31 (or so) Days of Terror: The Frighteners

There's a thin line between Horror and Comedy. After all, take away the atmosphere and turn on the lights and the situations in most horror movies come across as pretty ridiculous. Out of context and done poorly, Bela Lugosi's Dracula becomes a hilarious figure. That's partly the reason Horror fans have always embraced Comedies that poke fun at their favorite genre's tropes and cliches. One of those fans is Peter Jackson, yes Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson, who made his 1996 dark comedy The Frighteners in that very spirit.

The film stars Michael J Fox as Frank Bannister, a shady psychic who cons people out of money by performing fake exorcisms. There's a twist though, Frank actually can see ghosts and has been using his personal troupe of spooks to drum up business for himself. But when a mysterious cloaked figure begins offing people, Frank becomes the prime suspect. How will Frank clear his name when he's the only one who can see the true criminal?


This is very much a film of its time. Everything from the way it's shot to the effects to the fashion comes direct from the late 90s. Ironically enough, it was Jackson who helped bring about the transition from the set-based shooting seen here to the CG & Location combo most big budget genre fare today employ. The slight datedness helps the proceedings though, helping to base the supernatural elements of the story in a more concrete reality. Because everything is out of date, it all fits together better. The same can't be said of the CG though. It is just dated, coming from that brief period following Jurassic Park where everyone felt they had to use Computer Effects whether they suited the film or not. It's very much not in this case. In particular the film's trademark scare, the cloaked figure pushing out from the walls that you can see in the poster above. It comes across very fake and was done much better in the original Nightmare on Elm Street.

Frank & his ghostly assistants

But what this feels like more than anything is Peter Jackson trying to make a Tim Burton movie. Specifically, a more adult skewing take on the quirky town beset by weirdness films Burton was making at the time. All the elements are there; the callbacks to old horror movies, the plasticine suburban setting, the cast stuffed with character actors. It's an odd fit, and one Jackson doesn't seem to be particularly comfortable with. His Horror work before this focused on gonzo gore and at several points throughout Frighteners does he seem ready to let that side of him bust out only to be restrained. This makes sense knowing that Jackson was trying to deliver a PG-13 to the studio so he kept the more frightening stuff to a minimum, but it makes the film poorer in my opinion.

Thankfully, this feeling subsides in the superior second half of the film where the balance of Horror & Comedy swings into Horror. Jackson clearly feels more comfortable in the setpieces of old creepy houses, graveyards, and abandoned mental asylums than he was in Burtonesque suburbia. That's very much the failing of The Frighteners, it's a horror comedy where the comedy doesn't work nearly as well as the horror. The jokes and kooky characters fall flat but the scary bits are quite effectively scary. There are some moments of genuine humor, like a ghost sheriff humping a mummy and Frank's bullshit ghostbuster routine, but they're the exception.

The Cloaked Figure claims another victim.

The cast is fun at least. Michael J Fox turns on the usual Marty McFly charm, Jake Busey is terrifying as the ghost of a psychopath, and Chi McBride makes the most of a pretty stereotypical part. But the highlight is definitely the great Jeffrey Combs as the most neurotic FBI agent ever. Whenever he appears on screen as the mad lovechild of Twin Peaks' Dale Cooper and Hitler, it immediately seizes your attention. If you thought Comb's portrayal of the Question was a paranoid freak, you haven't seen anything yet.

The Frighteners isn't a classic, nor a particularly good horror comedy. But it does have a few memorable images and the second more horror movie half is suspenseful enough to make it up for the slog of the first half. If you're a fan of Peter Jackson or Jeffrey Combs I'd say check it out, otherwise you won't miss anything.

Adequately put together and acted, but just too average to rise above that.

Final Score: 3/5