THE FRIGHTENERS: Who Ya Gonna Call?

RETRO REVIEW

In one decade, Peter Jackson has gone from a little known New Zealand director of gory, scary (but with a dark twisted sense of humor) films to one of the living legends of modern filmmaking alongside Steven Spielberg. Of course, everyone knows him from his beloved Lord of the Rings films which have become Oscar-winning epics. In between those films and his ongoing Hobbit two-parter project he's directed two films -- King Kong and The Lovely Bones -- and produced another, the upcoming The Adventures of Tintin. However, there is one of his previous films that I don't think gets the fandom it deserves. That is The Frighteners.


On the surface, I can see how the one-sentence concept would sound like a rip-off of Ghostbusters: a man, specializing in professional paranormal investigations and eliminations, goes around ridding ghosts out of people's houses but gets caught up in a case that puts him way over his head. However, this film has enough new and interesting ideas that it can easily differentiate itself from its more popular American cousin. For example, all the ghosts in The Frighteners are human or human-like rather than gruesome creatures as in Ghostbusters. All the technological whizbangery that Dan Aykroyd loves to write so much for Dr. Ray Stantz to use is nowhere to be found in The Frighteners.

The movie is centered around Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox, in his final live-action feature film performance) as a shady guy who runs a ghost-removal/psychic-communication business. The locals in this small, American town hate him vehemently, mostly because he goes around funerals and hands out business cards. However, a local doctor named Lucy Lynsky (Trini Alvarado) starts to believe him when unseen ghosts infest her house. Calling him in a panic, Frank arrives and using what looks like a toaster eradicates the invisible ghosts. However, her sports-nut husband, Ray, (Peter Dobson) thinks he is nothing but a con artist and demands he leave his house. Before leaving, Frank spots what looks like a number 13 carved into his forehead. As Frank arrives home, it is clear that Ray is somewhat correct. The ghosts that haunted the Lynsky house actually work for Frank (who, after a car accident, can see and hear ghosts), scaring people in the houses so they call him up and he can charge an exuberant fee. The three friendly ghosts that live with him are '50s nerd Stuart (Jim Fyfe), '70s pimp Cyrus (Chi McBride) and an Old West gunslinger known only as the Judge (John Astin; famous for playing "Gomez Addams" in "The Addams Family", his son Sean was cast by Jackson as Sam in The Lord of the Rings).

However, Frank and the town of Fairweather are about to be haunted by a not-so-friendly ghost. The next morning, Frank discovers that Ray is now a ghost. Ray tells him that the last thing he remembers was feeling his heart being crushed. Because he was the last person to see Ray alive, the local sheriff (Troy Evans) targets Frank as the prime suspect. Later, at a group "seance" with Lucy and Ray, Frank stumbles upon the true murderer, a ghost that takes on the appearance of the Grim Reaper (called in the movie "The Soul Collector"). The Collector has been killing people with the intent of pinning the crimes on him. Frank has to team up with Stuart, Cyrus and the Judge, keep Lucy safe, face not only his tragic past but Fairweather's, and -- most importantly -- stay alive.

"'Go ahead. Make my day.'"

This was Michael J. Fox's final live-action feature film starring role; he has since moved to guest-starring on TV dramas and animated films (including one of my all-time favorite Disney films, Atlantis: The Lost Empire). What better film to end his feature film career on (thank God it wasn't The Secret of My Success)? Not to mention, it was Peter Jackson's first film to get a wide American audience. Unfortunately it was released the same weekend as the opening of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, but the film was picked up on VHS/DVD. It also introduced the world to WETA Digital, the New Zealand effects company that rivals Industrial Light and Magic for imagination domination. The effects that began in The Frighteners led to use in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, King Kong, The Lovely Bones, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and the upcoming The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn. Fox was joined by his Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis (credited as executive producer), who brought his own special effects team (after they had made a similar film Death Becomes Her) to help with WETA.

"Doc? Doc, is that you?"

All in all, The Frighteners is a scary yet silly film. Michael J. Fox stepped out of the box to play in a genre he hadn't before: horror. It wasn't given much notice at the time of its theatrical release, but like its ghoulish inhabitants, it came back from the dead as an example of the genius of Peter Jackson.