Throughout the last two decades,Peter Jacksonhas become one of modern cinema’s most celebrated directors. With his directorial work onThe Lord of the RingsandThe Hobbitfranchises, along with his most recent project, a five-Emmy-winning Disney+ original docuseries on The Beatles titledGet Back, it’s almost hard to believe that Jackson cut his teeth in the B-horror genre. Starting his career with cheesy horror films likeBad TasteandDead Alive, no one safive-Emmy-winningw his transition from gore-filled slaughterfests to Academy Award-winning fantasy films coming.
A few years before his foray into Middle-earth withThe Fellowship of the Ring, Jackson teamed with ’80s megastar, Michael J. Fox, and the two created possibly the most underrated film of both their careers, withThe Frighteners. While the film was seen as a financial failure, not quite making back its budget, it was decently lauded among critics, specifically for its fun performances from Fox, Dee Wallace, Jake Busey, John Astin, and B-horror movie guru, Jeffrey Combs. Jackson’s personal success with the Tim Burton-esquehorror comedy floppaved the way for his eventual work onThe Lord of the Rings.
The Frightenersis a great movie for fans of:
How The Rings of Power Could Have Been Different If Peter Jackson Helmed the Series
Peter Jackson is not directly involved with The Rings of Power, but the series could have been very different if he had helmed the LOTR prequel series.
The Frighteners Movie Is Now Streaming On Tubi - What It’s About
Tubi Is A Great Streaming Service For Thousands Of Underseen Horror Films
Peter Jackson’s 1996 cult favoriteThe Frightenersis now streaming onTubi, a free streaming service (with ads) that has thousands of horror movies available. The film follows Fox as Frank Bannister, a man who realizes he can communicate with the dead after his wife dies in a car accident. Bannister uses his talents in a grifter way, befriending ghosts and using their help to make money off fearful clients. When Bannister starts to see numbers appear on the foreheads of future victims, he begins to suspect that a dead serial killer (Jake Busey) is still killing from the afterlife.
Why The Frighteners Is Worth Watching
A Fun Horror Comedy With Fantastic, Campy Performances
Not only doesThe Frightenershave a unique story, but its campy performances, which recall to Jackson’s B-horror movie style, are comical and make the film worth watching alone. R. Lee Ermy’s Hiles references back to hisFull Metal Jacketrole, Dee Wallace breaks away from the protective mother role that fans were so used to seeing her in throughout the ’80s (E.T., Cujo), and Jeffrey Combs, who is a natural when it comes to play cheesy horror movie villains (Re-Animator,From Beyond), steals the show with his performance of Milton Dammers, a cultist-turned-special agent.
It’s great to see Fox in less of a babyface role, as his character is tragic, with no real motivations after his wife’s death. He’d rather hurt people financially than use his gifts to help them, which is, in a way, another layer of progression for this story.The Frightenershas an excellent final act and a great twist, which the movie doesn’t hinge upon, making it extremely rewatchable. There’s also a fantastic score by Danny Elfman (making it feel even more like a Tim Burton film), and it isn’t a massive commitment, clocking in at under two hours long.
1996
$30,000,000
$29,359,216
67%
71%
7.1/10
How The Frighteners' VFX Helped Peter Jackson With Lord Of The Rings
Some Of The Frighteners Ghost VFX Look Familiar
Though Peter Jackson co-founded the popular digital effects company WetaFX three years prior to the release ofThe Frighteners, it’s clear the movie was a major stepping stone for a company that is now used in massive releases likeDeadpool & Wolverine,Alien: Romulus, andKingdom of the Planet of the Apes. In fact, many of the effects used on the ghosts inThe Frightenerslook strikingly familiar to the effects used for the Army of the Dead in Jackson’s thirdLord of the Ringsfilm,The Return of the King.
Obviously, the effects in a 2003 film are much more polished than those of a lower-budget 1996 film, but withoutThe Frighteners' visual breakthroughs, it’s possibleJackson wouldn’t have taken onLord of the Rings. Like James Cameron going fromPiranha IItoThe Terminator, it’s amazing to see how far some directors have come in their careers, and where they started. For Peter Jackson,The Frightenerswas a fantastic transitional film.
The Frighteners
Cast
A paranormal investigator, gifted with the ability to see and interact with ghosts, runs a scam with the spirits he claims to exorcize. However, a murderous supernatural force starts killing people, and Frank Bannister finds himself wrongly blamed for the deaths. With the body count rising, Frank must confront the evil spirit to clear his name.
