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 able to attack the living and the dead, posing as the Grim Reaper, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence.
Plot
In 1990, Debra Bannister dies in a car accident. Her husband, Frank, abandons architecture, and his unfinished "dream house" sits incomplete. Following the accident, Frank gains the power to see ghosts, and he befriends three: Cyrus, an African American man from the 1970s; a nerd from the 1950s named Stuart; and The Judge, an Old West gunslinger. The ghosts haunt houses so Frank can then "exorcise" them for a fee. Most locals consider him a con man.
More details
| author | Fran Walsh Peter Jackson |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | California |
| director | Peter Jackson |
| editor | Jamie Selkirk |
| events | supernatural |
| genre | comedy horror |
| keywords | african american man american frontier ash barbiturate body count car accident con man death death penalty dream house exorcise exorcism fbi fbi agent federal bureau of investigation giant worm grim reaper heart attack hypothermia kill newspaper editor old west ouija board psychiatric hospital scarification 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 |