The famed director shows greater restraint with this horror comedy but still stays true to his slapstick roots.
Legendary Kiwi filmmaker Peter Jackson began his filmmaking career working on horror projects like Bad Taste and Dead Alive. From there, he went on to make the Oscar-nominated Heavenly Creatures. Following the success of Heavenly Creatures, the iconic director returned to the genre for one last hurrah with The Frighteners (which turns 26 this week). And a memorable return it was. The Frighteners is a departure from the director’s earliest efforts but it serves as the perfect bookend to Jackson’s horror period.
The Frighteners follows Frank Bannister, who has the gift of second sight. But rather than using his abilities for good, Frank preys on the recently bereaved, staging hauntings and then charging to cleanse the entities he introduced. When Frank learns of a series of unexplained deaths that initially look like heart attacks, he beings to suspect the ghost of a long-deceased serial killer is continuing his work from beyond the grave.
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This film really hits the ground running with an eventful cold open that gets right down to the supernatural mayhem without any context or explanation. And that sets the tone for the wild ride ahead. The Frighteners delivers chuckles and chills in equal measure, striking a similar tone to Ghostbusters (but with more death and racier humor). That approach makes this the perfect companion piece to Jackson’s earlier work. The Frighteners shows a certain evolution. But the spirit of Dead Alive remains intact. The Frighteners delivers the kind of slapstick antics fans of Jackson’s early work expect but shows incredible restraint when compared to the likes of Bad Taste.
Thankfully, the lack of viscera doesn’t put a damper on the proceedings. The Frighteners is every bit a Peter Jackson movie. It shows a certain amount of versatility, demonstrating that Jackson is capable of delighting horror fans with or without copious amounts of stage blood.
Tone and lack of gross-out gags aside, a large part of what makes this film work so well is Michael J. Fox’s turn as Frank Bannister. Frank is self-serving and shady. But Fox plays him with just enough charm to keep Frank from being insufferable. In fact, the iconic actor’s performance actually makes Frank kind of impossible not to like. On paper, he sounds like a bit of a creep and in less capable hands may have been. But Fox’s charisma makes Frank a suitable protagonist.
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The Frighteners also boasts a pretty great supporting cast that includes a couple of genre film icons. Jeffrey Combs who is nearly unrecognizable in his scenery-chewing turn as a dogged lawman is over-the-top in all the right ways, providing some well-timed comic relief and serving as something of a secondary antagonist that believes Frank is responsible for the rash of unexplained deaths.
Dee Wallace also appears in a memorable turn as a woman who was once mixed up with the central antagonist. She, too, is nearly unrecognizable here, appearing almost mousey and timid until her character comes out of her shell and goes off the rails in the third act.
My only criticism is that the digital effects used in The Frighteners haven’t aged that well. With steady advancements in CG effects over the years, the VFX have started to look a little dodgy by today’s standards. However, that’s a very minor critique and nothing that could have been easily foreseen.
All-in-all, The Frighteners is a riotous good time, which serves as the perfect bookend to Jackson’s early horror period. Hopefully it won’t be long before the director returns to his roots and turns out another horror project.
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