frighteners

THE FLICK: Director Peter Jackson describes The Frighteners as his “transition” film; namely because it falls between his early New Zealand horror imports and the worldwide phenomenon of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. And that’s a pretty accurate appraisal of his first studio effort. For despite attracting a big time star (Michael J. Fox) and major Hollywood involvement (producer Robert Zemeckis), The Frighteners is a movie that heads off in so many different directions it ends up pulling itself apart at the seams. That’s not to say that the individual story strands are uninteresting. The film’s teenage serial killers (Dee Wallace Stone and the uber-creepy Jake Busey) are a continuation of the themes explored in Heavenly Creatures, albeit this time from beyond the grave. And lead character Frank Bannister (Fox), a supernatural con man who teams up with a trio of ghosts, represents the sort of high concept comedic riff Zemeckis is famous for. But layered atop one another, the tone of the movie becomes dangerously schizophrenic, with Jackson’s penchant for gore fighting to muddy the family friendly waters (I still have no idea why the film is rated “R”). Even more so in this Director’s Cut, making its DVD premiere after garnering outlandish bids on Ebay as a biblical out-of-print laserdisc box set. The additional 14 minutes of footage are an improvement, with more face time for Fox’s friendly spirit friends and a great sexually charged scene with Stone, Busey and a very phallic kitchen knife. It’s not enough to save the film, but provides welcome additions that round out the film’s chaotic cast of characters. An early example of fully-realized computer effects, The Frighteners is insanely ambitious in terms of camera moves and on-set actor / CGI interaction (something you really appreciate after watching the DVD’s voluminous extras). Jackson goes for the “wow” shot early and often, setting up sight gags and scare shots with equal enthusiasm. But, again, the jarring shifts in tone and pacing (characters enter and exit the film haphazardly) work against it. Except in the case of actor Jeffery Combs, whose fascist FBI agent hits just the right note of amusing psychosis. A great deal of imagination went into The Frighteners. And it tries very hard to be many things to many people. But ultimately its true success was in the laying the groundwork for WETA, Jackson’s New Zealand based visual effects company, which, when faced with a surplus of computer equipment asked itself, “Well, what’s next?” The rest is Oscar history. THE FEATURES: Flawed but fun films like The Frighteners seem to stand up well to repeat viewing. And they’re prime material for special features – more so than theatrically successful flicks, which seem somehow boring in their box-office perfection. As previously mentioned, all the extras here are ported over from the legendary laserdisc produced in the 90’s. The good? You don’t have to fork over a ton of money to see them anymore. The bad? Well, nothing really, because even though the documentary The Making of The Frighteners is over six years old, you’re not likely to find a more comprehensive dissection of the filmmaking process outside of NYU. Really...there’s a 1-minute lesson on “how-to-create-computer-graphics” that taught me more than the last 100 DVDs I’ve watched combined. Nearly four-hours long and produced by Jackson’s Wingnut company itself (not some studio muckety-muck) there’s a wealth of very well structured material here. I’ll list a bit of trivia just to prove it to you: 1) The Frighteners was originally pegged as a movie installment in the Tales from the Crypt series. 2) Anxious to prove they could handle the effect work themselves, Jackson had his crew work night and day for weeks to finish “Scene 28,” an elaborate ghost sequence, just in time for Bob Zemeckis on-set visit. 3) Tons of puppet and miniature work was scrapped after the digital effects group proved they could do it better and cheaper. This is just the tip of the iceberg, believe me. And Side One features even more supporting materials including storyboards of key scenes and a full-length commentary by Jackson, who also provides an all-new introduction to the film. All that and a free movie ticket to see Jackson’s latest labor of love, King Kong. This is a man who knows how to treat his films (and his fans). Buy it, already.