Dream that leads to the silver orbs in Phantasm

leading from

Dreams That Become Films

Don Coscarelli had a dream as a teenager and what he could remember of it, there was also a quite futuristic chrome sphere dispenser out of wihich the orbs would emerge and begin their chase.  He was fleeing down endlessly long marble corridors, pursued by one of these chrome spheres intent on penetrating his skull with a wicked needle,  and as far as he could remember, the spheres never caught up with him. And so the dream stuck with him and later when he came to write Phantasm, it seemed like a perfect device which which to arm the tall man.

Sources

1. The idea of the sphere, or the orb as it's often called , came to Coscarelli in a dream. He had a nightmare with the silver ball chasing him through corridor after corrdor endlessly. "Unlike most dreams, this one stuck with me. And while writing Phantasm, it seemed like a perfect device with which to arm the Tall man." (Reel Terror, p284)
2. THE SILVER SPHERE
   In Don Coscarelli’s surreal 1979 horror flick, something odd is going on in the local mausoleum. Little Mike investigates, but gets caught. Then a silver sphere glides into view. It extrudes knives, flies right into the guy who’s apprehended Mike, and drills into his forehead, sending an arc of blood spurting into the air. The idea came to the director in a dream: “I was in my teens, and what I can remember had mainly to do with my fleeing down endlessly long marble corridors, pursued by a chrome sphere intent on penetrating my skull with a wicked needle. There was a quite futuristic ‘sphere dispenser’ out of which the orbs would emerge and begin chase. As far as I can remember, the spheres never caught up with me…” (www.sfx.co.uk/2009/10/20/50_scariest_horror_moments_ever_40_31/)