The Frighteners was released on July 19th, 1996. I remember this because the day after I saw the Frighteners was when I attended the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors here in Chicago. There was a lot of discussion about the movie since most of the people attending had seen it the night before. Then at the end of the convention, the crowd was asked who they would like to see the next time the convention comes to Chicago (which it hasn't dammit!) and the entire crowd agreed on Jeffrey Combs simply because of his excellent performance in Frighteners. I've seen almost all of his films and I agree that his role as FBI agent Milton Dammers is his best performance. Of course his performance isnt the only great ones. Most of the cast are awesome like Michael J. Fox, the beautiful Trini Alvarado, Jake Busey, and my favorite performance after Combs: Dee Wallace Stone as serial killer Johnny Bartlett's (Jake Busey) homicidal girlfriend. The film is about a Frank Bannister (Fox). After a car accident that killed his wife years ago, Frank has been able to see dead spirits. Using this to his advantage he enlists the help of 3 spooks to haunt people's houses so they will hire him to get rid of them without the people knowing that they are actually in cahoots. Fear is struck through the town when healthy citizens begin dropping dead from a mysterious heart attack. Frank witnesses one of these deaths and sees that the culprit is a figure dressed as the Grim Reaper. Soon Frank is being blamed for the murders by the police and FBI agent Dammers. Frank must clear his name and save the town by stopping the Reaper along with the help of his employee spooks and a young doctor Lucy who Frank befriended after her husband was killed by the Grim figure. I really love this movie and it was almost perfect but there are just a few things that stop it from being that way. The scenes where Frank is talking to his ghostly henchman made me feel like i was watching a kiddie film. It was too slapsticky. But aside from those scenes it is a great film and it was directed by my favorite director Peter Jackson who has also directed other favorites of mine (Dead Alive, Bad Taste, and Meet the Feebles). The music is so great in this movie that I even have the soundtrack. The awesome Danny Elfman did the music for it. The special Fx in the film are incredible with the presentation of the Reaper being the biggest enjoyment. And no better way for a movie to win it's way into my heart than play "Dont Fear The Reaper" somewhere in the movie which is the song that plays through the credits. Frighteners is a great horror/fantasy film with some great comedy intertwined with it.
****1/2 outta 5
