"The Frighteners" (1996) (The Frighteners (DVD))

Member Name: jbsabbath

Product:	The Frighteners (DVD)
Date:	20/12/08 (134 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Michael J Fox, great characters, excellent mix of comedy and horror

Disadvantages: Stale performance from Trini Alvarado, a little too dark in places

Frank Bannister (Michael J. Fox) is a man with a troubled past.

After the traumatic experience of a car crash that left his wife dead, his perception was knocked sideways, allowing him to see all of the ghosts of lost souls caught on Earth who missed their chance to go to Heaven.

But to build his dream home he needs money, and the best way to do that is to offer up his paranormal gift for a price.

In cahoots with a trio of mixed-bag ghouls, including rickety old cowboy the Judge (John Astin), 70s throwback Cyrus (Chi McBride), and young 50s geek Stuart (Jim Fyfe), Bannister sets them the task of haunting a particular house and leaving his business card on the table for the spooked family to conveniently find.

In true Venkman style, he turns up with his gear, spouts some long-winded paranormal nonsence, sprays on some Holy water and pockets the cash.

This is all well and good until the local press pick up on his frequent trips to graveyards and funerals to promote his trade and brand him a hoax.

Meanwhile, a series of unexplained deaths are troubling the town, where apparently healthy individuals are dropping dead from heart failure, and word is spreading through the ghosts and ghouls that the Grim Reaper itself is on the loose.

After a number of unfortunate chances of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Bannister is suspected of being the killer by the convinced FBI worm Milton Dammers (Jeffrey Combs) and the sceptical Sheriff Walt (Troy Evans).

With the help of Dr. Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado), Bannister must try to solve the mystery of the Grim Reaper's killings as well as keep out of the FBI's hands, but who is the strange Special Agent Dammers and what does this all have to do with the mass-murder many years previously of the executed serial killer Johnny Bartlett (Jake Busey)?

Directed by Peter Jackson ("Braindead", "The Lord of the Rings", "King Kong") and produced by Robert Zemeckis ("Back to the Future", "Forrest Gump", "Contact"), "The Frighteners" is a dark horror-comedy that combines "Ghostbusters" fun with a true sense of terror.

This able combination of themes and ideas seems quite strange at first, and from one viewpoint it might appear to be a little disjoint (it certainly was for the censors), but the transition is actually very fluid and the fast-paced action keeps the story pumping along nicely.

And it's a good story too, utilising everything at its disposal, with solid performances to back it up.

It's always been good to see Michael J. Fox in starring roles, especially since his semi-retirement from acting in 2000 due to his suffering from Parkinson's disease, as he was always a class act, especially with his performances in the "Back to the Future" trilogy and the excellent Vietnam flick "Casualties of War" alongside Sean Penn.

In "The Frighteners" he plays on his physical comedy side, creating a dominating, trench-coat wearing character, regardless of his short height, and he brings a lot of nice quirky mannerisms to the role of Frank Bannister that make him quite loveable.

However, he comes across as a little too quirky to really be a romantic lead contender opposite Trini Alvarado's Lucy, whose frazzled-hair no-nonsense approach is a little stale and very much overshadowed by all the other characters in the film.

The villainous Jake Busey as Johnny Bartlett contrasts nicely with Fox's Bannister, offering a wide-grinning maniac with a loaded shotgun, who, continuing the "Back to the Future" links, reminded me a lot of Thomas F. Wilson's Biff Tannen with a homicidal streak.

Alongside girlfriend Patricia Bradley (Dee Wallace), they make quite a frightening pair.

Back long ago when I first caught this flick (probably some ten years ago now), I always found the trio of friendly ghosts: the Judge (John Astin), Cyrus (Chi McBride) and Stuart (Jim Fyfe), to be one of the most enjoyable elements of the film, from their witty banter and complete contrasting personalities, to their interaction with the modern-day world, from Cyrus and Stuart swinging young babies around a room to the Judge's romp with an Egyptian mummy.

"I like it when they lie still like that."

To top it all is the scarily over-the-top performance of the brilliant Jeffrey Combs as the horrible FBI agent Milton Dammers.

With slick-back hair, pale skin and black leather gloves, this carefully spoken, wide-eyed, abused young man steals his scenes with hammy relish, adding an almost perverse pleasure to the proceedings with his overly sly grin and calculated tone.

Known for his horror-movie personas, he is probably most memorable as the lead in "Re-Animator" and its sequels, as well as his many characters in Star Trek's "Deep Space Nine", "Voyager" and "Enterprise".

As per usual, there is Peter Jackson's directorial trademark of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo from himself, as well as a couple of great scenes of R. Lee Ermey as "Full Metal Jacket"'s Gny. Sgt. Hartman-like Sgt. Hiles, graveyard ghost, drill sergeant and protector.

With so many excellent pieces, and some great direction from Jackson, "The Frighteners" is very much a cult VHS favourite that works on many different levels.

Of course, the movie is now over 12 years old, and the CGI looks a bit fishy when compared with some more recent movies, but at the time it was top notch and it is certainly never overused or unneeded.

In fact, this is very much like the "Ghostbusters III" we never got, but with a darker, more evil twist that uses the serial killer storyline to full effect, so be prepared for genuine moments of blood, action and terror, interspersed with moments of tongue-in-cheek humour and one-liners.

Ultimately, this is a movie that is having lots of fun while being dark at the same time, and although it doesn't feel perfect, it's very difficult to find any faults with it.

We even get "Don't Fear the Reaper" to sing us out!

Certainly, this is one of Peter Jackson's 'lost' movies, made in-between his gut-slushing horrors of "Bad Taste" and "Braindead", and the big-budget epics of "The Lord of the Rings" and "King Kong", but it shouldn't be forgotten or ignored.

If you haven't checked it out, it's at least worth a rental or the trouble of catching it on telly.

[The DVD can be purchased from play.com for £3.99 including postage and packing (at time of writing). The DVD includes a trailer and some film-making notes.]

Summary: A fun-filled Peter Jackson-directed horror-comedy with dark undertones