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After low budget splatterfests like Bad Taste, Dead-Alive and Meet The Feebles, Jackson went on to direct more mature work with more talented people; like Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures. The success of Creatures lead Jackson to work on his first big budget Hollywood piece starring Michale J. Fox, in his last leading role in a film, this was The Frighteners.
After a life altering event, Frank gains the ability to see the dead. He befriends a few ghosts and encourages them to haunt innocent people so they will call him to exorcise the ghosts, for a fee of course. During a routine con, Frank notices a number above the home owners forehead. That man later ends up dead. More people with more numbers start popping up and Frank sees a figure cloaked like a Grimm Reaper reaching into his victims chests and crushing his their hearts. To the living, this looks like a heart attack, to Frank it's a killer ghost on the loose. Being the only one who can see the figure, he takes it upon himself to stop the madness.
I really enjoyed this as a kid and I still think it holds up well today, both in the horror genre and comedy. Jackson manages to balance some truly horrific moments with some laugh out loud comedy bits. It helps that he's had years of doing this exact same thing beforehand.
Fox still had it as a leading man and he had great chemistry with his ghost pals. The special effects hold up for the most part. The ghost themselves work very well, even in the cartoony sequences where a can of bug spray is used on one and his face melts away. Bits that are a little goofy are when the killer is in the walls of the house and the wallpaper comes out. It doesn't look or feel natural or scary, there lighting texture doesn't work and it comes off completely fake.
Unfortunately, the film seems to be on the bottom of people's appreciation list when it comes to Jackson. You hear about the fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings and the early creative works from Bad Taste to Dead-Alive. Heck you even hear about his more mature works like The Lovely Bones or Heavenly Creatures, but you never hear about The Frighteners. The Frighteners got lost in the mix of his filmography, which is a shame because there is a lot of fun to be had in this dark mix of thrills and chills.
October 29th
The Frighteners
Serial Killer Horror
The Frighteners
Serial Killer Horror
After low budget splatterfests like Bad Taste, Dead-Alive and Meet The Feebles, Jackson went on to direct more mature work with more talented people; like Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures. The success of Creatures lead Jackson to work on his first big budget Hollywood piece starring Michale J. Fox, in his last leading role in a film, this was The Frighteners.
After a life altering event, Frank gains the ability to see the dead. He befriends a few ghosts and encourages them to haunt innocent people so they will call him to exorcise the ghosts, for a fee of course. During a routine con, Frank notices a number above the home owners forehead. That man later ends up dead. More people with more numbers start popping up and Frank sees a figure cloaked like a Grimm Reaper reaching into his victims chests and crushing his their hearts. To the living, this looks like a heart attack, to Frank it's a killer ghost on the loose. Being the only one who can see the figure, he takes it upon himself to stop the madness.
I really enjoyed this as a kid and I still think it holds up well today, both in the horror genre and comedy. Jackson manages to balance some truly horrific moments with some laugh out loud comedy bits. It helps that he's had years of doing this exact same thing beforehand.
Fox still had it as a leading man and he had great chemistry with his ghost pals. The special effects hold up for the most part. The ghost themselves work very well, even in the cartoony sequences where a can of bug spray is used on one and his face melts away. Bits that are a little goofy are when the killer is in the walls of the house and the wallpaper comes out. It doesn't look or feel natural or scary, there lighting texture doesn't work and it comes off completely fake.
Unfortunately, the film seems to be on the bottom of people's appreciation list when it comes to Jackson. You hear about the fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings and the early creative works from Bad Taste to Dead-Alive. Heck you even hear about his more mature works like The Lovely Bones or Heavenly Creatures, but you never hear about The Frighteners. The Frighteners got lost in the mix of his filmography, which is a shame because there is a lot of fun to be had in this dark mix of thrills and chills.