Judge: Give it up, Frank! Death ain't no way to make a living!
Introduction:
Now that
Peter Jackson is riding high on the popularity wave with his gorgeous adaption of the
Lord of the Rings, it's perhaps a good idea to node some of his earlier works. In 1996, he directed, produced and co-wrote the film
The Frighteners, a horror-comedy starring
Michael J. Fox (in his best big screen effort since the
Back to the Future series). Not meant to be taken seriously, the movie is full of amusing scenes and events, and shows off some of the talent that enabled Jackson to successfully adapt the Lord of the Rings later on...
The special effects such as the creeping walls and the villain are very nice and help the film really come to life, generating a believable visual experience.
Story:
Frank Bannister:
I gotta have an out-of-body-experience, and I gotta have it RIGHT NOW!
Fox plays Frank Barrister, a former architect, who quit after the mysterious death of his wife, and now works a private detective in spiritual/psychic affairs. He makes a living by exorcizing houses his ghostly friends haunted at his request. But when people in the town start mysteriously dying, and only he is able to see a ghostly number on the heads of the next victims, he becomes engaged in a deeper mystery.
While investigating, he is aided by a friendly doctor (Trini Alverado), whose house he exorcised just before her jock-husband died, and hindered by crazed FBI Special Agent Dammers (Jeffrey Combs), who is weirder than Fox Mulder and Agent Cooper combined, and believes it is Bannister who is behind the deaths...
But the truth is stranger than everything Bannister imagined, and it looks like there is only one way to stop the evil ghost behind the killings, and that is to die himself.
Sergeant Hiles: What in the hell are you doing in my graveyard?
You have been told to stay away! Sound off like you've got a pair!
Frank Bannister: Yeah, well, it's a public place, Hiles.
Sergeant Hiles: I do not like you! You cannot bring your spooks here without my permission! Disappear, scumbag!
The movie also features a memorable "appearance" of R. Lee Ermey, who once again revisits his parade role of a drill instructor in this movie, but this time with a larger twist towards the comedic than in other films he appeared in. He appears only in two short scenes, but they are amongst the funniest in the film.
Frank Bannister: Catch you later, Hiles.
Sergeant Hiles: Hey - my tour of duty runs another 85 years! There's a piece of dirt up here with your name on it, Bannister! I'm waitin' for you, you little maggot!