The FrightenersFrank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) has more than ghosts haunting him, but isn't that enough? The Frighteners is a supernatural horror movie about the aforementioned Frank, a self-employed "psychic investigator" who plies his secret ability to see and interact with ghosts to run a con on the people of the coastal town of Fairwater. The town has been experiencing a "health crisis" in the form of a rash of heart attacks, claiming the lives of seemingly healthy people. When Frank discovers that the specter of Death is killing these people and is marking them in a way like that of his late wife, he fears that the ghosts of his past have returned.
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From the start, Frank seems a bit unhinged--not just because he sees ghosts. His past speaks to what kind of person Frank has become--once a gifted architect who took his spouse for granted, Frank now feels guilty for her death, and seems intent on destroying himself. He lives recklessly and is casually oblivious to stepping into peril--he literally walks into traffic, drives like a maniac, and is in constant risk of pneumonia, living in the drafty skeleton of his erstwhile dream house. His current reputation as a conman precedes him, and has earned him the ire of the snooty New England cape village. (The Frighteners was actually shot on location in New Zealand, the home of director Peter Jackson.) One of the few people who trusts Frank is Dr. Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado), a newcomer to Fairwater who assists at the local hospital. Lucy is a more level-headed person than most of the characters in The Frighteners; she also has the resolve to pull Frank out of his funk when self-pity threatens to get the better of him. The predominance of creepy or disturbing denizens in Fairwater could be explained by the dark legacy of a spree killing that took place several years prior by John Charles "Johnny" Bartlett (Jake Busey). Johnny is survived by his then teenage girlfriend Patricia Ann Bradley (Dee Wallace Stone), who has physically grown up, but comes across as emotionally stunted. The opening of The Frighteners sets the stage for the terrifying hauntings, as a spectral monster violently pursues Patricia through her house, an entity that can crawl through the walls and bend them into arms and a face. This predatory poltergeist takes the form of the grim reaper, floating through the city streets with its horrible scythe at its side, pouncing on its victims like a wildcat and squeezing the very life from their still-beating hearts. (The murderous ghost bears more than a passing resemblance to the "Ringwraiths" in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy made later.) Frank's ghostly cohorts--Cyrus (Chi McBride), Stuart (Jim Fyfe), and "Judge" (John Astin)--are more amiable (even if they help Frank bilk the living out of their cold, hard cash); their companionship helps Frank try to forget the horrors of finding the body of his own wife with the number "13" carved into her forehead. But the appearance of this reaper of souls forces Frank to confront his own demons of self-doubt and regret.
The Frighteners is a horror movie with a kind of manic, nervous current running through it, and with occasional moments of comedy and humor. It's like the feeling you get when you are so frightened that you sometimes uncontrollably start giggling. The Frighteners looks as though it were a bit peaked, as though experienced through the cold filter of death. Scenes which use wide-angle lenses and extreme angled perspectives give the film a distorted look, designed to disorient the audience. Several characters seem affected by varying degrees of hysteria. For example, Lucy's ill-fated husband, Ray (Peter Dobson), is an arrogant jerk--who also happens to be a health nut and Elvis enthusiast, although he can see Frank's confidence game for what it is. Both Patricia and her intimidating mother (Julianna McCarthy) are never seen outside of their claustrophobic, Addams Family-esque century home. This unsettling homestead is attached to the condemned psychiatric hospital where Johnny committed his bloody rampage, and where Patricia was reported as the "accessory after the fact". But arguably the pièce de résistance of complete wack-job characters would have to be the most unlikely of FBI agents, Milton Dammers, played with twisted aplomb by Jeffrey Combs. With his slight, Hitler-esque swoop of hair, his nervous fidgeting, his bug eyes, and his ubiquitous black, leather gloves, we know he's going to be straight Looney Tunes. Milton comes to Fairwater already convinced that there is no supernatural cause to the town's pain, short of his bizarre theory that Frank can kill with the power of his mind, and has been causing this chaos all by himself. Milton actually wears a lead breastplate to protect his heart from the presumed psychic powers of his would-be nemesis. Moments like this when Milton reveals his armor are so absurd as to be comical. And others--like when one character runs through the abandoned hospital with a flashlight strapped to a shotgun, cackling maniacally while firing shell after shell with reckless abandon--manage to deftly walk that line of outlandish and terrifying. This thrilling mix of black comedy and horror film makes The Frighteners a distinct and entertaining ghostly yarn.
Recommended for: Fans of a ghost story that mixes humor and terror, with an assortment of bizarre characters--some alive, some less so. The Frighteners marked the emergence of a heretofore relatively unknown filmmaker from New Zealand (Peter Jackson) into Hollywood, and the film thrives as a cult classic among many.
The Frighteners is a horror movie with a kind of manic, nervous current running through it, and with occasional moments of comedy and humor. It's like the feeling you get when you are so frightened that you sometimes uncontrollably start giggling. The Frighteners looks as though it were a bit peaked, as though experienced through the cold filter of death. Scenes which use wide-angle lenses and extreme angled perspectives give the film a distorted look, designed to disorient the audience. Several characters seem affected by varying degrees of hysteria. For example, Lucy's ill-fated husband, Ray (Peter Dobson), is an arrogant jerk--who also happens to be a health nut and Elvis enthusiast, although he can see Frank's confidence game for what it is. Both Patricia and her intimidating mother (Julianna McCarthy) are never seen outside of their claustrophobic, Addams Family-esque century home. This unsettling homestead is attached to the condemned psychiatric hospital where Johnny committed his bloody rampage, and where Patricia was reported as the "accessory after the fact". But arguably the pièce de résistance of complete wack-job characters would have to be the most unlikely of FBI agents, Milton Dammers, played with twisted aplomb by Jeffrey Combs. With his slight, Hitler-esque swoop of hair, his nervous fidgeting, his bug eyes, and his ubiquitous black, leather gloves, we know he's going to be straight Looney Tunes. Milton comes to Fairwater already convinced that there is no supernatural cause to the town's pain, short of his bizarre theory that Frank can kill with the power of his mind, and has been causing this chaos all by himself. Milton actually wears a lead breastplate to protect his heart from the presumed psychic powers of his would-be nemesis. Moments like this when Milton reveals his armor are so absurd as to be comical. And others--like when one character runs through the abandoned hospital with a flashlight strapped to a shotgun, cackling maniacally while firing shell after shell with reckless abandon--manage to deftly walk that line of outlandish and terrifying. This thrilling mix of black comedy and horror film makes The Frighteners a distinct and entertaining ghostly yarn.
Recommended for: Fans of a ghost story that mixes humor and terror, with an assortment of bizarre characters--some alive, some less so. The Frighteners marked the emergence of a heretofore relatively unknown filmmaker from New Zealand (Peter Jackson) into Hollywood, and the film thrives as a cult classic among many.