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Customer Reviews of The Frighteners [Region 2]

Wicked fun
Just before doing "Lord of the Rings," director Peter Jackson (who can be seen in a cameo as "Man with Piercings") made an off-kilter horror/comedy movie called "The Frighteners," the tale of the undead and the guy who makes a living off of them. Though "Frighteners" was barely in theaters at all, this cult flick is funny, creepy, well-acted and wonderfully directed. <
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>Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) has seen spirits and apparitions ever since the car crash that killed his wife. Now he operates an amateur "ghostbusting" operation that is supposed to exorcise ghosts from people's houses -- the problem is that the ghosts who haunt those houses are in league with him (Chi McBride as the opinioated afro-ed Cyrus, Jim Fyfe as the nerdy Stuart, and most of John Astin as what is left of The Judge). <
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>Frank's business certainly isn't hurt by the fact that for years after a serial killer's murderous spree, people have died mysteriously of heart attacks. Then Frank starts seeing fiery numbers emblazoned on the foreheads of people who will die, including the husband of doctor Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado). As if trying to stop a specter of death weren't hard enough, crazed FBI agent Milton Dammers (Jeffrey Combs) believes that Frank is the one murdering people. But the evil specter is still killing -- and Lucy is the next victim. <
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>Peter Jackson once said that he has a "moronic" sense of humor, and it shows up in all its glory here -- from bug spray dissolving a ghost's face to a piece of talking oily sludge to a drill sargeant ghost with submachine guns, this is weird and absolutely hilarious. It's the perfect blend of comedy and horror. <
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>But he's also good during the more serious moments, such as Bannister's flashbacks to his wife's death, or the eerie sight of homicidal young lovers dancing with a gun. The opening shot is pure Jackson, with the camera swooping through a window, past fluttering curtains, and though a hole in the attic floor to a screaming woman below. <
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>Jackson also takes the opportunity to poke a bit of fun at more conventional ghost movies: the big Gothic house, crazy old lady, ghost in '70s clothes, and Fox's hilarious turn as a ghostbuster. Nothing horrific is sacred. "There ain't nothing worse than a bunch of pissed-off brothers... that's ALREADY DEAD!" Cyrus yells at one point. <
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>Does it have a flaw? Yes -- the opening scene doesn't seem to make much sense later on in the movie. But Jackson makes up for that with a surprisingly tight, coherent plot, and a satisfying finale that makes more sense than most other horror movies do. <
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>The cast is brilliant, whether it's the twitchy, wild-eyed FBI agent, or the three weird ghosts. Michael J. Fox does an excellent job as Frank, with the right combination of cockiness and pathos, while Alvarado is solid as the idealistic young doctor. But the scenes are really stolen by Dee Wallace-Stone and freaky-eyed Jake Busey, as homicidal young lovers. <
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>"Frighteners" might not make you believe in ghosts, but it will make you laugh, shiver, and maybe even shed a tear or two. Wildly funny, weird, gross, and sometimes really peculiar, this is Jackson's splatter-gore at its best.

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The last movie Peter Jackson made before "LOTR"
When his growing legions of fans work their way back through the early films of Peter Jackson to determine how the man who started off directing comic gorefests like "Bad Taste" and "Dead Alive" ended up being entrusted with "The Lord of the Rings," this 1996 film will be the last link in the chain because it was after "The Frighteners" that Jackson devoted himself to bringing Tolkien to the big screen. Like every film he has ever made, "The Frighteners" shows a relentless creativity, although ultimately the story is not up to the impressive special effects. Consequently, while enjoyable, the film is also somewhat disappointing because we really expected something better in a film where Jackson finally had money to play with. <
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>"The Frighteners" is a horror-comedy that falls a bit short of both halves of the equation although it starts off strong enough. Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) is a paranormal investigator who shows up in the small town of Fairweather, California. Bannister is a most unusual con artist, because not only can he really see ghosts, he has three of them working for him: Stuart (Jim Fyfe), Cyrus (Chi McBride), and the Judge (John Astin). The ghostly trio put the fear of the undead into someone and then Bannister shows up and drives them away: for a small fee (with a money back guarantee). But then the husband of Lucy Lynsky (Trini Alvardo) drops dead and so do a lot of other people in town, all from heart attacks, and usually after seeing Bannister. He knows that the killer is the Soul Catcher, because he can not only see it attack, he can see the numbers that appear on the foreheads of his intended victims. Then things get complicated. <
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>By the time we find out what the opening scene of the film, where unseen spirits are terrifying loony old Patricia Ann Bradley (Dee Wallace-Stone), the contrivances are too mind-numbing to really care. Apparently there is a point to all this having to do with the competitiveness of Americans even in the realm of serial killing. Bannister's attempts to play the hero are consistently thwarted by Milton Dammers (Jeffrey Combs), an F.B.I. agent who is equal parts hardcase and nutcase. Every time he did something weird I found myself saying, "Well, okay then." His antics usually engendered a laugh, but it was just never quite the right type of laugh, having too much of a skeptical edge to it. If there is one think you do not want you audience to be when you are doing a horror movie with ghosts, it would be skeptical. <
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>Despite the problems with the convoluted narrative and the uneven tone of the comedy, this is still a film worth watching just to see what Jackson pulls out of his special effects bag of tricks next. Clearly the best of the pre-LOTR movies from Jackson is definitely "Heavaenly Creatures," which speaks to the director's strengths in terms of not just special effects but also with adaptations, whether from a literary classic or from infamous historical events. This means that his announced next project, a remake of "King Kong," plays to these strengths as well.