The Frighteners

For the Matt Helm spy novel by Donald Hamilton, see The Frighteners (novel).

The Frighteners
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Jackson
Produced by	Peter Jackson Jamie Selkirk Robert Zemeckis
Written by	Fran Walsh Peter Jackson
Starring	Michael J. Fox Trini Alvarado Peter Dobson John Astin Dee Wallace Stone Jeffrey Combs Jake Busey
Music by	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	John Blick Alun Bollinger
Editing by	Jamie Selkirk
Studio	WingNut Films
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	July 19, 1996 (1996-07-19)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States New Zealand
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$29,359,216

The Frighteners is a 1996 comedy horror film directed by Peter Jackson and co-written with his wife, Fran Walsh. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Dee Wallace Stone, Jeffrey Combs and Jake Busey. The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister (Fox), an architect who develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts after his wife's murder. He initially uses his new abilities to work with various spirits to cheat money out of customers for his "ghosthunting" business. However, the spirit of a mass murderer comes back from Hell, able to attack the living and the dead, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence.

Jackson and Walsh conceived the idea for The Frighteners during the scriptwriting phase of Heavenly Creatures. Robert Zemeckis hired the duo to write the script, with the original intention of Zemeckis directing The Frighteners as a spin-off film of the television series, Tales from the Crypt. With Jackson and Walsh's first draft submitted in January 1994, Zemeckis believed the film would be better off directed by Jackson, produced by Zemeckis and funded/distributed by Universal Pictures. The visual effects were created by Jackson's Weta Digital, which had only been in existence for three years. This, plus the fact that The Frighteners required more digital effects shots than almost any movie made up until that time, resulted in the eighteen-month period for effects work by Weta Digital being largely stressed.

Despite a rushed post-production schedule, Universal Pictures was so impressed with Jackson's rough cut on The Frighteners, the studio moved the theatrical release date closer by four months. The film was not a box office success, but received generally positive reviews from critics. The Frighteners is also Michael J. Fox's last leading role in a live-action feature film; Fox then went on to a four-year run on the television series Spin City before semi-retiring in 2000 due to the effects of Parkinson's disease.

Plot

In 1990, architect Frank Bannister loses his wife, Debra, in a car accident. He gives up his profession, letting his unfinished "dream house" sit incomplete for years. Following the accident, Frank gains the power to see ghosts and befriends three: a 1970s gangster named Cyrus, a 1950s nerd named Stuart and a gunslinger from the Old West called the Judge. Cyrus, Stuart and the Judge haunt houses in the area to accumulate work for Frank's ghostbusting business; Frank then "exorcises" the houses for a fee, even though he is depicted by locals as a con man. Five years later, Dr. Lucy Lynskey summons Frank, who recently conned her and her husband Ray. Frank discovers that Ray has been killed (just after he left), and an encounter with his ghost leads Frank to discover that an entity resembling the Grim Reaper is killing people and marking numbers on their foreheads that only the psychic can see.

Frank tries helping the people whom the Reaper is targeting because his wife Debra died with a similar number, 13, carved into her forehead. Because Frank can see the numbers ahead of time he can foretell the murders, but this puts him under suspicion with the police and FBI agent Milton Dammers. Highly anal and disturbed from years of undercover work, Dammers is convinced that Frank is responsible for the killings, using some sort of psychic power to stop the hearts of those he subconsciously wishes dead while creating the visage of the Grim Reaper to absolve himself of guilt. Frank is captured and detained after the town's newspaper editor, Madga, who despised Frank's reputation, is killed. While Frank is being detained, Lucy begins to investigate the murders and becomes a target of the Reaper. She is attacked while visiting Frank in jail, but they the manage to escape with the help of Cyrus and Stuart, who are both killed in the process. Frustrated by his inability to fight the Reaper in a mortal body, Frank wants to commit suicide so he can stop the Reaper's killing spree. Instead, Lucy helps Frank have a near death experience by entering hypothermia and using barbiturates to stop his heart. Dammers abducts Lucy, then confesses that he had been a victim of Charles Manson and his "Family" in 1969. Frank appears to come to Lucy's aid. In his ghostly form, Frank confronts the Reaper and discovers that the killer is the ghost of Johnny Bartlett, a hospital orderly who killed 12 people in a killing spree 32 years ago, seeking to achieve the world record for serial killer victims, then died in the electric chair.

Frank reveals Bartlett's true form, but his spirit is forced back into his body by Lucy resuscitating him. After learning the Reaper's identity, Lucy worries that Patricia will become one of Bartlett's targets. She goes to Patricia's house and discovers that Patricia is on friendly terms with Bartlett's ghost, who tells her to kill Lucy. Patricia kills her mother and tries to kill Lucy, but Frank rescues her. Lucy and Frank trap Bartlett's spirit in his urn, which they find in Patricia's room. Hoping to take the ashes to holy ground, they run for the chapel of the now-abandoned psychiatric hospital to send Bartlett's ghost to Hell. Frank realizes that this is the hospital where the original crimes were committed, helplessly reliving the events of Bartlett's killing spree in flashback visions, while Patricia, armed with a shotgun, and Dammers chase them through the ruins. Dammers throws the ashes away, releasing Bartlett's ghost again before his head is blown off by Patricia. Bartlett's ghost and Patricia hunt down Frank and Lucy. Frank realizes that Bartlett's ghost drove the two off the road and killed Frank's wife. Patricia used Frank's utility knife to cut the number into her forehead.

Out of bullets, Patricia strangles Frank with the shotgun, then prepares to kill Lucy. Frank's spirit, however, returns and rips Patricia's spirit from her body, dragging her up the Corridor of Life (the passage to Heaven) with him. Bartlett grabs Patricia's ghost, while Frank makes it to Heaven, where he's reunited with Cyrus and Stuart. The three watch as Bartlett and Patricia's spirits are dragged to Hell. After meeting Debra's spirit, Frank learns it is not yet his time and is sent back to his body (Cyrus tells him to start living and Debra asks him to be happy), waking up in Lucy's arms. Frank and Lucy fall in love, and due to her experiences, Lucy can now see ghosts as well. Frank returns to being an architect, demolishing the dream house for his wife that he never finished and building a life with Lucy. As for Dammers, he is a spirit, riding around in the back of Sheriff Walt Perry's car.

Cast

• Michael J. Fox as Frank Bannister: Although Jackson and Walsh envisioned The Frighteners as a low budget film with unknown actors, Zemeckis suggested casting his Back to the Future star Michael J. Fox in the lead role. Fox became enthusiastic about working with Jackson when he saw Heavenly Creatures at the Toronto International Film Festival. Fox read the script and was impressed by its "weirdness and macabre" nature.
• Trini Alvarado as Dr. Lucy Lynskey: The character is named after Heavenly Creatures star Melanie Lynskey, who also cameos in The Frighteners.
• Peter Dobson as Ray Lynskey: Lucy's health-obsessed and comically hot-headed husband who dislikes Frank's tactics.
• John Astin as The Judge: Jackson went on to cast John's son Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings.
• Jeffrey Combs as Special Agent Milton Dammers: Eccentric FBI agent who has a vendetta against Bannister. He is a former undercover agent known for his work with cultists, which caused him to sustain multiple massive mutilations and driven to the brink of insanity. Jackson opted to cast Combs as Dammers because he was a fan of the actor's work in Re-Animator.
• Dee Wallace as Patricia Ann Bradley: Barlett's mentally ill lover- escaping execution at the time of the original murders as she was underage- who is under strict observance from her elderly mother.
• Jake Busey as Johnny Charles Bartlett: Mass murderer who continues his work in the afterlife, focusing on increasing his body count as a form of competition with other famous murderers.
• Chi McBride and Jim Fyfe as Cyrus and Stuart: Frank's deceased associates for his ghosthunting business.
• Troy Evans as Sheriff Walt Perry: Local law enforcement officer and ally to Frank.
• Julianna McCarthy as Old Lady Bradley: Patricia's elderly and obsessed mother and former director of the psychiatric hospital.
• Elizabeth Hawthorne as Magda Rees-Jones: A snooty British local television news anchor.
• Angela Bloomfield as Debra Bannister: Frank's deceased wife.

Peter Jackson cameos as a man with piercings. Melanie Lynskey cameos as a deputy. R. Lee Ermey cameos as the Ghost of Sgt. Hiles.

Development

Peter Jackson and wife/co-writer Fran Walsh conceived the idea for The Frighteners in 1992, during the scriptwriting phase of Heavenly Creatures. Together, they wrote a three-page film treatment and sent it to their talent agent in Hollywood. Robert Zemeckis viewed their treatment with the intention of directing The Frighteners as a spin-off film of the television series, Tales from the Crypt (which he helped produce). Zemeckis hired Jackson and Walsh to turn their treatment into a full-length screenplay in January 1993. The husband and wife duo completed their first draft for The Frighteners in early-January 1994. Zemeckis was so impressed with their script, he decided The Frighteners would work better directed by Jackson, executive produced by Zemeckis and funded/distributed by Universal Pictures. Universal greenlighted the film to commence pre-production on a $26 million budget in April 1994. The studio also granted Jackson and Zemeckis total artistic control and the right of final cut privilege.

Production

The decision to film The Frighteners entirely in New Zealand was Jackson's idea. Zemeckis and Universal agreed on the condition that Jackson made New Zealand look similar to the Midwestern United States. Principal photography began on May 14, 1995 and lasted until November 16, which is one of the longest shooting schedules Universal Pictures ever approved of. Six weeks into the shoot, cinematographer Alun Bollinger had a serious car accident. His replacement, John Blick, later alternated duties with Bollinger for much of the rest of the shoot. Location shooting primarily included Wellington and three weeks spent in Lyttelton. Interior scenes were compiled at Camperdown Studios in Miramar.

Visual effects

Jackson's Weta Digital created the visual effects, which included computer-generated imagery, as well as scale models (which were necessary to make Wellington look American), prosthetic makeup and practical effects with help from Weta Workshop. Visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor explained that effects work on The Frighteners was complex due to Weta's inexperience with computer technology in the mid-1990s. Prior to this film, Weta worked largely with physical effects. With so many ghosts among its main cast, The Frighteners required more digital effects shots than almost any movie made up till that time. For a special effects company that had been in existence less than three years, the eighteen-month period for completing The Frighteners was largely stressful. Some shots were handled by a small New Zealand company called Pixel Perfect, many of whose employees would eventually join Weta Digital. Rick Baker was hired to design the prosthetic makeup for The Judge, portrayed by John Astin (the detachable jawbone was later added digitally). However, Baker was not able to apply Astin's five hours of makeup himself due to his commitment on The Nutty Professor. Makeup artist Brian Penikas (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) fulfilled Baker's duties.

The extended shooting schedule for The Frighteners owed much to the fact that scenes where ghosts and human characters interacted had to be filmed twice; once with human characters acting on set, and then with the ghost characters acting against a blue screen. The two elements would later be digitally composited into one shot with the use of split screen photography. Such sequences required precise timing from the cast as they traded dialogue with characters who were merely blank air. The hardest challenge for the digital animators at Weta was creating the Grim Reaper, which went through many transformations before finding physical form. "We set out with the intention of doing the Reaper as a rod puppet, maybe shooting it in a water tank," Jackson commented. "We even thought of filming someone, dressed in costume, at different camera speeds." Test footage was shot with puppets and a man in a Reaper suit, but in the end, it was decided that using computer animation would be the easiest task. Another entirely computerized character called "the Gatekeeper", a winged cherub who helps guard the cemetery, was deleted from the final cut.

With digital effects work running behind schedule, producer Robert Zemeckis convinced Wes Takahashi (from George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic) to help work on The Frighteners. "The shots Zemeckis showed me were pretty remarkable," Takahashi reflected, "but there were still about 400 shots to do, and everyone was kind of worried." Takahashi was quickly drafted as a visual effects supervisor, and began looking at the schedule, trying to work out whether The Frighteners could be finished in time. "There was no way we'd make the deadline. I figured out a concerted plan involving Jackson and Zemeckis to convince Universal it was worthy of asking for more money." The executives at Universal proposed splitting some of the shots to visual effects companies in the United States, but Jackson, for whom the film was a chance to show New Zealand filmmaking could stand alongside Hollywood, convinced Universal otherwise. Instead, The Frighteners received an accelerated release date, four months earlier than planned, and an additional $6 million in financing, with fifteen digital animators and computer workstations (some were borrowed from Universal and other effects companies in the US). Andrew Adamson was hired as a digital effects supervisor.

Soundtrack

The Frighteners
Soundtrack album by Danny Elfman
Released	July 19, 1996
Genre	Film score
Length	41:14
Label	Universal
Professional reviews
The reviews parameter has been deprecated. Please move reviews into the “Reception” section of the article. See Moving reviews into article space. Allmusic link Filmtracks link
Danny Elfman chronology
Black Beauty (1994) The Frighteners (1996) Men in Black (1997)

The film score was written and composed by Danny Elfman. It was released in 1996 on cassette and compact disc by Universal Records. The closing credits play "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", written by Buck Dharma and performed by New Zealand alternative rock band The Mutton Birds. The Mutton Birds version of the song had been previously released as a B-side to their single "She's Been Talking" released in 1996.

Critical reception of the soundtrack was average. Jason Ankeny of album database Allmusic described the soundtrack as "imaginative" giving it three stars out of five. This was a lower rating on the site then Elfman's other scores of the era, such as Mission: Impossible, Mars Attacks! and Flubber. The soundtrack review website Filmtracks referred to the album as "lacking much cohesion or singular creativity".

Track Listing

All songs written and composed by Danny Elfman. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Lads"	2:00
2.	"Poltergeists"	2:05
3.	"Victim #38"	1:52
4.	"Who's Next?"	1:39
5.	"The Garden"	3:08
6.	"Chilly"	1:29
7.	"Time"	4:41
8.	"Patty's Place"	2:12
9.	"Flashbacks"	1:07
10.	"Patty Attack"	3:04
11.	"Frank's Wife"	0:50
12.	"Doom"	3:08
13.	"Heaven"	1:46

Release

The original release date was October 31, 1996, but after Universal studio executives viewed a rough cut of The Frighteners, they were impressed enough to move the release date to their "summer blockbuster slot" on July 19, 1996. In addition, Universal offered the filmmaker the opportunity to make King Kong, which was not released until 2005. Jackson often disputed over the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) over the film's rating. Aware that he was meant to be delivering Universal a PG-13 rating, Jackson tried his best to omit the amount of graphic violence as much as possible, but the MPAA still believed The Frighteners deserved an R rating.

Box office

The Frighteners was released in the United States in 1,675 theaters, earning $5,565,495 during its opening weekend. The film eventually grossed $16,759,216 in the United States and $12,600,000 internationally, coming to a worldwide total of $29,359,216. The Frighteners was not a financial success, mostly due to competition from Independence Day, In later interviews taken years after The Frighteners' release, Jackson commented he was disappointed by Universal's ubiquitous marketing campaign, including a poster which "didn't tell you anything about the picture", which he believed was the primary reason the film was not a financial success. Additionally, the film opened on the same day the Atlanta Summer Olympics began; when Jackson realized this and told the studio, they answered "'We don't think so; our research indicates that's not the case...' And I just thought how the hell do they know? There had only ever been three Olympic Games held in the United States in one hundred years!'" Jackson acknowledged The Frighteners' tone made it hard to pigeon-hole and sell, and his experience on the film made him understand the importance of marketing.

Critical reception

Jackson received two Saturn Award nominations.

The Frighteners received generally positive reviews from film critics. As of December 2011, 69% of the 28 reviewers selected by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a positive review, certifying it "Fresh."

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times stated "Director Peter Jackson, at home with all kinds of excess in New Zealand, keeps everything spinning nicely, not even losing a step when the mood turns increasingly disturbing." Janet Maslin from The New York Times enjoyed The Frighteners, but "walked out the theater with mixed emotions," she commented that "Peter Jackson deserves more enthusiasm for expert, imaginative effects than for his live actors anyhow. These lively touches would leave The Frighteners looking more like a more frantic Beetlejuice if Jackson's film weren't so wearyingly overcrowded. The Frighteners is not immune to overkill, even though most of its characters are already dead." Jeff Vice of Deseret News praised the acting in the film, with the performances of Fox and Alvarado in particular, but said that there were also "bits that push the taste barrier too far and which grind things to a screeching halt", and that if "Jackson had used the restraint he showed in Heavenly Creatures, the movie could have "been the best of its kind". Critic Christopher Null praised the film, as he described it as a mixture between Ghostbusters and Twin Peaks. Michael Drucker of IGN said that although the film wouldn't make Jackson's top five of movies, it "is a harmless and fun dark comedy that you'll enjoy casually watching from time to time". The Frighteners received mixed reviews from critics from Jackson's native country, New Zealand.

Conversely, Todd McCarthy of Variety thought that the movie should have remained an episode of Tales from the Crypt. Critic James Berardinelli believed that although The Frighteners wasn't "a bad film", it was "a disappointment, following Jackson's powerful, true-life matricide tale, Heavenly Creatures", and because of that "The Frighteners fell short of expectations by being just one of many in the long line of 1996 summer movies." Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert, felt that Jackson was more interested in prosthetic makeup designs, computer animation and special effects than writing a cohesive storyline. Ebert and critic Gene Siskel gave it a "two thumbs down" rating on their TV show At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Chicago Reader critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, described the film's special effects as "ugly, aggressive" and "proliferating", saying that "trying to keep interested in [the special effects] was like trying to remain interested in a loudmouth shouting in [his] ear". Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that "instead of moving the horror genre in new directions, The Frighteners simply falls apart from its barrage of visual effects and the overmixed onslaught of Danny Elfman's music score". The Austin Chronicle's Joey O'Brien, said that although the screenplay was "practically loaded with wild ideas, knowingly campy dialogue and offbeat characterizations", it "switched gears" too fast and too frequently that "the audience is left struggling to catch up as [The Frighteners] twists and turns its way unmercifully towards a literally out-of-its-words finale".

At the 23rd Saturn Awards, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films honored Jackson with nominations for Best Direction and Best Writing, the latter he shared with wife Fran Walsh. The Frighteners also was nominated the Saturn Award for Best Horror Film, and for its Special Effects, Make-up (Rick Baker) and Music (Danny Elfman). Michael J. Fox and Jeffrey Combs were also nominated for their work.

Home media

The Frighteners was first released on DVD in August 1998, but included no special features. To coincide with the release of Jackson's King Kong, Universal Studios Home Entertainment issued a double-sided director's cut DVD of the film in November 2005, which featured a version of The Frighteners that was 14 minutes longer. The other side includes a documentary prepared by Jackson and Wing Nut Films originally for the Laserdisc release. The director's cut was also made available in HD DVD and Blu-Ray.

References

Further reading

• Michael Jahn (July 1996). The Frighteners: A Novel. Novelization of the film. Berkley Books. ISBN 978-1572971875. 

External links

• The Frighteners at the Internet Movie Database
• The Frighteners at AllRovi
• The Frighteners at Box Office Mojo
• The Frighteners at Rotten Tomatoes
• Richard Corliss (2004-04-26). "The 2004 Time 100: Peter Jackson". Time. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1970858_1970890_1971159,00.html.