THE FRIGHTENERS
A film review by Jean Loiselle
Copyright 1996 Jean Loiselle
Ok, when I went to see Frighteners, I thought I'd get another movie where they're too busy putting special effect that they forget to put in a plot, like Twister. I was pretty surprised that it included some type of a plot. I am a big fan of comedy-fantasy-horror movies (like Army Of Darkness by Sam Raimi). I thought this movie would be more like a horror movie with some funny cliches like most horror-comedy movies. But actually, it was a lot like a supernatural thriller. While watching it, you'll ask yourself all the classic serial-killer questions like: Who did it? Who the hell is this guy?
The special effects are really cool but some are not for the weak at heart. One thing that I really disliked about this movie is that you keep asking yourselves questions about plot mistakes and such. For an hour and a half I kept wondering things like: Where did that spirit get that cape and blade thingie? What happens to the spirits when the Reaper "kills" them? That one got me going for a long time...I found some stuff quite disturbing like the fact that people can avoid going to hell simply by not going in a light funnel.
Also, some spirits were just too dumb to remember they could FLY! Like the guy who's getting buried and needs help, why doesn't he just FLY OUT? HELLO?!?!?! You can FLY!!
All in all, it was pretty cool. The super indestructible hero (who dies 2 times in the movie but always manages to come back to life) is played by Michael J Fox. He does his role well, but in some parts he just doesn't convince me.
So if you want to see a movie about a con-man shooting holy water from a water pistol, you know which movie to watch.
Eric Loiselle jloisell@infobahnos.com
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