The viewer realizes early on that The Phantom Warrior is completely insane. I am talking “LSD tabs under eyelids” insane. Michael keeps delivering the shocks to the system, deliberately manipulating tone and pacing to create strange occurrences. The audience is constantly dropped into insane non-sequitur scenes, like the man that appears out of nowhere, with the American flag behind him in a diner, sobbing horribly into a stack of flapjacks. We don’t know where flapjack man came from, nor why he is bawling his face off, and we are frankly weirded out. The first time it happens, it seems like an error, a mistake overlooked. You quickly find out it is all on purpose, a sinister purpose of a mad scientist named Savvas D. Michael. Underestimate this at your own risk, as it is so crazy that it works.
“By invoking myth, The Phantom Warrior engages in both highbrow and lowbrow simultaneously.”
Michael invokes the works of a cavalcade of famous cult directors in his storytelling methods. He uses tools from the David Lynch toolbox at times, with the stretched-out dialogue exchanges and long reflections on camera. However, some parts are very reminiscent of Derek Jarman, particularly Jubilee. The tone established also a lot of the same feel as vintage John Waters. However, the biggest influence seems to be The Banana Splits on acid. My dome was shattered by the scene where Rowan makes his grand entrance, complete with shark fin shoulder pads, with Gary Glitter playing in the background. It is at this point that Michael stopped being the sum of all the cult legends before him, as he has become a lunacy legend in his own right with The Phantom Warrior.
Michael increases the richness of his narrative references to famous British fantasy writers. The basis of this origin story lies in the Moorcockian concept of the eternal champion: an endless hero that reincarnates into each age in a new form. Michael also does that famous Neil Gaiman trick of giving mythological significance to the characters. By invoking myth, The Phantom Warrior engages in both highbrow and lowbrow simultaneously. Yes, she has been summoned by the oracle to serve the gods of the unconscious world, but she is also a masked woman, blasting folks with a shotgun. However, when you put her on a black horse, it is pure B-movie black magic. The wonders that will occur if you smoke weed while watching this are immeasurable, though I will try when I rewatch all throughout the rest of this week, lighting one doobie after another. The Phantom Warrior is cinematic misbehavior of the highest caliber; a movie by super villains for super villains. It’s the new cult classic masterpiece.
"…I am talking ‘LSD tabs under eyelids’ insane."
