I can't believe it's been 20 years since The Frighteners was released. It was the first Peter Jackson film I saw and it was a bit of a transitional film for him from the low budget horror films he started out making and the big budget films like Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, or King Kong. Naturally, I was also a huge fan of Michael J. Fox (still am, actually) and scary movies, as well as being a Peter Jackson fan after the fact, so it was natural I would have a lot of affection for this goofy, spooky movie.
Frank Bannister (played by Michael J. Fox) gained the ability to see spirits after a tragic car accident left him injured and his wife dead. Since then, he has been eeking out a living in the small town he lives in, offering his psychic services to the bereaved and living in the half built house he was building for his wife. When he needs a few extra bucks he gets his three ghost buddies, Cyrus (played by Chi McBride), Stuart (played by Jim Fyfe) and The Judge (played by John Astin) to fake a haunting which he then pretends to exorcise for a fee. The town has also been experiencing a string of strange deaths that all appear to be heart attacks. When Bannister witnesses one of the attacks first hand, he realizes it is a supernatural being baring a striking resemblance to the Grim Reaper that is carrying out the killings. The wife of one of the victims, Dr. Lucy Lynskey (played by Traci Alvardo), teams up with Bannister to try and figure out what is going on after reaching out to him after her husband's death. Complicating matters is FBI Agent Milton Dammers (played by Jeffrey Combs), a deeply disturbed and troubled man who is convinced that Frank is responsible for the murders.
Peter Jackson directed the film as well as co-writing it with his frequent collaborator Fran Walsh. They managed to create a delightfully spooky ghost tale with Jackson's trademark goofy energy. The film tends to lean more towards comedy than horror, but that's ok with me even though there are some genuinely creepy and intense moments as well, especially as the film speeds towards it's climax. The film is an inventive take on some well worn ghost story tropes and finds some neat ways to twist the plot in the process. Michael J. Fox gives a strong performance and manages to handle both the sillier and more serious aspects of the plot well and certain scenes allow him to show off his more dramatic side as well. Jeffrey Combs likewise makes a memorable turn as Milton Dammers, an FBI Agent who is given all the strange and unusual cases. Clearly, it has left him more than a little disturbed. Combs gives a wonderfully eccentric performance that is both very funny and at the same time a little sad.
The film is quite special effects heavy with plenty of CGI effects, especially with the Grim Reaper spirit. Many of the effects have not aged well, but some others remain quite good such as the effects with the ghosts and their various levels of decay and appearance. This film also marked the birth of Peter Jackson's effects house as we know as well as, after seeing how the effects worked with The Frighteners and needing to figure out what to do with all the computers he acquired to do those effects, decided to try and tackle The Lord of the Rings.
The Frighteners is a film I have enjoyed ever since I saw it back in 1996 and still do today. It's a fun and spooky film with a unique take on the ghost story genre while having that unique Peter Jackson manic energy that was his trademark in his early films. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's one I've always liked.
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