stars: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Adam Brody, Johnny Simmons
Votes: 138,460 | Gross: $16.20M
5. Prometheus (I) (2012)
R | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
7
Rate
64 Metascore
Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron
Votes: 615,011 | Gross: $126.48M
6. John Dies at the End (2012)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
6.3
Rate
53 Metascore
A new street drug that sends its users across time and dimensions has one drawback: some people return no longer human. Can two college drop-outs save humanity from this silent, otherworldly invasion?
Director: Don Coscarelli | Stars: Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown
Votes: 39,105 | Gross: $0.14M
7. Lucy (I) (2014)
R | 89 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
6.4
Rate
61 Metascore
A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked
Votes: 503,095 | Gross: $126.66M
8. Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
PG-13 | 165 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
5.6
Rate
32 Metascore
When humanity allies with a bounty hunter in pursuit of Optimus Prime, the Autobots turn to a mechanic and his family for help.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz Beckham, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci
Votes: 317,607 | Gross: $245.44M
9. Big Hero 6 (2014)
PG | 102 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
7.8
Rate
74 Metascore
A special bond develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who together team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes.
Directors: Don Hall, Chris Williams | Stars: Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Jamie Chung, T.J. Miller
Votes: 467,420 | Gross: $222.53M
10. Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (1989)
G | 85 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
7.1
Rate
Each night, young Nemo goes to Slumberland and has adventures and befriends the king of Slumberland, Morpheus. But one night Nemo discovers Nightmare Land, and the evil nightmare king, throwing Slumberland and Nemo himself into danger.
Directors: Masami Hata, William T. Hurtz | Stars: Gabriel Damon, Mickey Rooney, Rene Auberjonois, Danny Mann
Votes: 7,779 | Gross: $1.37M
11. FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)
G | 76 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
6.5
Rate
67 Metascore
The magical inhabitants of a rainforest fight to save their home, which is threatened by logging and a polluting force of destruction called Hexxus.
Director: Bill Kroyer | Stars: Samantha Mathis, Christian Slater, Robin Williams, Tim Curry
Votes: 31,329 | Gross: $24.65M
12. Event Horizon (1997)
R | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
6.6
Rate
35 Metascore
A rescue crew investigates a spaceship that disappeared into a black hole and has now returned...with someone or something new on-board.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson
Votes: 184,417 | Gross: $26.67M
13. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
8.7
Rate
73 Metascore
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 1,924,170 | Gross: $171.48M
14. Dune (1984)
PG-13 | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
6.3
Rate
41 Metascore
A Duke's son leads desert warriors against the galactic emperor and his father's evil nemesis to free their desert world from the emperor's rule.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Kyle MacLachlan, Virginia Madsen, Francesca Annis, Leonardo Cimino
Votes: 163,786 | Gross: $30.93M
15. The Fifth Element (1997)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
7.6
Rate
52 Metascore
In the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr. Zorg at bay.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm
Votes: 479,078 | Gross: $63.54M
16. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005)
PG-13 | 101 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
7.2
Rate
An ex-mercenary is forced out of isolation when three mysterious men kidnap and brainwash the city's children afflicted with the Geostigma disease.
Directors: Tetsuya Nomura, Takeshi Nozue | Stars: Takahiro Sakurai, Ayumi Ito, Shôtarô Morikubo, Maaya Sakamoto
Votes: 56,945
17. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
PG-13 | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
8
Rate
76 Metascore
A group of intergalactic criminals must pull together to stop a fanatical warrior with plans to purge the universe.
Director: James Gunn | Stars: Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana
Votes: 1,188,058 | Gross: $333.18M
18. Poltergeist (2015)
PG-13 | 93 min | Horror, Thriller
4.9
Rate
47 Metascore
A family whose suburban home is haunted by evil forces must come together to rescue their youngest daughter after the apparitions take her captive.
Director: Gil Kenan | Stars: Sam Rockwell, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kennedi Clements, Saxon Sharbino
Votes: 59,054 | Gross: $47.43M
19. Terminator Genisys (2015)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
6.3
Rate
38 Metascore
When John Connor, leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline.
Director: Alan Taylor | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney
Votes: 281,243 | Gross: $89.76M
20. Helix (2014–2015)
TV-PG | 40 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
6.7
Rate
A team of scientists are thrust into a potentially life-or-death situation when they arrive in the Arctic to secretly investigate what could be an outbreak of a strange disease in a secluded international research facility.
Stars: Billy Campbell, Kyra Zagorsky, Mark Ghanimé, Jordan Hayes
Votes: 29,886
21. The X Files (1998)
PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
7
Rate
60 Metascore
Mulder and Scully must fight the government in a conspiracy and find the truth about an alien colonization of Earth.
Director: Rob Bowman | Stars: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, John Neville, William B. Davis
Votes: 106,933 | Gross: $83.90M
22. Teen Wolf (2011–2017)
TV-14 | 41 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy
7.7
Rate
An average high school student and his best friend get caught up in some trouble causing him to receive a werewolf bite. As a result they find themselves in the middle of all sorts of dramas in Beacon Hills.
Stars: Tyler Posey, Holland Roden, Dylan O'Brien, Linden Ashby
Votes: 151,805
23. Lady Gaga's Secret World (2012 Video)
Not Rated | 60 min | Documentary
4.7
Rate
An inside look at how the superstar Lady Gaga rose to fame and why she continues to make splashes in headlines today. She wants everyone to embrace their inner freak, and she lovingly calls... See full summary »
Director: Maureen Goldthorpe | Star: Renee Nicole Gray
Votes: 14
24. The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
R | 129 min | Action, Sci-Fi
6.7
Rate
47 Metascore
The human city of Zion defends itself against the massive invasion of the machines as Neo fights to end the war at another front while also opposing the rogue Agent Smith.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 518,204 | Gross: $139.31M
25. Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
6.2
Rate
41 Metascore
Survivors of the Raccoon City catastrophe travel across the Nevada desert, hoping to make it to Alaska. Alice joins the caravan and their fight against the evil Umbrella Corp.
Director: Russell Mulcahy | Stars: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Oded Fehr, Iain Glen
Votes: 198,179 | Gross: $50.65M
26. Dune (2021)
PG-13 | 155 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
8
Rate
74 Metascore
A noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy's most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac
Votes: 646,104 | Gross: $108.33M
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