Review of The Frighteners (1996) by Ecnered R — 10 Nov 2010

"When a man's jawbone drops off it's time to reassess the situation".

Well, its pretty obvious that Peter Jackson got better after this movie. This film has many good reviews, but in my opinion it's overrated. And this movie the way it is, if Peter Jackson directed it now, it would be considered a failure. But I have no doubt if he had to do a remake, it would be done a lot differently. This movie is clearly set in the USA, but straight away I recognised its filming location. The beautiful little town of Lyttlton, New Zealand. I know that, because i've been there. And I dont blame the filmmkers for wanting to shoot it there. This is classified as a comedy horror, well its not very funny, but there is a quirky and lighter angle amongst the horror. The biggest flaw in this film is the CGI, it just looks like CGI, every bit of it. Maybe that was on purpose, and had to do with the comedy idea of the film. But for me it doesnt work, and adds nothing to the movie. The story is a bit all over the place as well, but Peter Jackson's skill as a director obviously is evident, because I wanted to keep on watching. Michael J Fox is always appealing to watch as an actor, and a good choice in this style of film, but not a career high for him. This movie is not terrible at all, but will appeal only to a couple of kinds of people.