The Frighteners (1996) Revisited – Horror Movie Review
There are movies that feel like time capsules. Not just because of the era they came out in, but of an entire creative evolution. The Frighteners is one of those movies. It’s a strange, stylish, and criminally underappreciated horror-comedy that somehow straddles Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, and a proto Lord of the Rings vibe all at once. Yes, Peter Jackson’s gonzo ghost flick might just be the reason he got to bring Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life a few years later. If you squint at The Frighteners long enough, you can already see the seeds of his blockbuster future buried beneath all the ectoplasm and CGI reaper, especially the reaper! Nobody could’ve predicted that the scruffy New Zealander who once splattered sheep guts in Dead Alive would end up making one of the most expensive trilogies in film history. But before hobbits, orcs, and Gollum, Jackson brought us this horror comedy classic. The Frighteners was supposed to be his American crossover moment, his big Hollywood debut, and the project that would prove he could handle large-scale effects and a studio budget. It’s got ghosts, grim reapers, serial killers, and Michael J. Fox doing psychic house calls. What could go wrong? Well… quite a bit, actually, and on this episode of Horror Revisited we’re going to find out.
Peter Jackson had just come off Heavenly Creatures, a dark, artful true crime drama that earned him serious critical attention and caught the eye of Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis. Zemeckis liked the idea of Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh writing something in the horror-comedy space and originally pitched it as a Tales from the Crypt feature. But the script they cooked up, involving a haunted town plagued by a mysterious ghost and a con artist psychic who can actually see the dead, was too strong to be confined to a franchise anthology. Zemeckis decided it deserved its own spotlight, producing it under his banner with Universal.
From day one, Jackson and Walsh had one person in mind for their ghost-busting antihero Frank Bannister and no it wasn’t Bill Murray. It was none other than Michael J. Fox. At that time, Fox was looking for something fresh. He wanted to be given a chance to flex a darker edge after years of charming audiences in Back to the Future, Family Ties, Homeward Bound and the iconic Doc Hollywood. However with that shift, it would come at a cost. The Frighteners would mark his last “live action” leading role in a film, excluding Stuart Little for obvious reasons. While shooting on location in New Zealand, Fox realized how much he missed being close to his family. He decided to return to television, launching Spin City later that year. But before we jump ahead too far, let’s discuss his performance. It is one probably his most underrated of all. He nails that blend of exhaustion and cynicism that makes Frank feel both haunted and human. His comic timing keeps the film grounded even when Peter Jackson’s camera starts flying through walls, gravestones, and the afterlife itself. There’s a vulnerability to him, a sense that this guy has seen a lot and that tone becomes the emotional backbone of the film.
Production in New Zealand wasn’t all smooth sailing, though. Fox actually broke his foot during a nighttime shoot in the forest. Peter Jackson later joked it was a “blessing in disguise” since it gave him extra time to rework the script and fine-tune the film’s pacing while his star healed. Fox also couldn’t quite shake his old Back to the Future habits though. He kept accidentally calling John Astin’s ghostly “Judge” character “Doc.” Somewhere out there, Christopher Lloyd was probably smiling as were the rest of us!
Speaking of Astin, his role as the decrepit gunslinger ghost is a highlight, complete with five-hour makeup sessions courtesy of Rick Baker’s team, and it shows. Astin’s character was supposed to have a much larger arc, even returning for the finale to help Frank battle the Grim Reaper, but those scenes were cut for pacing and budget reasons. You can catch glimpses of them in the exhaustive making-of documentary Jackson later produced for the DVD because of course he did. In true Peter Jackson fashion, the behind-the-scenes doc runs over four hours long. For a movie about ghosts, The Frighteners sure didn’t know how to die quietly.
That obsessive level of detail was everywhere. Danny Elfman signed on to score the film purely because he was impressed with Heavenly Creatures, agreeing before even reading the script. The result is one of Elfman’s best soundtracks, albeit underrated. It’s playful, gothic, and a perfect fit for Jackson’s blend of the macabre and the absurd. The movie also features early digital effects from Jackson’s own fledgling company, Weta Digital. They had to expand from one computer to thirty-five just to handle the film’s demanding visuals. Even though the graphics look dated and reminiscent of the best Playstation 2 looking renders, those machines would come in handy a few years later when Jackson was busy rendering armies of orcs and hobbits.
As we stated before, The Frighteners follows Frank Bannister, a once-successful architect turned shady ghost-hunter who uses his ability to see the dead to run a scam business. His spectral buddies create hauntings, and he charges locals to “exorcise” them. But things take a deadly turn when a grim-reaper-like spirit begins killing people for real, carving numbers into their foreheads and pushing Frank to the top of the suspect list. As he teams up with a curious doctor, played by Trini Alvarado, and a pair of bumbling ghost sidekicks, Frank uncovers a decades-old killing spree and a personal connection that forces him to confront life, death, and redemption. all with Peter Jackson’s twisted mix of humor, horror, and heart at the forefront of this lavish production.
That’s not to say the production was all smooth technical magic though. Universal originally wanted a PG-13 rating to appeal to a broader audience, but the MPAA thought Jackson’s vision was “too intense.” They eventually slapped it with an R. Jackson was so annoyed that he went back and made one of the death scenes even more graphic, reasoning that if he was stuck with an R, he might as well earn it.
Casting-wise, The Frighteners is a goldmine. You’ve got Dee Wallace, the wholesome mom from E.T., giving one of the creepiest performances of her career as the damaged and deranged Patricia Bradley. Jake Busey yes, Gary Busey’s son, channeling a grinning serial killer energy that makes the movie’s midsection pop like an electrical storm. And then there’s Jeffrey Combs. Holy hell, Jeffrey Combs. If you only know him from Re-Animator, you’re still not ready for this. His portrayal of FBI agent Milton Dammers is one of the most delightfully unhinged performances in ‘90s horror. Dammers is twitchy, paranoid, allergic to human touch, and looks like he’s been mainlining cold brew and conspiracy theories for a decade straight. Combs personally designed the character’s Hitler-inspired haircut and protruding ears to emphasize his warped nationalism and trauma. The result is a character so absurdly over-the-top that he loops back around to genius. Every time he’s on screen, The Frighteners burst to life with manic energy. He’s the kind of villain you can’t look away from, a paranoid weirdo who steals the movie right out from under the ghosts.
Even with its strong cast, the film would still face an uphill battle. This movie would be scheduled to release in July of 1996, which was the same month as Independence Day. Jackson and Zemeckis had begged for a Halloween release, but the studio wanted a summer tentpole. The movie limped to just over $29 million worldwide against a $30 million budget. Not a disaster, but far from the blockbuster Jackson hoped for.
Some fans have since noted that the movie even hit theaters “unfinished.” The accelerated summer release shaved months off post-production, leaving several VFX shots looking rough. Jackson himself later admitted he would’ve liked more time to polish things. Still, what he managed with Weta’s limited resources was impressive for the time.
Of course, like so many misunderstood cult films, The Frighteners didn’t stay buried for long. The home video release gave it a second life, with fans discovering its blend of humor, horror, and heart. It became one of those word-of-mouth favorites, the kind of VHS that horror nerds would pass around like contraband in the late ‘90s. The DVD release later sweetened the deal with a two-hour director’s cut that restored several deleted scenes and added clarity to the story, particularly around the Judge and the final act’s pacing.
And, like we stated earlier, there was that behind-the-scenes documentary: a four-hour deep dive that only Peter Jackson could make. It chronicled everything from the early Weta Digital experiments to the emotional toll of shooting abroad. It’s basically a film school in a box, and a reminder of how meticulous Jackson was, even before he started wrangling hobbits.
What makes this film endure isn’t just nostalgia or its connection to Jackson’s later success. It’s that the movie genuinely works as a ghost story, a black comedy, and a supernatural thriller. The tonal balance is wild, shifting from slapstick to serial murder in a heartbeat, but somehow Jackson makes it all coherent. The film feels like a haunted carnival ride, constantly threatening to fly off the rails but always landing with style.
It also doesn’t shy away from real darkness. The movie’s central twist involves Frank battling with not a ghost at all, but the spirit of a serial killer who’s continuing his spree from beyond the grave. It roots the story in true-crime lore and these details give the film an unexpected edge, grounding its cartoonish energy in something disturbingly human.
Still, Jackson never forgets the fun. The ghost effects, though dated by today’s standards, have a unique handmade charm. The Reaper glides through walls like a living shadow. The cemetery battles play like supernatural spaghetti westerns. R. Lee Ermey even pops up as a literal ghost drill sergeant, parodying his own role from Full Metal Jacket. Basically, this movie has something happen every five minutes that delivers a new idea, a new gag, or a new visual flourish.
While the world didn’t appreciate it in 1996, time has been kind to The Frighteners. Fans now see it as a bold transitional work, the missing link between Peter Jackson the horror comedy filmmaker and Peter Jackson the epic storyteller. It’s filled with the kind of creative risks that big studios rarely take anymore and it’s also bittersweet. Knowing that this was Michael J. Fox’s final leading film role gives the movie an added layer of melancholy. Watching him here, you realize how much heart he brought to every character, even in a movie where he’s literally surrounded by the dead.
And then there’s that ending. Frank Bannister walking into the afterlife, finally at peace, leaving his ghostly friends behind and is then sent back to Earth to be happy and enjoy his life.It’s strangely comforting. Maybe The Frighteners wasn’t the commercial hit Universal hoped for. Maybe it got buried under Independence Day’s alien rubble. But three decades later, it stands as one of the most inventive horror-comedies of its time. A wild, weird, heartfelt movie that proved Peter Jackson could juggle tone, spectacle, and soul. Without The Frighteners, there might never have been The Fellowship of the Ring.
So if you haven’t revisited it in a while, do yourself a favor. Fire it up on a stormy night, dim the lights, and let those ghosts fly through your walls one more time. Because The Frighteners isn’t just a cult classic but a glimpse at true storytelling. A haunted, hilarious, heartfelt bridge between the past and the future of modern fantasy filmmaking.
And who knows? Maybe the real reason the studio released it in July was because even the Grim Reaper couldn’t compete with Will Smith and an alien invasion. But in the long run, The Frighteners had the last laugh. Because while Independence Day saved the world, The Frighteners helped build one.
Two previous episodes of Revisited can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!
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