The Frighteners
The Frighteners is a 1996 supernatural comedy horror film directed by Peter Jackson and co-written with Fran Walsh. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Dee Wallace Stone, Jeffrey Combs, R. Lee Ermey and Jake Busey. The Frighteners tells the story of Frank Bannister (Fox), an architect who develops psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with ghosts after his wife's murder. He initially uses his new abilities to befriend ghosts, whom he sends to haunt people so that he can charge them handsome fees for "exorcising" the ghosts. However, the spirit of a mass murderer appears posing as the Grim Reaper, able to attack the living and the dead, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence.
Plot
In 1964, in the town of Fairwater, Johnny Bartlett is executed for murdering 12 people at Fairwater sanatorium, driven by his desire to become the most prolific serial killer. His teenage lover, Patricia Ann Bradley, is sentenced to prison despite a lack of evidence that she helped Bartlett. Decades later, she is released into her mother's custody.
More details
| author | Fran Walsh Peter Jackson |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | California |
| director | Peter Jackson |
| editor | Jamie Selkirk |
| events | supernatural |
| genre | comedy crime horror |
| keywords | american frontier build con man death disturb exorcise exorcism fbi fbi agent federal bureau of investigation grim reaper haunt heart attack help kill killing spree murder newspaper editor no memory number 13 old west plan satanic cult sexual torture summon teenage love traumatize unexplained unfinished |
| musicBy | Danny Elfman |
| producer | Jamie Selkirk Peter Jackson |
| productionCompany | AFI Catalog of Feature Films WingNut Films |
| publisher | Universal Pictures |
| recordedAt | New Zealand |
| theme | architecture black comedy comedy horror ghost serial killer |