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 killing 12 people at a sanatorium, driven by his ambition to become the most prolific serial killer. His teenage lover, Patricia Ann Bradley, is treated as an accomplice and sentenced to prison. Many years later, she is released into her mother's care.
More details
| author | Fran Walsh Peter Jackson |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | California |
| director | Peter Jackson |
| editor | Jamie Selkirk |
| events | supernatural |
| genre | comedy crime horror |
| keywords | abandon american frontier build con man death exorcise exorcism fbi fbi agent federal bureau of investigation grim reaper haunt heart attack kill murder spree newspaper editor no memory old west satanic cult sexual abuse street gang 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 |