The Frighteners
Short description
Frank Bannister once worked as an architect, but he now makes a living in a small town by presenting himself as someone who can clear houses of unwanted spirits. He can genuinely see the dead, a consequence of the car crash that killed his wife, and three ghosts keep him company. He uses them to stage hauntings he then offers to remove, which leaves him looking like a fraud to the locals. When residents begin dying, Frank's apparent foreknowledge of the deaths makes him the prime suspect rather than a possible saviour. Lucy Lynskey, recently widowed, turns to him for help, and together they seek the cause of the killings. A federal agent named Milton Dammers pursues the case with his own methods.
Peter Jackson directed the film from a screenplay he wrote with Fran Walsh, and both also produced with Jamie Selkirk. It followed Heavenly Creatures and stands fifth among the fifteen films Jackson has directed. Michael J. Fox leads as Frank, with Trini Alvarado as Lucy, Peter Dobson as Ray Lynskey, John Astin as the Judge, Jeffrey Combs as Dammers and Dee Wallace as Patricia Bradley. Made for a reported 30 million dollars, it returned around 29 million worldwide. On IMDb, viewers rate it 7.1 out of ten across 102,000 votes; on TMDB it holds 7 out of ten from 1,826 votes.
What's left behind the scenes
- Peter Jackson played a cameo role in the film: Michael J. Fox's character encounters the director, disguised as a rocker, at the entrance to the City Newspaper editorial office.
- Filming took place in New Zealand, in the small coastal town of Lyttelton.
- In one of the scenes, Bartlett mentions Andrei Chikatilo, expressing outrage that he boasted about the number of his victims.
- One episode of the film describes the phenomenon of Ninel Kulagina, a Russian woman with paranormal abilities.
- In the scene where the printer prints an image of Frank, it’s a photo from “Back to the Future” (1985), which also starred Michael J. Fox.
- R. Lee Ermey’s role as the deceased Master Sergeant Hiles is a reference to his role as Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” (1987). Notably, the actor actually received the rank of gunnery sergeant on May 17, 2002. Thus, Ermey became the first retired service member in American history to be promoted in rank.
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