- At the age of nineteen, became the youngest director to ever have a feature film distributed by a major studio when he sold his independently produced and critically acclaimed drama, Jim, the World's Greatest (1975), to Universal Pictures, who released the movie in 1976.
- The main idea of Phantasm (1979) came to him in a dream. One night, he dreamed of fleeing down endlessly long marble corridors, pursued by a chrome sphere intent on penetrating his skull with a wicked needle. There was also a quite futuristic "sphere dispenser" out of which the orbs would emerge and begin chase.
- Working on two sequels at the same time: The most anticipated "Phantasm V" and Bubba Nosferatu: Curse of the She-Vampires. (February 2008)
- He considers the Italian giallo movies, specially Suspiria (1977) as a great influence on the Phantasm films.
- Never went to a film school.
- Son of best-selling novelist Kate Coscarelli and Dac Coscarelli.
- His favorite movie of all time is 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
- He's a lover of science fiction, fantasy and horror books. His favorite authors are Philip K. Dick and Edgar Allan Poe.
- Was offered the chance to direct, but declined, Conan the Destroyer (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985), Silver Bullet (1985), Warlock III: The End of Innocence (1999) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003).
- He reportedly admits that two of his favorite films are Point Break (1991) and Starship Troopers (1997).
- In 2005, New Line Cinema entered into serious talks with Coscarelli to remake the Phantasm series as a new trilogy and offered him the chance to be the executive producer of the project. Coscarelli and Stephen Romano wrote a script which was a hybrid sequel/remake, having Mike, Reggie and the Tall Man pass the torch onto a new generation of characters. However, New Line didn't like the sequel aspect and wanted a more straight remake of the material. After serious consideration, Coscarelli rejected in favor of a fifth Phantasm movie with Anchor Bay (now Starz Home Entertainment) on board to produce. In the end, Coscarelli's wish to remain independent and have total creative control, together with the difficulties to come up with the budget needed for a fifth installment, caused the project to be halted indefinitely.
- Just bought the rights to David Wong's Novel "John Dies at The End" to make a big screen adaptation. (March 2008)
- Coscarelli attended UCLA, but upon learning he could not enter the film department until his third year, left UCLA to direct his first feature Jim The World's Greatest. Coscarelli calls the making of Jim The World's Greatest his college education.
- Admits that classic Universal monsters got him into the horror genre. In addition to that, he wanted to make a horror film because he enjoyed the audience reaction when he had a thrill in Kenny & Company (1976). That horror film became Phantasm (1979).
- Due to creative interferences with the producers of The Beastmaster (1982), he was forcibly removed from the editing room and his version was entirely re-cut. Although he doesn't disown the movie, he is quite unhappy with the final result.
- He's a great fan of Asian horror films like The Eye (2002) and recent zombie movies such as 28 Days Later (2002) and Shaun of the Dead (2004). He also enjoys Eli Roth and admires Guillermo del Toro a lot.
- His dream project is to direct a time-travel movie.
- He enjoys science fiction films from the fifties and cites Invaders from Mars (1953) as a strong influence in Phantasm (1979).
- Father of award-winning vegan chef and author Chloe Coscarelli and son Andrew Coscarelli.
- Worked for a long time on the preproduction stage of Silver Bullet (1985) and was about to direct it. Eventually, he left the project due to creative differences with producer Dino De Laurentiis.
- As a boy, he was a fan of Steve Reeves, Ray Harryhausen and sword and sandal films in general. He also loved Godzilla movies.
- In early 1992, New Line Cinema offered him to fund and distribute a third and fourth Phantasm movies to be shot back to back. At that time, Coscarelli didn't feel he had enough material written to make two films at once, so he turned the offer down.
- Profiled in "Hollywood Horror from the Director's Chair: Six Filmmakers in the Franchise of Fear" by Simon Wilkinson (McFarland, 2008).
- He likes backpacking and has always been fascinated with survival in the wilderness and the cult of survivalism in some parts of the United States. Coscarelli claims that his interest on those three things became the basis of Survival Quest (1988).
- Speaks fluent Spanish.
- Is married with two children.
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