Review of Frighteners, The

Introduction

Directed by Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings` fame, The Frighteners is best described as a supernatural black comedy. With Michael J. Fox as the star and Robert Zemeckis exec-producing, you could be forgiven for thinking that this film would be a re-hash of their respective Back to the Future glories, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Frighteners is an enjoyable and entertaining thriller, which has the added bonus of being original.

Michael J. Fox is Frank Bannister, an architect turned psychic investigator. When ghostly activity occurs in the sleepy town of Fairwater, he is invariably called to exorcise the restless spirits. In actual fact, Frank has chanced upon the perfect scam. Since a traumatic event, he actually has been able to see the spirits of the deceased. He`s gathered a motley crew of dispossessed wraiths and uses them to engineer the hauntings. Events take a sinister turn when Frank becomes mixed up in an unexplained series of deaths. He performs an "exorcism" at the house of Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado) but notices an ethereal number carved into her husband`s forehead. Soon after, he dies of a heart attack. When Frank agrees to act as a medium between Lucy and the spirit of her husband at a restaurant, he sees another victim with a number carved in his forehead. This time he sees the victim killed by what appears to be the "Grim Reaper". He flees the scene to pursue this wraith and follows it on a trail of murder. This has the unfortunate effect of making him prime suspect in the mysterious deaths, and soon the amiable Sheriff and a creepy FBI agent are pursuing Frank. Meanwhile, Lucy, who is a Doctor in the town surgery, has paid a visit to Patricia Bradley, a reclusive woman who lives with her mother in a dilapidated mansion. When Patricia was 15 years old, she was the accomplice of a serial killer, Johnny Bartlett, who murdered 12 people in the local hospital. Yet now Patricia is being terrorised in the mansion, and Lucy wishing to help gets drawn into the creepy history of the Bradley Bartlett murders. Events draw Lucy and Frank together as they fight the supernatural menace and try to solve the mystery of Patricia Bradley in this chillingly funny film.

Video

The big downer is that you get a letterbox transfer. As usual my fave films get the worst treatment, this film deserves an anamorphic print, especially when you consider how this film looks. Like the Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson has filmed this film entirely on location in New Zealand, with the town of Lyttleton substituting for the American coastal town of Fairwater. The scenery is just gorgeous filled with rolling green hills and picturesque coastal views. The look of the film is carefully thought out as well, a faded palette of colours lending an unearthly touch to the story and adds a genuinely spooky atmosphere. Pale greens and rich browns dominate and all the characters have pale flesh tones. Trini Alvarado particularly looks as if she is carved from alabaster (apologies to Sting). The only exceptions are the flashback and otherworld scenes. The effects are remarkably well done, with the ghosts looking suitable spooky. In an effects movie nowadays the most that you can ask is that you can`t see the joins. You end up taking the effects for granted and concentrate on the story. The picture is all you can hope for considering the transfer and is still eminently watchable.

Audio

The soundtrack is given a DD5.1 transfer and is again just what you would expect from such a treatment. For your multilingual desires we have 5.1 soundtracks in English, French, Italian and Spanish, Stereo in Polish and Czech and finally a German Surround track. Danny Elfman provides music and providing the New Zealand connection are the Mutton Birds, who cover the Blue Oyster Cult`s Don`t Fear the Reaper. The music is functional and appropriate to this type of feature.

Features

Extras are limited to Production Notes and Cast Filmographies, you also get a trailer that is remarkably colourful compared to the film proper. It also seems to advertise the film as more of a comedy. The lack of extras is another letdown, which when added to the letterbox transfer don`t help this DVD`s cause.

Conclusion

This is a brilliant film, filled with some excellent performances; Michael J. Fox is such a physical actor that he fills the screen in whatever he does. Trini Alvarado seems almost ghostly herself in this film. John Astin plays the Judge, a ghost from the Wild West, who worries that he is losing his touch. Chi McBride is Cyrus, a ghost who had the misfortune of dying in the seventies and since then has been stuck in seventies fashion, a reason to be grouchy indeed. Jake Busey plays the murderer Johnny Bartlett and looks uncannily like his father, Gary. Just brilliant is Jeffery Combs who plays the FBI agent Milton Dammers. You think he`s just a gentle send up of the X Files when more of his strange character comes to the fore and creeps you out even more. As a character, Dammers finds the perfect balance between comedy and thrills. Also watch out for a cameo from the drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket.

This brings us to the one problem with this film. Rather than living down to it`s billing as a comedy thriller, it tries to go one better and tries to be both a comedy and thriller separately, essentially two films in one. This case of split personalities is rather detrimental to the film, you get chills where you expect laughs and vice versa. In a lesser film this would be fatal, but The Frighteners has something unusual going for it, a decent story. As well as the excellent characters, you get a layered story with many sub-plots. The spate of deaths is matched by the Patricia Bradley story, Frank Bannister`s traumatic past and tragic history, and the creepiness of Milton Dammers.There is always something happening in this film that keeps you glued to the screen.Suspend your expectations from a "normal" Hollywood film and sit down for 2 hours of enjoyment.