Frighteners

Frighteners: Director’s Cut

One of the last original films by director Peter Jackson before he descended into Middle Earth, what we have here is a fun, scary concoction with only some minor flaws. In the lead role, Michael J. Fox gives us a strong glimpse at what could have been if only he hadn’t been struck down by Parkinson’s. His Frank Bannister is a shady, conniving huckster with legit psychic abilities who uses his “ghost friends” to help drum up business for him so he can go in and perform his “techniques” to cleanse the homes of any poitergeist activity. Unfortunately, the “ghost friends” dynamic leads to the film’s big problem, particularly in the first half: Jackson goes for too much goofy humor as Fox interacts with these characters, and while it makes for some inventive FX, the writing is really not that clever or funny. This is most evident with two of these characters, starting with John Astin’s Judge. While it’s nice to see the original Gomez Addams getting work in a major film, bits like having him rummage around for his jawbone or, even worse, basically raping an Egyptian mummy (“They don’t call me the hanging judge for nothing.”) hurt the film’s tone and ruin the mood in many ways. This also applies to Peter Dobson as the deceased husband of the film’s female lead, going WAY over the top with his spastic overacting, especially when Fox has dinner with his widow. Thankfully, these two characters are taken out of the picture in the second half, as the pace picks up and the story’s overall sense of mood and dread are emphasized, as a death-like apparition that only Fox can see sneaks up on unsuspecting healthy people and causes them to have sudden heart attacks (a truly frightening premise). Then there is Jeffrey Combs as the FBI paranormal investigator on the case: basically Fox Mulder on acid, Combs more than steals the show with his brilliant work here, refusing to make eye contact with people he talks to and babbling and mumbling like a crazy man when going over past events, his big highlight is when he relates the various twisted undercover assignments he’s had that have in essence left him an emotional and physical wreck. Really great stuff, and the wild card nature of his character works fantastically with Fox’s more subtle work. In the female lead, Trini Alvarado is more than pleasant eye candy, while genre legend Dee Wallace hits the right notes as a recluse with dark secrets in her past. Some of the more obvious questions raised by the plot (how DID the villain gain such amazing powers to be able to do what he did?) really become irrelevant during the roller coaster ride that is the film’s final 40 minutes, as the story comes together and absolute mayhem involving the main characters breaks loose while still maintaining the creepy mood. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable horror flick, if not quite a masterpiece for some of its more goofball indulgences…

8/10

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