8/11/26
Reggie Bannister passed away late-Sunday, after a long fight with Parkinson’s and dementia. He was 80 years old.
I first met Reggie back in 2000, a full year before the publication of my first book (NO REST FOR THE WICKED), and four years before THE RISING would become a paperback bestseller. At the time, my publication credits included about two dozen articles for newspapers and magazine, and perhaps a half dozen short stories, two of which were printed in a Phantasm fanzine called The Sentinel. They weren’t very good, but Reggie didn’t care. He invited me to hang out at the bar after the convention’s vendor room had closed for the day, and couldn’t have been a nicer, sweeter human being.
We did the same convention circuit in those early years, from 2000 until about 2008 (until I became a father and cut back on the cons, opting instead for more bookstore signings) , and Reggie was one of my earliest supporters from Horror’s film circles. He was kind, helpful, and inclusive when I was starting out. There were many fun nights and deep conversations about music, politics, and culture in many hotel convention bars. It was my experience over the years that the guy he played in the Phantasm movies was pretty close to the guy he was in real life, although the real life Reg was probably a little less prone to gunning down killer dwarf corpses and silver spheres.
I have two specific memories I’d like to share. Some of you have probably heard this first one. In 2004, The New York Times Sunday edition had a big, multi-page feature article on myself, J.F. Gonzalez, Tim Lebbon, Jemiah Jefferson, and Leisure Books, and the movement — at the time — to bring back Horror fiction from the grave. The day the paper came out, we were all guests at a convention in Phoenix, Arizona. The con had a private suite upstairs that served as an after hours green room for all the Guests of Honor, and several of us were up there hanging out and having a good time that Saturday night. Among those in the room were myself, Reggie, Ken Foree, Michael Berryman, John Skipp, Tom Piccirilli, Tod Clark, and Drew Williams. At around 2am, someone went downstairs and managed to find a copy of The New York Times. (I found out years later that it was Skipp). The paper got passed around and Reggie began reading the article aloud. Then he passed it on to Ken, who continued. And so on, and so on. Imagine that — here was me, who as a kid was obsessed with Phantasm, Dawn of the Dead, and The Hills Have Eyes, and as a young man was equally obsessed with the novels of Skipp and Spector — sitting there while a good cross section of horror royalty took turns reading aloud from a New York Times article about him. To this day, it remains one of the most surreal and sublime experiences of my professional life.
The second memory I’d like to share also took place in a similar hotel suite and green room, but at a different convention and on the opposite side of the country. This must have been 2005, maybe? We were in Baltimore, and the folks in the room included Reggie, Ken, Michael, Drew, Skipp, and Pic again, as well as J. F. Gonzalez, Greg Nicotero, Weston Ochse, and Edward Lee. Joe Ripple, who would later go on to found the Scares That Care charity, was working security. Unbeknownst to myself, Joe, or the convention organizer, Jack Ketchum had decided there were too many dudes at the party, so he’d gone downstairs to the hotel bar and began inviting women upstairs. He told each of them, “Say you’re with Brian Keene when you get to the door”. Well, Joe had been called away from door duty, and the con organizer was stationed there instead. There’s a knock at the door and two women say “Brian Keene invited us” and in they come. Before he can shut the door, two more women arrive, and the process is repeated. Well, the parade of women doesn’t slow down and the party is getting more and more crowded and the con organizer is getting angrier and angrier with me. Except I have no idea why he’s pissed off at me. But Reggie and Drew, who’d been standing by the door, discussing writing music, have watched the entire thing unfold, and they are in hysterics. Just absolute doubled over, clutching their stomachs laughter. And by the time the con organizer explodes and confronts me, culminating in me getting thrown out of the party and my threatening to leave the convention in turn, it was Reggie who stepped in as peacemaker and defused the entire situation. And then Ketchum showed up with two more women, one on each arm, and grinned slyly, and asked if he’d missed anything. And Reggie had to defuse the entire situation all over again.
To this day I can still see Reggie and Drew leaning on each other, laughing hysterically.
Rest In Peace…
~
Women In Horror Year: Day 100
Phantasm: SurVIval: "It's NEVER Over!" by Gigi Bannister
It's ten years later and Evil mortician, the Tall Man, his protégé', (the Lady in Lavender), and an enhanced minion, PhrankenGraver, continue to pursue the hero trio, Reggie, Mike, and Jody. Joined by friends, old and new, they choose to take the fight to their nemesis in an effort to SurVIve!
Phantasm SurVIval, is the sequel in book form to, Phantasm V: Ravager," and continues the adventure with the help of some very special phriends. It is the first in a series of books, "Phantasm Phan Phiction"(c) written by Gigi "Fast Elk" Bannister, contributed to by Reggie Bannister, Illustrations by Russell GreWolf Mauck.
In honor of Reggie and Gigi, I thought we’d feature this here today for Women In Horror Year. Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, before the advent of the VCR and video stores, if there was an R-rated horror movie we weren’;t old enough to get into, we had two choices — wait for an edited version to show up on television (which was how I first saw Phantasm) or read the paperback tie-in novelization (which was how I got to experience Halloween, Prophecy, Alien, and many others). Those novelizations were a huge part of horror culture, and the coolest thing ever was when they’d expand the story beyond the movies. These days, with the proliferation of endless tie-ins for Star Wars and other franchises, that doesn’t seem like such a big deal. but back then, when something like Gordon McGill’s Omen IV: Armageddon 2000 (1983) and Omen V: The Abomination(1985) came out? That was huge.
My buddies and I knew, thanks to what was probably a mention in Fangoria or Famous Monsters, that a Phantasm novelization (written by Don Coscarelli’s mother, Kate, who went on to become a bestselling romance novelist) existed, but none of us were ever able to find it. But for decades, I’ve long thought that the Phantasm universe was ripe for such prose expansions, which is why I cheered at the release of both Don Coscarelli’s Phiction (which I reviewed upon its release in my newsletter) and this book by Gigi, a tie-in novel that takes place after the conclusion of the fifth movie (Phantasm: RaVager, which will probably reduce you to tears if you rewatch it over the next few days, given the subject matter). It’s fast paced and fun, and Gigi does an excellent job at capturing not just Reggie’s voice, but those of the other characters, as well. As all Phan’s know, it’s never over, so fingers crossed for more like this from her.
Phantasm: SurVIval: "It's NEVER Over!" is available in hardcover, paperback, and eBook.
