Ray Lynskey: “Oh, I’ve got the shakes now. I need some vitamin B.”
Frank Bannister: “You can’t take vitamins anymore. You don’t eat. You don’t drink. You don’t go to the bathroom. All that shit’s over with.”
A comedy tinged horror film, The Frighteners (1996) was actually the feature Peter Jackson co-wrote and directed right before moving onto The Lord of the Rings trilogy. . . and funnily enough, both The Fellowship of the Ring and today’s picture are celebrating worthy milestones this year – 25 and 30 years.
Co-written along with longtime writing partner Fran Walsh, the story follows Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox), who after suffering some memory loss after a car accident that killed his wife, now has the bizarre ability to see and communicate with the ghosts who have not ‘moved on’. A former architect who was building a large dream house for him and his wife, it now sits half finished as he focuses more on his ghoulish friends. . . who help prank unlucky individuals, after which Bannister usually gets a call looking for help to vanquish the spooks (quite the little scam of sorts).
As he continues to hang around with his unusual friends – Old West gunslinger The Judge (John Astin who played Gomez Addams in the original The Addams Family television show), 1970s gangster ghost Cyrus (Chi McBride), and 1950s geeky ghoul Stuart (Jim Fyfe), one racket they pull is on the obnoxious Ray (Peter Dobson) and his much more caring wife Lucy (Trini Alvarado). . . though as they do so, Bannister notices that Ray has a supernatural glowing number ‘37’ on his head – soon, he is oddly found dead.
Stumbling upon what seems to be a Grim Reaper killing specific people, it may all be interwoven with the spirit of serial killer Johnny Bartlett (Jake Busey – son of Gary) – a man who had the insane drive to become the most prolific killer in history along with his teenage lover Patricia Ann Bradley (Dee Wallace) – she still resides in a spooky home within her mother’s (Julianna McCarthy) custody.
As Lucy quickly turns to Bannister for answers after her husband’s death, the two find themselves embroiled in an occult mystery as the stalking Grim Reaper continues to kill off the townsfolk of their small city. With Sheriff Perry (Troy Evans – Ace Ventura: Pet Detective) perplexed, he soon finds himself under the thumb of teetering on the brink of insanity FBI Agent Milton Dammers (Jeffrey Combs – Frightmare) – who used to work undercover with occultists (perhaps why he is porting a Hitler like hairdo), he has somehow made up his mind that Bannister is to blame for everything. Might the ghost of the serial killer put to death years ago still be attempting to claim lives to achieve his sick goal? Can Bannister and Lucy help save the day before the harbinger of death keeps reaping new victims? Or, could the one track mind FBI Agent get in the way of Bannister saving the day?
Straddling the line between comedy and horror, Peter Jackson is clearly having fun in this creepy playground. Featuring a cameo from the director himself, he was also able to get R. Lee Ermey to resurrect a very similar ghost-like version of his drill sergeant in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket (1987), while he was also able to recruit Danny Elfman to concoct a playful score for the picture. It is also worth noting that Robert Zemeckis executive produced the feature, originally planning to direct the script by Jackson and Walsh. . . though he instead decided to let Jackson direct it himself.
Though never really taking off at the box office despite positive reviews, The Frighteners has instead become a cult classic over time thanks to its fun premise, solid cast, use of early computer generated effects, scale models, and practical effects – all of which helps make this concept come to vivid life. Funnily enough, Universal fell so in love with the movie they moved it up from an October release to July. . . making the effects team rush their work and never truly perfecting the look they wanted. Also keep an eye out for Melanie Lynskey – the co-star of Jackson’s previous film Heavenly Creatures (1994), who would go on to big television roles in things like Two and a Half Men and Yellowjackets in the United States. So, join the haunting of this 30th anniversary feature, it will have you seeing ghosts.