The Frighteners

Peter Jackson's The Frighteners is a playful blend of supernatural suspense, comedy and spectacle that makes the competition look decidedly pedestrian

The Frighteners, New Zealand/USA, 1996

Director: Peter Jackson
Production company: Wingnut Films, Universal Pictures
Producers: Peter Jackson, Jamie Selkirk
Executive producer: Robert Zemeckis
Co-producer: Tim Sanders
Associate producer: Fran Walsh
Script: Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson
Cinematography: Alun Bollinger, John Blick
Editor: Jamie Selkirk
Creature & miniature effects: Richard Taylor
Production design: Grant Major
Art direction: Dan Hennah
Costumes: Barbara Darragh

With: Michael J. Fox (Frank Bannister), Trini Alvarado (Dr Lucy Lynskey), Peter Dobson (Ray Lynskey), John Astin (The Judge), Jeffrey Combs (Milton Dammers), Dee Wallace-Stone (Patricia Ann Bradley), Jake Busey (John Charles Bartlett), Chi McBride (Cyrus), Jim Fyfe (Stuart), Elizabeth Hawthorne (Magda Rhys-Jones), Angela Bloomfield (Debra Bannister), Desmond Kelly (Harry Sinclair)

35mm, colour, 110 minutes, M—Contains violence

The Frighteners stars Michael J. Fox as Frank Bannister, a psychically gifted resident of the seaside community of Fairwater with a unique scam. Frank shares his residence with spectral cohorts Cyrus, Stuart and The Judge, who help Frank out by getting houses good and haunted so that Frank can step in and "exorcise" them for a considerable fee. It's a cozy little arrangement, but it soon becomes clear that there are other supernatural goings on in Fairwater. Apparently healthy people are dying of mysterious heart attacks, including the husband of new doctor Lucy Lynskey, and FBI paranormal expert Milton Dammers begins to suspect that Frank might be involved. Frank, however, can see the real culprit: Death itself, sickle and all, has come to Fairwater.

“New Zealand director Peter Jackson's The Frighteners is a playful blend of supernatural suspense, comedy and spectacle that makes the competition look decidedly pedestrian….Jeffrey Combs, who played the mad scientist in Re-Animator and its sequel in the 1980s, feasts on a mind-boggling comeback role in The Frighteners. He achieves a special, exalted niche in the Nutcase Hall of Fame… Adroit and prodigious with his arsenal of thrills and sight gags, Mr Jackson sustains a many-splendored cinematic fantasy. The Frighteners demonstrates a talent for keeping several balls in the air: peril, slapstick, flamboyant trick shots, romantic comedy, conceptual spookiness and heroic gratification. Unlike the filmmakers who contrived Twister and Independence Day, Mr Jackson and his writing partner, Frances Walsh, suggest an alliance of sophisticated, witty minds. The Frighteners is the thriller destined to endure as a creative landmark in the thriller-congested summer of 1996.” - Gary Arnold, Washington Times, 19/7/1996.

“Kiwi filmmaker Peter Jackson’s follow-up to Heavenly Creatures is an sfx-heavy scarefest that initially looks like a return to the slapstick horror-comedy of Braindead: desiccated spooks cause beds to levitate, frying pans to whack heads, and gurgling infants to fly around the living room. Later, however, it flips from this comfortably humorous groove into a grim, disturbing horror movie about the malevolent spirit of a serial killer back from the grave to increase his body count. Fake parapsychologist Frank Bannister is in cahoots with a trio of tortured souls – hip black dude Cyrus, creaky-boned old-timer The Judge, and nerdy bookworm Stuart: they scare the shit out of Fairweather’s inhabitants while Frank cleans up the mess. A series of unexplained deaths heralds the arrival of a Grim Reaper-like spirit that Frank alone can see… Though championed by Forrest Gump-director Robert Zemeckis and funded by Hollywood, this New Zealand-shot movie was creatively controlled by Jackson and co-writer Fran Walsh. So while the on-screen violence is toned down, there’s no soft-pedalling on the ugliness of mass murder or the obscenity of ill-deserved media celebrity. At times the relentless special effects and tangled plotting veer towards visual and narrative overkill, but the final tonal swerve is shocking and effective. Once again, Jackson proves he’s one of the most innovative filmmakers currently working in the fantasy genre.” — Nigel Floyd, Time Out, January 1997

“Peter Jackson’s trademark mix of dark humour and visceral horror effortlessly finds its big-budget footing with The Frighteners, an intelligent and genuinely unique horror comedy... By keeping the pace relatively slow for the first hour before suddenly darting in for the kill with a hair-raising finale, Jackson has achieved a perfectly unsettling balance of horror and hilarity... this is frenetic, gleefully demented fun. While the computer-generated ghosts and ghouls look absolutely staggering, the narrative itself offers enough fast-paced twists and turns to render The Frighteners not only the most efficient scare machine since The Evil Dead, but also the most inventive and accomplished movie of the year.” — Matthew Grainger, The Dominion, 13/12/1996

“The Frighteners has received some notice for setting the record for most computer effects ever in a movie, and still coming in at the extremely cheap $30 million price tag. But for those who were dismayed by this year's blockbusters like Twister and Independence Day, The Frighteners has much more to offer than special effects. And for those worried whether or not Peter Jackson would compromise to Hollywood you can rest easily. The Frighteners is as far removed from Hollywood as a high-profile movie can get. Michael J. Fox stars as Frank Bannister, a con artist who can speak to ghosts. He uses this ability to set up a scam in a small town where his ghost buddies scare the hell out of people, then he comes and pretends to get rid of them. This is how he has made a living ever since his wife died in a car crash 5 years ago… There are many wonderful twists and turns in the screenplay written by Peter Jackson and Frances Walsh. The movie starts off as a black comedy, and ends up a horror-action film. The mix between these genres are perfect. No laughs are sacrificed in the name of horror, and vice versa... Michael J. Fox delivers one of his best performances to date as a man who hides the sorrow of his wife's death, and then is forced to confront this later on. Alvarado, looking like Andie MacDowell, makes a great frightened, tough, and smart heroine. And Jeffery Combs, as a paranoid FBI agent, is brilliantly bizzare. The Frighteners never once feels like it is running long. The first hour is as funny as any comedy this year, and the last half hour is as thrilling as any of the big budget blockbusters. This movie is probably what Casper would've looked like if David Lynch directed it. It's easily the best film of the year, so far.” — Larry McGillicuddy, www.imdb.com/Reviews/56/5674

Screenings: The Frighteners screened on 6 April 2005 as part of a horror season selected by writer and reviewer Ian Pryor