The Frighteners

Film: The Frighteners
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Director: Peter Jackson
Year: 1996
Starring: Michael J. Fox & Jeffery Combs







Jackson has done it again (and by again, I mean he did it fifteen years ago.) Following up his gore-fest Dead Alive, he released The Frighteners. This also marks one of Fox's final roles as a lead character in a film, excluding his voice work for animation. Though significantly less violent than his previous film, it does provide a similar feel, but without a vat of Kayo syrup.

Frank Bannister (Fox) is a local psychic investigator, who having been in anear death experience, is able to see the spirits of the dead, and interact with them. During the film's first act he uses his abilities to con people out of money by performing exercises, which are nothing more but his ghost fiends moving objects around and spooking people. But, recently the city has had a string of unexplained deaths, all of which simulate a heart attack. Bannister does his own investigations, but the Feds send in their own paranormal agent named Dammers (Combs) to investigate. Because of this Bannister spends the film both learning what is killing everyone, and dealing with the insane Dammers in his attempt to possibly kill Bannister.

Though not as good as Dead Alive, this film is still enjoyable, and gives some nice horror elements, and atmosphere. But, there are some downsides to the movie. Fox's acting can sometimes fall flat, for as much as I enjoy his work, it seems lacking in some parts of the film. Though, I may attribute this to his having been diagnosed with Parkinson's, and perhaps on certain days during filming, his symptoms may have been worse than others. So, what few slip ups he has can be forgiven. Now, despite the presence of the great Marty McFly, Jeffery Combs is the best actor in the film by far. His performance is subtle, yet over the top at the same time, like his work in the Re-Animator series. Any scene with him is instantly comedic gold, but also just a bit creepy, he finds a good balance between the two without making his character seem fake.


Also, the fact that this film was made in the mid-nineties does work against it at times. It has much less practical effects in it than Dead Alive did, opting instead to use CGI. Being that this was in the age where filmmakers were starting the transition to more computer effects, their inclusion is obvious. Though in some spots they work well, for the most part they don't. Many of the effects simply do not work, and cheapen the look of the film. Perhaps if Jackson were to go back in and re-do the effects using today's technology, it will be much better.

Memorable moments:

• During a scene when Bannister goes to the natural history museum to try and prevents another murder he is cornered by the police. The frighteners then come and "haunt" the room allowing for him to escape. In the process of trying to apprehend Bannister, the police find a way to destroy almost the entire exhibit of artifacts, and dismember a mummy.

• Any scene with Jeffery Combs. His character is so fantastically written, and portrayed, with a mountain of personality quirks, with which Freud could fill an encyclopedia.

Dead Alive (Braindead)

Film: Dead-Alive (aka BrainDead)
Genre: Horror/Comedy
Director: Peter Jackson
Year: 1992
Starring: Timothy Balme & Diana Peñalver






This movie has it all: gore, a stop-motion Sumerian rat-monkey, gore, a Nazi taxidermist, a kung-fu fighting priest, and did I mention gore? This is one of Peter Jackson's earlier films, before he became known worldwide for his adaptation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Oh, boy is it ever so much fun.

The story is about a young Wellington man named Lionel Cosgrove, who is under the thumb of his over-being mother, who makes sure he only looks after her, and doesn't have a life of his own. While spying on her son on a date at the zoo, his mother is bitten by a Sumerian rat monkey, leading to her zombie like transformation.
Eventually the infection spreads to others, instead of disposing of the zombies Lionel instead does his best to recondition them for normal society by injecting them with tranquilizers to keep them calm, and having them sit around a dinner table eating custard. But this ends up being futile, and eventually Lionel's uncle comes and throws a party at the house, which leads to one of the goriest fight scenes in the history of film.

The film is full of incredible visual effects, which remind one of horror films of the eighties (Evil Dead 2, Poltergeist) where what you saw on screen was a practical effect, as opposed to CGI. If you don't have a strong stomach for blood and guts, then this isn't the movie for you. Throughout the movie (primarily the third act) you are treated to a smorgasbord of blood and internal organs. The zombie effects and make-up is in a simmlar vein to Sam Rami's Evil Dead trilogy, and harkens back to Romero's earlier Living Dead films. If you are like me, then you are unhappy with today's over use of CGI, as it all looks far to clean, and beacuse of that it just seems too fake. So, this movie will feed your hunger for buckets of Kayo syrup, and red food coloring.

Memorable moments:
• When Lionel's mother is killing the Sumerian rat-monkey after being bitten, a man has a quick look of disgust, then snaps a photo.

• At one point Lionel has to deal with a baby zombie; instead of keeping it locked away in the house, he takes it to the park and watches the mothers caring for their children, in an attempt to try and nurture the child himself. But, to no avail, and he eventually has to start fighting with the undead child in the park, punching it in the face, and slamming it against a swing set. While this is happening fellow Wellingtonians just watch with slight concern.


• This:



Overall this a fun gross-out movie that doesn't pull any punches. It doesn't take itself seriously at all, giving it far more credit than the majority of horror films made today. If you can take the silly violence, I highly recommend it.