''The Frighteners'' is a 1996
supernatural
Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
comedy horror
Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and spo ...
film directed by
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...
and co-written with
Fran Walsh. The film stars
Michael J. Fox,
Trini Alvarado,
Peter Dobson,
John Astin
John Allen Astin (born March 30, 1930) is an American actor and director who has appeared in numerous stage, television and film roles. He is best known for starring in '' The Addams Family'' (1964–1966), as patriarch Gomez Addams, reprising ...
,
Dee Wallace Stone
Deanna Wallace (née Bowers; born December 14, 1948), also known as Dee Wallace Stone, is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Mary Taylor, the mother in the 1982 blockbuster film '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''. She i ...
,
Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Alan Combs (born September 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for starring in horror films, such as '' Re-Animator'', and appearances playing a number of characters in the ''Star Trek'' and the DC animated universe television fr ...
,
R. Lee Ermey
Ronald Lee Ermey (March 24, 1944 – April 15, 2018) was an American actor and U.S. Marine drill instructor. He achieved fame for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film '' Full Metal Jacket'', which earned him a Golden Glob ...
and
Jake Busey. ''The Frighteners'' tells the story of Frank Bannister (Fox), an architect who practices
necromancy
Necromancy () is the practice of magic or black magic involving communication with the dead by summoning their spirits as apparitions or visions, or by resurrection for the purpose of divination; imparting the means to foretell future events ...
, developing psychic abilities allowing him to see, hear, and communicate with
ghost
A ghost is the soul (spirit), soul or spirit of a dead Human, person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visibl ...
s 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 murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more p ...
er appears able to attack the living and the dead, posing as the ghost of the
Grim Reaper
Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...
, prompting Frank to investigate the supernatural presence.
Jackson and Walsh conceived the idea for ''The Frighteners'' during the script-writing phase of ''
Heavenly Creatures''. Executive producer
Robert Zemeckis hired the duo to write the script, with the original intention of Zemeckis directing ''The Frighteners'' as a
spin-off
Spin-off may refer to:
*Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity
* Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...
film of the television series, ''
Tales from the Crypt''. With Jackson and Walsh's first draft submitted in January 1994, Zemeckis believed the film would be better off directed by Jackson, produced by Zemeckis and funded/distributed by
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
. The visual effects were created by Jackson's
Weta Digital, which had only been in existence for three years. This, plus the fact that ''The Frighteners'' required more digital effects shots than almost any movie made until that time, resulted in the eighteen-month period for effects work by Weta Digital being largely stressed.
Despite a rushed
post-production
Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments.
Th ...
schedule, Universal was so impressed with Jackson's
rough cut
In filmmaking, the rough cut is the second of three stages of offline editing. The term originates from the early days of filmmaking when film stock was physically cut and reassembled, but is still used to describe projects that are recorded and ...
on ''The Frighteners'', the studio moved the theatrical release date up by three months. The film was not a
box office
A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is f ...
success, but received generally positive reviews from critics. The film gained a cult following and is considered a cult classic on Jackson’s catalog.
Plot
In 1990, architect Frank Bannister's wife, Debra, dies in a car accident. He abandons his profession and his unfinished "dream house" sits incomplete. Following the accident, Frank gained the power to see ghosts and he befriends three: 1970s street gangster Cyrus, 1950s nerd Stuart, and The Judge, a
gunslinger
Gunfighters, also called gunslingers (), or in the 19th and early 20th centuries gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in gunfights and shootouts. Today, the te ...
from
the Old West
''The Old West'' is a series of books about the history of the American Old West era, published by Time-Life Books from 1973 through 1980. Each book focused on a different topic specific for the era, such as cowboys, American Indians, gamblers ...
. The ghosts haunt houses so Frank can then "
exorcise
Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be do ...
" them for a fee. Most locals consider him a
con man
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have ...
.
Soon after Frank cons local health nut Ray Lynskey and his wife Lucy, a physician, Ray dies of a heart attack. Frank discovers that there is an entity, appearing as the
Grim Reaper
Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...
, killing people, first marking numbers on their foreheads that only Frank sees. Debra had a similar number when she was found.
Frank's ability to foretell the murders puts him under suspicion with the police and
FBI agent Milton Dammers, who is convinced Frank is responsible. Frank is arrested for killing newspaper editor Magda Rees-Jones, who had attacked him in the press. It was actually the Grim Reaper who killed Rees-Jones, despite Frank's attempts to prevent it.
Lucy investigates the murders and becomes a target of the Grim Reaper. She is attacked while visiting Frank in jail; but they escape with the help of Cyrus and Stuart, who are both dissolved in the process. Frank wants to commit suicide to stop the Grim Reaper. Lucy helps Frank have a near-death experience by putting him into
hypothermia
Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe h ...
and using
barbiturate
Barbiturates are a class of depressant drugs that are chemically derived from barbituric acid. They are effective when used medically as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological addiction potential as ...
s to stop his heart. Dammers abducts Lucy, revealing that he had been a victim of
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...
and
his "Family" in 1969.
In his ghostly form, Frank confronts the Grim Reaper and discovers that he is the ghost of Johnny Bartlett, a psychiatric hospital orderly who killed twelve people in 1964, before being captured, convicted and executed. Newspaper reports reveal that his greatest desire was to become the most prolific serial killer ever, showing pride at killing more than contemporaries like
Charles Starkweather. Patricia Bradley, then a teenager, was accused as his accomplice, although she escaped the death penalty due to her underage status. Lucy resuscitates Frank and they visit Patricia. Unknown to them, Patricia is still in love with Bartlett and on friendly, homicidal terms with Bartlett's ghost, and eventually kills her own mother, who had been trying to monitor her daughter's behavior. Lucy and Frank trap Bartlett's spirit in his urn, which Patricia has kept. The pair make for the chapel of the now-abandoned psychiatric hospital hoping to send Bartlett's ghost to
Hell.
Patricia and Dammers chase them through the ruins. Dammers throws the ashes away, releasing Bartlett's ghost again before Patricia kills Dammers. Bartlett's ghost and Patricia hunt down Frank and Lucy. Frank realizes that Bartlett's ghost, with Patricia's help, was responsible for his wife's death and the number on her brow, and that he is still trying to add to his body count (and infamy) even after his death.
Out of bullets, Patricia strangles Frank to death, but Frank in spirit form rips Patricia's spirit from her body, forcing Bartlett to follow them. Bartlett grabs Patricia's ghost, while Frank makes it to Heaven, where he is reunited with Cyrus and Stuart, along with his wife Debra. Bartlett and Patricia's spirits claim they will now go back to claim more lives, but the portal to Heaven quickly changes to a demonic-looking appearance and they are both dragged to Hell by a
giant worm-like creature. Frank learns it is not yet his time and is sent back to his body as Debra's spirit tells him to "be happy."
Frank and Lucy fall in love. Lucy is now able to see ghosts as well. Frank later begins demolishing the unfinished dream house and building a life with Lucy while the morose-looking ghost of Dammers is riding around in the Sheriff Walt Perry's car. The sheriff, who is also Frank's friend, approaches him and reveals that the police discovered a huge collection of Ouija Boards in Patricia's room. This causes Frank to realize how Johnny Bartlett managed to come back to the world of the living as Patricia used the Ouija Board to bring him back from hell. Frank and Lucy then enjoy their picnic.
Cast
*
Michael J. Fox as Frank Bannister, a former architect turned ghost hunter after the trauma of his wife dying. Although Jackson and Walsh envisioned ''The Frighteners'' as a low-budget film with unknown actors, Zemeckis suggested casting his ''
Back to the Future
''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 19 ...
'' star Fox in the lead role. Fox became enthusiastic about working with Jackson when he saw ''
Heavenly Creatures'' at the
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
.
*
Trini Alvarado as Lucy Lynskey, a physician that Frank meets. The character is named after ''Heavenly Creatures'' star
Melanie Lynskey
Melanie Jayne Lynskey ( ; born 16 May 1977) is a New Zealand actress widely known for her portrayals of complex women in several independent films and television shows and also known for her command of American dialects.
Lynskey is the recipi ...
(who also cameos in ''The Frighteners'').
*
Peter Dobson as Ray Lynskey, Lucy's health-obsessed and comically hot-headed husband who dislikes Frank's tactics
*
John Astin
John Allen Astin (born March 30, 1930) is an American actor and director who has appeared in numerous stage, television and film roles. He is best known for starring in '' The Addams Family'' (1964–1966), as patriarch Gomez Addams, reprising ...
as The Judge, a decaying
gunslinger
Gunfighters, also called gunslingers (), or in the 19th and early 20th centuries gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in gunfights and shootouts. Today, the te ...
ghost from the Old West with a penchant for
mummies
A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fur ...
and firing guns at random.
*
Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Alan Combs (born September 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for starring in horror films, such as '' Re-Animator'', and appearances playing a number of characters in the ''Star Trek'' and the DC animated universe television fr ...
as Milton Dammers, an eccentric FBI agent who has a vendetta against Bannister. A former
undercover agent
To go "undercover" (that is, to go on an undercover operation) is to avoid detection by the object of one's observation, and especially to disguise one's own identity (or use an assumed identity) for the purposes of gaining the trust of an indi ...
known for his work with
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal ...
ists, which caused him to sustain multiple massive mutilations and drove him to the brink of
insanity
Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...
, he has a problem with women screaming at him. Jackson opted to cast Combs as Dammers because he was a fan of the actor's work in ''
Re-Animator''.
*
Dee Wallace Stone
Deanna Wallace (née Bowers; born December 14, 1948), also known as Dee Wallace Stone, is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as Mary Taylor, the mother in the 1982 blockbuster film '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''. She i ...
as Patricia Bradley, inspired by
Caril Ann Fugate
Caril Ann Fugate (born July 30, 1943) is the youngest female in United States history to have been tried and convicted of first-degree murder. She was the adolescent girlfriend of spree killer Charles Starkweather, being just 14 years old when h ...
. Bartlett's
mentally ill
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...
lover (escaping execution at the time of the original murders as she was underage) who is under strict observation by her mother.
*
Jake Busey as Johnny Bartlett, a
mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a number of people, typically simultaneously or over a relatively short period of time and in close geographic proximity. The United States Congress defines mass killings as the killings of three or more p ...
er inspired by
Charles Starkweather sharing the last name of his second and third victims, girlfriend and accomplice Caril Ann Fugate's mother and step-father Velda and Marion Bartlett. He continues his work in the afterlife, focusing on increasing his body count as a form of competition with other famous murderers. He returns from Hell, able to attack the living and the dead posing as the
Grim Reaper
Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...
.
*
Chi McBride as Cyrus, a
gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix ''-ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
who is one of Frank's deceased associates for his ghost-hunting business.
*
Jim Fyfe as Stuart, a
nerd
A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly techn ...
who is one of Frank's deceased associates for his ghost-hunting business.
*
Troy Evans as Sheriff Walt Perry, a local law enforcement officer and ally to Frank.
*
Julianna McCarthy as Old Lady Bradley, Patricia's mother and former director of the psychiatric hospital, who is constantly monitoring her daughter.
*
R. Lee Ermey
Ronald Lee Ermey (March 24, 1944 – April 15, 2018) was an American actor and U.S. Marine drill instructor. He achieved fame for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film '' Full Metal Jacket'', which earned him a Golden Glob ...
as Hiles, the ghost of a Master Sergeant. Ermey's performance in this film is heavily reminiscent of his performance as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film ''
Full Metal Jacket
''Full Metal Jacket'' is a 1987 war drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 novel '' The Short-Timers'' and stars Matt ...
'', sharing many mannerisms with the aforementioned character.
*
Elizabeth Hawthorne
Elizabeth Hawthorne (born 30 April 1947) is a New Zealand actress who is known for her role as Mrs. Macready in the 2005 film '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' and the Peter Jackson supernatural comedy '' The ...
as Magda Rees-Jones, the snooty British editor of the local newspaper who later dies by a car crash.
In addition,
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...
cameos as a man with piercings, his son Billy is a baby in a bouncer,
Melanie Lynskey
Melanie Jayne Lynskey ( ; born 16 May 1977) is a New Zealand actress widely known for her portrayals of complex women in several independent films and television shows and also known for her command of American dialects.
Lynskey is the recipi ...
cameos as the deputy who is briefly seen standing next to Lucy Lynskey, Byron McCrawerly plays Victim #38 and
Angela Bloomfield
Angela Bloomfield (born 11 December 1972) is a New Zealand actor and director.
Early life
Bloomfield attended Massey High School in West Auckland, New Zealand.
Career
Bloomfield has starred in ''Shortland Street'' continuously on and off for 2 ...
plays Frank's deceased wife, Debra.
Development
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...
and co-writer
Fran Walsh conceived the idea for ''The Frighteners'' in 1992, during the script-writing phase of ''
Heavenly Creatures''.
Together, they wrote a three-page
film treatment
A film treatment (or simply treatment) is a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards (index cards) and the first draft of a screenplay for a motion picture, television program, or radio play. It is generally longer and more detailed ...
and sent it to their
talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, and other professionals in various entertainment or s ...
in Hollywood.
Robert Zemeckis viewed their treatment with the intention of directing ''The Frighteners'' as a
spin-off
Spin-off may refer to:
*Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work
*Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity
* Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...
film of the television series, ''
Tales from the Crypt'' (which he helped produce).
Zemeckis hired Jackson and Walsh to turn their treatment into a full-length screenplay in January 1993.
The husband and wife duo completed their first draft for ''The Frighteners'' in early-January 1994. Zemeckis was so impressed with their script, he decided ''The Frighteners'' would work better directed by Jackson, executive produced by Zemeckis and funded/distributed by
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
.
[Sibley, p.273-279] Universal
green-light
To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead".
Film industry
In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...
ed the film to commence
pre-production
Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content st ...
on a $26 million budget in April 1994.
[Pryor, p.191-195][Sibley, p.330-339] The studio also granted Jackson and Zemeckis total
artistic control
Artistic control or creative control is a term commonly used in media production, such as movies, television, and music production. A person with artistic control has the authority to decide how the final product will appear. In movies, this c ...
and the right of
final cut privilege
Final cut privilege (also known as ''final cutting authority'') is the right or entitlement of an individual to determine the final version of a motion picture for distribution and exhibition. The final cut on a film can be held by film studios, ...
.
Production
Jackson decided to film ''The Frighteners'' entirely in New Zealand. Zemeckis and Universal agreed on the condition that Jackson made New Zealand look similar to the
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...
began on May 14, 1995, and lasted until November 16, which is one of the longest
shooting schedules ever approved by Universal Pictures. Six weeks into the shoot,
cinematographer
The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the c ...
Alun Bollinger
Alun Robert Bollinger (born 1948) is a New Zealand cinematographer, who has worked on several Peter Jackson films, and many other films in New Zealand. He has also been a Director of Photography, including the second unit for Peter Jackson's tril ...
had a serious car accident. His replacement, John Blick, later alternated duties with Bollinger for much of the rest of the shoot.
[Pryor, p.201-203] Location shooting
Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior.
The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for e ...
primarily included
Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...
and three weeks spent in
Lyttelton. Interior scenes were compiled at Camperdown Studios in
Miramar Miramar is a place name of Spanish and Portuguese origin. It means "sea-view" or "sea sight" from ''mirar'' ("to look at, to watch") and ''mar'' ("sea"). It may refer to:
Places Africa
* Miramar, Port Elizabeth, see St Dominic's Priory School
...
.
[Pryor, p.196-200]
Visual effects
Jackson's
Weta Digital created the visual effects, which included
computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The image ...
, as well as
scale model
A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototype ...
s (which were necessary to make
Lyttelton look American),
prosthetic makeup and practical effects with help from
Weta Workshop.
Visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor explained that effects work on ''The Frighteners'' was complex due to Weta's inexperience with computer technology in the mid-1990s. Prior to this film, Weta worked largely with
physical effects
A practical effect is a special effect produced physically, without computer-generated imagery or other post-production techniques. In some contexts, "special effect" is used as a synonym of "practical effect", in contrast to "visual effect ...
. With so many ghosts among its main cast, ''The Frighteners'' required more digital effects shots than almost any movie made up till that time. For a special effects company that had been in existence less than three years, the eighteen-month period for completing ''The Frighteners'' was largely stressful.
Some shots were handled by a small New Zealand company called Pixel Perfect, many of whose employees would eventually join Weta Digital.
Rick Baker
Richard A. Baker (born December 8, 1950), known professionally as Rick Baker, is an American retired special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker won the Academy Award for Best Mak ...
was hired to design the prosthetic makeup for The Judge, portrayed by
John Astin
John Allen Astin (born March 30, 1930) is an American actor and director who has appeared in numerous stage, television and film roles. He is best known for starring in '' The Addams Family'' (1964–1966), as patriarch Gomez Addams, reprising ...
(the detachable jawbone was later added digitally). However, Baker was not able to apply Astin's five hours of makeup due to his commitment on ''
The Nutty Professor''.
Makeup artist Brian Penikas (
''Pirates of the Caribbean'' trilogy, ''
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'') fulfilled Baker's duties.
The extended shooting schedule owed much to the fact that scenes where ghosts and human characters interacted had to be filmed twice; once with human characters acting on set, and then with the ghost characters acting against a
blue screen. The two elements would later be digitally composited into one shot with the use of
split screen photography. Such sequences required precise timing from the cast as they traded dialogue with characters who were merely blank air.
The hardest challenge for the digital animators at Weta was creating the
Grim Reaper
Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...
, which went through many transformations before finding physical form.
"We set out with the intention of doing the Reaper as a rod
puppet
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...
, maybe shooting it in a water tank," Jackson commented. "We even thought of filming someone, dressed in costume, at different camera speeds."
Test footage was shot with puppets and a man in a Reaper suit, but in the end, it was decided that using
computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation re ...
would be the easiest task. Another entirely computerized character called "the Gatekeeper", a winged
cherub
A cherub (; plural cherubim; he, כְּרוּב ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'', likely borrowed from a derived form of akk, 𒅗𒊏𒁍 ''karabu'' "to bless" such as ''karibu'', "one who blesses", a name for the lamassu) is one of the u ...
who helps guard the cemetery, was deleted from the
final cut.
[Sibley, p.320-329]
With digital effects work running behind schedule, Zemeckis convinced
Wes Takahashi, an animation supervisor from visual effects company
Industrial Light & Magic
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is an American motion picture visual effects company that was founded on May 26, 1975 by George Lucas. It is a division of the film production company Lucasfilm, which Lucas founded, and was created when he began ...
, to help work on ''The Frighteners''.
"The shots Zemeckis showed me were pretty remarkable," Takahashi reflected, "but there were still about 400 shots to do, and everyone was kind of worried."
Takahashi was quickly drafted as a visual effects supervisor, and began looking at the schedule, trying to work out whether ''The Frighteners'' could be finished in time. "There was no way we'd make the deadline. I figured out a concerted plan involving Jackson and Zemeckis to convince Universal it was worthy of asking for more money."
The executives at Universal proposed splitting some of the shots to visual effects companies in the United States, but Jackson, for whom the film was a chance to show New Zealand filmmaking could stand alongside Hollywood, convinced Universal otherwise.
Instead, ''The Frighteners'' received an accelerated release date, four months earlier than planned, and an additional $6 million in financing, with fifteen digital animators and computer workstations (some were borrowed from Universal and other effects companies in the US).
Soundtrack
The
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...
was written and composed by
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internatio ...
. It was released in 1996 on
cassette and
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...
by
Universal Records
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...
.
The closing credits play a cover of
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles " (Don't Fear) The Reaper", " Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla". The ba ...
's "
(Don't Fear) The Reaper
"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a song by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult from the band's 1976 album ''Agents of Fortune.'' The song, written and sung by lead guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, deals with eternal love and the inevitabili ...
" performed by
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band
The Mutton Birds
The Mutton Birds were a New Zealand rock music group formed in Auckland in 1991 by Ross Burge, David Long and Don McGlashan, with Alan Gregg joining a year later. Four of their albums reached the top 10 on the New Zealand Albums Char ...
. The Mutton Birds version of the song had been previously released as a
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...
to their single "She's Been Talking" released in 1996. It plays also "
Superstar
A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...
", written by
Bonnie Bramlett
Bonnie Bramlett (born Bonnie Lynn O'Farrell, November 8, 1944) is an American singer and occasional actress known for performing with her husband, Delaney Bramlett, as Delaney & Bonnie. She continues to sing as a solo artist.
Life and career ...
+
Leon Russell
Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...
and performed by
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of th ...
.
Critical reception was average; Jason Ankeny of album database
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
described the soundtrack as "imaginative" giving it three stars out of five.
This was a lower rating on the site than Elfman's other scores of the era, such as ''
Mission: Impossible'', ''
Mars Attacks!
''Mars Attacks!'' is a 1996 American science fiction comedy film directed by Tim Burton, who also co-produced it with Larry J. Franco. The screenplay by Jonathan Gems was based on the Topps trading card series of the same name. The film fe ...
'' and ''
Flubber''. The soundtrack review website Filmtracks referred to the album as "lacking much cohesion or singular creativity".
Release
The intended release date was October 1996, but after Universal
studio executive
A studio executive is an employee of a film studio or a corporation doing business in the entertainment industry.
A studio executive may be a chief executive officer (CEO), a chief financial officer (CFO), or a chief operating officer (COO), or be ...
s viewed a
rough cut
In filmmaking, the rough cut is the second of three stages of offline editing. The term originates from the early days of filmmaking when film stock was physically cut and reassembled, but is still used to describe projects that are recorded and ...
of ''The Frighteners'', they were impressed enough to move the release date to their "summer
blockbuster
Blockbuster or Block Buster may refer to:
*Blockbuster (entertainment) a term coined for an extremely successful movie, from which most other uses are derived.
Corporations
* Blockbuster (retailer), a defunct video and game rental chain
** Blo ...
slot" on July 19, 1996.
In addition, Universal offered the filmmaker the opportunity to make ''
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
'', which was not released until 2005. Jackson often disputed the
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distri ...
(MPAA)'s decision on the film's rating. Aware that he was meant to be delivering Universal a PG-13 rated film, Jackson tried his best to omit
graphic violence
Graphic violence refers to the depiction of especially vivid, brutal and realistic acts of violence in visual media such as film, television, and video games. It may be real, simulated live action, or animated.
Intended limitedly for mature ...
as much as possible, but the MPAA still believed ''The Frighteners'' deserved an R rating.
[Pryor, p.206-211]
Box office
''The Frighteners'' was released in the United States in 1,675 theaters, and opened at #5, earning $5,565,495 during its opening weekend, averaging $3,335 per theater. The film eventually grossed a worldwide total of $29,359,216. ''The Frighteners'' ended up being a
box office disappointment, mostly due to competition from ''
Independence Day
An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
''; in interviews conducted years after ''The Frighteners'' release, Jackson commented he was disappointed by Universal's ubiquitous marketing campaign, including a poster which "didn't tell you anything about the picture",
which he believed was the primary reason the film was not a financial success.
Additionally, the film opened on the same day the
Atlanta Summer Olympics began; when Jackson realized this and told the studio, they answered "'We don't think so; our research indicates that's not the case...' And I just thought how the hell do they know? There had only ever been three Olympic Games held in the United States in one hundred years!" Jackson acknowledged ''The Frighteners'' tone made it hard to pigeon-hole and sell, and his experience on the film made him understand the importance of marketing.
Critical reception
, 67% of the 42 reviewers selected by review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
gave the film a positive review, and the average score is 6.2/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Boasting top-notch special effects and exuberant direction from Peter Jackson, ''The Frighteners'' is visually striking but tonally uneven." Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.
Kenneth Turan of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' stated "Director Peter Jackson, at home with all kinds of excess in New Zealand, keeps everything spinning nicely, not even losing a step when the mood turns increasingly disturbing."
Janet Maslin
Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
from ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' enjoyed ''The Frighteners'', but "walked out the theater with mixed emotions," she commented that "Peter Jackson deserves more enthusiasm for expert, imaginative effects than for his live actors anyhow. These lively touches would leave ''The Frighteners'' looking more like a more frantic ''
Beetlejuice'' if Jackson's film weren't so wearyingly overcrowded. ''The Frighteners'' is not immune to overkill, even though most of its characters are already dead." Jeff Vice of the ''
Deseret News
The ''Deseret News'' () is the oldest continuously operating publication in the American west. Its multi-platform products feature journalism and commentary across the fields of politics, culture, family life, faith, sports, and entertainment. Th ...
'' praised the acting in the film, with the performances of Fox and Alvarado in particular, but said that there were also "bits that push the taste barrier too far and which grind things to a screeching halt", and that if "Jackson had used the restraint he showed in ''Heavenly Creatures'', the movie could have "been the best of its kind". Critic
Christopher Null praised the film, as he described it as a mixture between ''
Ghostbusters
''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, ...
'' and ''
Twin Peaks
''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 fo ...
''.
Michael Drucker of
IGN said that although the film would not make Jackson's top five of movies, it "is a harmless and fun dark comedy that you'll enjoy casually watching from time to time".
''The Frighteners'' received mixed reviews from critics from Jackson's native country, New Zealand.
Conversely, Todd McCarthy of ''
Variety'' thought that the film should have remained an episode of ''Tales from the Crypt''. Critic
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
believed that although ''The Frighteners'' wasn't "a bad film", it was "a disappointment, following Jackson's powerful, true-life matricide tale, ''
Heavenly Creatures''", and because of that "''The Frighteners'' fell short of expectations by being just one of many in the long line of 1996 summer movies."
''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
''
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film one star out of four, and felt that Jackson was more interested in
prosthetic makeup designs,
computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation re ...
, and special effects than writing a cohesive storyline. Ebert and critic
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...
gave it a "two thumbs down" rating on their TV show ''
At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert''.
[ ] ''
Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...
'' critic
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for '' The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and h ...
, described the film's special effects as "ugly, aggressive" and "proliferating", saying that "trying to keep interested in
he special effects
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...
was like trying to remain interested in a loudmouth shouting in
isear". Edward Guthmann of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...
'' stated that "instead of moving the horror genre in new directions, ''The Frighteners'' simply falls apart from its barrage of visual effects and the overmixed onslaught of Danny Elfman's music score". ''
The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
''s Joey O'Brien, said that although the screenplay was "practically loaded with wild ideas, knowingly campy dialogue and offbeat characterizations", it "switched gears" too fast and too frequently that "the audience is left struggling to catch up as
'The Frighteners''twists and turns its way unmercifully towards a literally out-of-this-world finale".
Accolades
At the
23rd Saturn Awards, the
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films is an American non-profit organization established in 1972 dedicated to the advancement of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Academy is headquartere ...
honored Jackson with nominations for
Best Director and
Best Writing, the latter he shared with wife
Fran Walsh. ''The Frighteners'' also was nominated for
Best Horror Film, and for its
Special Effects
Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual w ...
,
Make-up
Cosmetics are constituted mixtures of chemical compounds derived from either natural sources, or synthetically created ones. Cosmetics have various purposes. Those designed for personal care and skin care can be used to cleanse or protec ...
(
Rick Baker
Richard A. Baker (born December 8, 1950), known professionally as Rick Baker, is an American retired special make-up effects creator and actor. He is mostly known for his creature designs and effects. Baker won the Academy Award for Best Mak ...
) and
Music
Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...
(
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internatio ...
).
Michael J. Fox and
Jeffrey Combs
Jeffrey Alan Combs (born September 9, 1954) is an American actor. He is known for starring in horror films, such as '' Re-Animator'', and appearances playing a number of characters in the ''Star Trek'' and the DC animated universe television fr ...
were also nominated for their work.
Home media
"The Frighteners" was released on Laserdisc in 1996 in a standard release with Dolby surround on both Digital and Analog channels.
In 1998 Universal Home Video as part of the Signature Series collection released a special edition.
This includes the first release of the 12 minute longer "Directors Cut" plus the following extras:
Feature commentary by director Peter Jackson
4 hour documentary 'The Making Of The Frighteners' directed by Peter Jackson featuring cast interviews, rehearsals, storyboarding, miniatures and special effects
Deleted scenes
Theatrical trailer
The later DVD was a re-release of this with inferior audio.
''The Frighteners'' was first released on DVD in August 1998, but included no special features.
To coincide with the release of Jackson's ''
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
'',
Universal Studios Home Entertainment issued a double-sided director's cut DVD of the film in November 2005,
which featured a version of ''The Frighteners'' that was 12 minutes longer.
The other side includes a documentary prepared by Jackson and WingNut Films originally for the Laserdisc release.
The theatrical and director's cut were also made available in HD DVD in 2007 and Blu-ray in 2011.
See also
*
List of ghost films
Ghost movies and shows can fall into a wide range of genres, including romance, comedy, horror, juvenile interest, and drama. Depictions of ghosts are as diverse as Casper the Friendly Ghost, Beetlejuice, Hamlet's father, Jacob Marley, Freddy K ...
References
*
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frighteners, The
1996 films
1996 comedy films
1996 horror films
1990s comedy horror films
1990s ghost films
1990s serial killer films
1990s supernatural horror films
American black comedy films
American comedy horror films
American serial killer films
American supernatural horror films
New Zealand comedy films
New Zealand horror films
New Zealand comedy horror films
Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Films directed by Peter Jackson
Films with screenplays by Peter Jackson
Films with screenplays by Fran Walsh
Films scored by Danny Elfman
Films set in the 1960s
Films shot in Oklahoma
Films shot in New Zealand
WingNut Films films
Universal Pictures films
Films about exorcism
Films about the afterlife
Resurrection in film
1990s English-language films
1990s American films
Films produced by Peter Jackson