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yendiThe Frighteners. 1996. Directed by Peter Jackson. Written by Jackson and Fran Walsh. Distributed by Universal.
Today, we're looking at a classic horror movie of the '90s that is conveys the message that love never dies.
No, I'm not talking about the 1992 abomination that Francis Ford Coppola foisted upon us with that tagline. I'm talking about Peter Jackson's criminally overlooked 1996 masterpiece, The Frighteners.
We'll stick to a quicker synopsis for this one. If I tried for a complete one, it would run upwards of 10K words
After an initial Exorcist-style sequence in which we see a woman attacked from beyond before her elderly mother comes to the rescue with a shotgun, we meet (or at least learn about) various characters:
Former architect Frank Bannister lost his wife in a tragic car accident years ago. He is now capable of seeing ghosts, and has become the ghostbusting equivalent of an ambulance chaser. He shows up to funerals to pitch his business, and has some friendly ghosts he knows create "hauntings" that he can dispel.
Psychiatrist Lucy Lynskey is one of the people that Bannister "rescues" from a staged haunting. She lives with her annoying workout-obsessed husband Ray, and it's seeing the ghostly number 37 on Ray's forehead that alerts Frank to the fact that something is very wrong.
You see, Frank's late wife Debra had one of those same numbers on her head after the accident.
And, before the accident, those numbers had been the hallmark of a serial killer named Johnny Bartlett, who went on a spree and also kidnapped a little girl named Patricia who, as an adult, was the hauntee in the opening scene. The latter is living with her mother, who makes Piper Laurie in Carrie look like a '60s hippie.
Oh, and let's not forget bizarre federal agent Milton Dammers, a man fifteen steps past Fox Mulder on the side of crazy.
Back to the plot:
Frank realizes that he can see those numbers on people's foreheads shortly before they die, and as he starts to track down these supernatural murders (which, to outsiders, appear to be heart attacks), his proximity to the victims, as well as Agent Dammers's suggestions that Frank might have deliberately killed his wife, lands him in jail, even though he's the only person who can see the ghostly Grim Reaper that's actually responsible for the crimes*. It probably doesn't help that he kidnaps the local newspaper editor shortly before the Reaper kills her.
New widow Lucy, who has been visiting the house of Patricia and her mom, has figured out that something is up with them, and goes to visit Frank in jail, where they're both attacked by the Reaper (although Lucy, not being gifted with second sight, only sees some strange objects moving about). In the process. Frank's ghostly buddies die, and the heroes hatch a plan to put Frank into a state of near-death**. In his ghostly state, he's able to fight the Reaper, revealing that the Reaper is really Bartlett.
When Frank is brought back to life, he reveals what he learned, and while Frank recuperates, Lucy heads out to warn Patricia that she might be in trouble. Alas, it turns out that Patricia developed a nasty case of Stockholm Syndrome, and was actually Bartlett's accomplice on the murder spree when she was supposedly kidnapped! Of course, Lucy only realizes this when she finds the mutilated body of Patricia's mother.
Frank shows up, and in the course of their epic battle, Lucy nearly dies, and Frank sacrifices his life to dispatch Patricia and Bartlett. We see them descend to hell admidst some glorious special effects (including snakes popping into their skulls), while Frank's late wife greets him up in Heaven and tells him that he needs to go back to earth and live out his life. We cut to the present day, where we learn that Lucy, too, has gained the power to see the undead. Cue the inevitable cover of "Don't Fear the Reaper" as we cut to the credits.
Why so short a plot outline for so good a movie? Because you deserve to watch everything unfold. There are few wasted moments in this movie, and no wasted characters. And it's the characters that make this movie work so well. Consider minor characters like the ghosts. We have elderly ghost The Judge (played so well by the original Gomez Addams, John Astin), about to have undead sex with a mummy, "seduce" her with the line, "there's a reason they call me the 'hanging judge.'" R. Lee Ermey, as Sergeant Hiles (the commander of the graveyard) plays the same role he always plays, which is great for laughts. Then there's the younger ghosts. Cyrus (a tough ghost with a huge afro, played by Chi McBride) and Stuart, both of whom start as standard comic relief, sacrifice their "lives" to save their living friend from the Reaper.
As for the main cast of characters, Michael J. Fox gives one of his best performances here, showing that he was capable of a lot more than the basic teen and post-teen comedy most writers and directors stuck him with before his retirement. Trini Alvarado (who has also all but vanished from the big screen, sadly) is wonderfully believable and attractive as Lucy. And Dee Wallace Stone and Jake Bussey are a great pair of villains.
But Jeffrey Combs positively steals this movie. As Agent Dammers, he brings to life one of the best on-screen lunatic I can recall in ages. Combs tosses out lines like, "I'm an asshole with an uzi" with relish, and energizes every scene he's featured in.
Jackson and writing partner Fran Walsh also bring a ton of humanity to what could have been a very slight script. With the twists and turns of the plot, as well as the humor throughout the movie, they still manage to tell a very moving story about a man coping with the loss of his wife, and his need to move on with his life. Jackson, as always, is on target as a director as well, putting out the complex layers of his story in a manner than never gets half as confusing as it could have been.
The special effects, as with any Jackson movie, are top notch (and have aged well), and the score is by Danny Elfman, which is all I really need to say there.
The fact that The Frighteners is often overloooked (and was out of print on DVD for ages) is tragic. It was the first film Jackson made for a Hollywood studio, and it showcases his transition from smaller films to the big budget epics he's become known for. The Frighteners seems like a perfect merger of his earlier indie/horror concepts and the blockbusters he's churned out in recent years. Fans of either of Jackson's styles should check this one out.
*74 words in that sentence! I'll catch up to you yet, William Faulkner!
**Yes, just like Flatliners. Only with 100% less Billy Baldwin.
Today, we're looking at a classic horror movie of the '90s that is conveys the message that love never dies.
No, I'm not talking about the 1992 abomination that Francis Ford Coppola foisted upon us with that tagline. I'm talking about Peter Jackson's criminally overlooked 1996 masterpiece, The Frighteners.
We'll stick to a quicker synopsis for this one. If I tried for a complete one, it would run upwards of 10K words
After an initial Exorcist-style sequence in which we see a woman attacked from beyond before her elderly mother comes to the rescue with a shotgun, we meet (or at least learn about) various characters:
Former architect Frank Bannister lost his wife in a tragic car accident years ago. He is now capable of seeing ghosts, and has become the ghostbusting equivalent of an ambulance chaser. He shows up to funerals to pitch his business, and has some friendly ghosts he knows create "hauntings" that he can dispel.
Psychiatrist Lucy Lynskey is one of the people that Bannister "rescues" from a staged haunting. She lives with her annoying workout-obsessed husband Ray, and it's seeing the ghostly number 37 on Ray's forehead that alerts Frank to the fact that something is very wrong.
You see, Frank's late wife Debra had one of those same numbers on her head after the accident.
And, before the accident, those numbers had been the hallmark of a serial killer named Johnny Bartlett, who went on a spree and also kidnapped a little girl named Patricia who, as an adult, was the hauntee in the opening scene. The latter is living with her mother, who makes Piper Laurie in Carrie look like a '60s hippie.
Oh, and let's not forget bizarre federal agent Milton Dammers, a man fifteen steps past Fox Mulder on the side of crazy.
Back to the plot:
Frank realizes that he can see those numbers on people's foreheads shortly before they die, and as he starts to track down these supernatural murders (which, to outsiders, appear to be heart attacks), his proximity to the victims, as well as Agent Dammers's suggestions that Frank might have deliberately killed his wife, lands him in jail, even though he's the only person who can see the ghostly Grim Reaper that's actually responsible for the crimes*. It probably doesn't help that he kidnaps the local newspaper editor shortly before the Reaper kills her.
New widow Lucy, who has been visiting the house of Patricia and her mom, has figured out that something is up with them, and goes to visit Frank in jail, where they're both attacked by the Reaper (although Lucy, not being gifted with second sight, only sees some strange objects moving about). In the process. Frank's ghostly buddies die, and the heroes hatch a plan to put Frank into a state of near-death**. In his ghostly state, he's able to fight the Reaper, revealing that the Reaper is really Bartlett.
When Frank is brought back to life, he reveals what he learned, and while Frank recuperates, Lucy heads out to warn Patricia that she might be in trouble. Alas, it turns out that Patricia developed a nasty case of Stockholm Syndrome, and was actually Bartlett's accomplice on the murder spree when she was supposedly kidnapped! Of course, Lucy only realizes this when she finds the mutilated body of Patricia's mother.
Frank shows up, and in the course of their epic battle, Lucy nearly dies, and Frank sacrifices his life to dispatch Patricia and Bartlett. We see them descend to hell admidst some glorious special effects (including snakes popping into their skulls), while Frank's late wife greets him up in Heaven and tells him that he needs to go back to earth and live out his life. We cut to the present day, where we learn that Lucy, too, has gained the power to see the undead. Cue the inevitable cover of "Don't Fear the Reaper" as we cut to the credits.
Why so short a plot outline for so good a movie? Because you deserve to watch everything unfold. There are few wasted moments in this movie, and no wasted characters. And it's the characters that make this movie work so well. Consider minor characters like the ghosts. We have elderly ghost The Judge (played so well by the original Gomez Addams, John Astin), about to have undead sex with a mummy, "seduce" her with the line, "there's a reason they call me the 'hanging judge.'" R. Lee Ermey, as Sergeant Hiles (the commander of the graveyard) plays the same role he always plays, which is great for laughts. Then there's the younger ghosts. Cyrus (a tough ghost with a huge afro, played by Chi McBride) and Stuart, both of whom start as standard comic relief, sacrifice their "lives" to save their living friend from the Reaper.
As for the main cast of characters, Michael J. Fox gives one of his best performances here, showing that he was capable of a lot more than the basic teen and post-teen comedy most writers and directors stuck him with before his retirement. Trini Alvarado (who has also all but vanished from the big screen, sadly) is wonderfully believable and attractive as Lucy. And Dee Wallace Stone and Jake Bussey are a great pair of villains.
But Jeffrey Combs positively steals this movie. As Agent Dammers, he brings to life one of the best on-screen lunatic I can recall in ages. Combs tosses out lines like, "I'm an asshole with an uzi" with relish, and energizes every scene he's featured in.
Jackson and writing partner Fran Walsh also bring a ton of humanity to what could have been a very slight script. With the twists and turns of the plot, as well as the humor throughout the movie, they still manage to tell a very moving story about a man coping with the loss of his wife, and his need to move on with his life. Jackson, as always, is on target as a director as well, putting out the complex layers of his story in a manner than never gets half as confusing as it could have been.
The special effects, as with any Jackson movie, are top notch (and have aged well), and the score is by Danny Elfman, which is all I really need to say there.
The fact that The Frighteners is often overloooked (and was out of print on DVD for ages) is tragic. It was the first film Jackson made for a Hollywood studio, and it showcases his transition from smaller films to the big budget epics he's become known for. The Frighteners seems like a perfect merger of his earlier indie/horror concepts and the blockbusters he's churned out in recent years. Fans of either of Jackson's styles should check this one out.
*74 words in that sentence! I'll catch up to you yet, William Faulkner!
**Yes, just like Flatliners. Only with 100% less Billy Baldwin.