THE FRIGHTENERS
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1996 Scott Renshaw
(Universal) Starring: Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Peter Dobson, John Astin, Dee Wallace Stone, Jeffrey Combs, Jake Busey, Chi McBride, Jim Fyfe. Screenplay: Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson. Producers: Jamie Selkirk, Peter Jackson. Director: Peter Jackson. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
All those who worried that Peter Jackson's first big studio film would be a sell-out, please step forward to receive your slaps on the wrist. Yes, it is true that many independent and international directors have found that their first steps into Hollywood left something foul on the bottom of their shoes (see Kevin Smith's MALLRATS, Lee Tamahori's MULHOLLAND FALLS or John Dahl's UNFORGETTABLE for just the most recent examples). But none of them was as intensely and perversely original as Jackson, the twisted mind behind HEAVENLY CREATURES and DEAD ALIVE. Jackson's direction is still in top form in THE FRIGHTENERS, a comedy-thriller which, amazingly, works as both. Unfortunately, his story and casting choices are not quite up to the task.
THE FRIGHTENERS stars Michael J. Fox as Frank Bannister, a psychically gifted resident of the seaside community of Fairwater with a unique scam. Frank shares his residence with spectral cohorts Cyrus (Chi McBride), Stuart (Jim Fyfe) and The Judge (John Astin), who help Frank out by getting houses good and haunted so that Frank can step in and "exorcise" them for a considerable fee. It's a cozy little arrangement, but it soon becomes clear that there are other supernatural goings on in Fairwater. Apparently healthy people are dying of mysterious heart attacks, including the husband of new doctor Lucy Lynskey (Trini Alvarado), and FBI paranormal expert Milton Dammers (Jeffrey Combs) begins to suspect that Frank might be involved. Frank, however, can see the real culprit: Death itself, sickle and all, has come to Fairwater.
Robert Zemeckis acted as executive producer of THE FRIGHTENERS, and if you remember his DEATH BECOMES HER, you will have a good idea of what to expect. The visual effects are wild and entertaining, and sometimes decidedly creepy, like an ectoplasmic face which slowly drips down a tombstone. Jackson fills the film with great comic characters, including Combs as the only special agent in the FBI who makes "Twin Peaks'" Dale Cooper seem normal, and a hilarious cameo by R. Lee Ermey, playing his Sgt. Hartman character from FULL METAL JACKET as a ghost running a very tight graveyard. The first half of THE FRIGHTENERS is a feast for those with a warped sense of humor, particularly those who have no problem with the idea of the decomposing Judge enjoying...ummm...relations with a mummy in an Egyptian museum exhibit.
The main problem with the second half, quite surprisingly, turns out _not_ to be the shift from comedy to horror; in fact, it's not so much a shift as a gradual build-up. Bizarre comedy is a part of THE FRIGHTENERS throughout, but the suspense elements become ever more significant, until the conclusion becomes a sometimes rather bloody confrontation between Frank and a pair of killers including a wonderfully unhinged Dee Wallace Stone. Jackson knows how to make an audience giggle and shiver at the same time, and it all blends into one creepy funhouse ride.
No, the problem, quite simply is Michael J. Fox, or rather the decision to include a sub-plot for which Fox is really unsuited. In THE FRIGHTENERS, we learn that Frank was once a happily married, happily un-psychic architect who gained his powers and lost his wife in the same car accident five years earlier. Other characters keep telling Frank -- and us -- that he is haunted by that event, but Fox never manages to make Frank seem like anything more than a happily sleazy con man. His attempts at showing emotional turmoil are sadly superficial; I don't think I've ever seen someone look as thoroughly unconvincing while a glycerine tear rolled down his cheek.
The back story for Frank is just one of many bits and pieces which Jackson and co-writer Fran Walsh pile onto THE FRIGHTENERS, making it feel like just that -- bits and pieces. With serial killers, gun-toting ghosts, lunatic G-Men, snooping reporters and love interests all running around, THE FRIGHTENERS sometimes gets far too busy for its own good. By the time we get to a finale which includes visions of the afterlife (both the good and bad version), it actually seems just plain silly. Peter Jackson has a welcome quality in a director, which is that he always wants to keep his audience on its toes, never quite knowing what to expect, and he is ready to entertain them any way he knows how. THE FRIGHTENERS is ultimately a satisfying ride which shows that Hollywood hasn't shaken the life out of Jackson; now Jackson needs to shake some of the loose ends out of his scripts.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 supernatural born killers: 6.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~srenshaw
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