Review of The Frighteners (1996) by Robin W — 27 Mar 2010

Peter Jackson's first real Hollywood production is definitely his most underrated film, as it was made during his transition phase of achieving mainstream respectability with "Heavenly Creatures" and becoming an A-list director with "Lord of the Rings"; for whatever reason, this got mostly negative reviews on its original release, but it is a really well-crafted and entertaining horror-comedy.

This retains the tone and spirit of Jackson's earlier horror efforts, except that it contains far less gore and a much higher budget; the director makes the most of his first large budget as the special effects are terrific and still look great almost 15 years later, and despite its whimsical sense of humour, the story has a nice dark edge to it that prevents this from being just another "Ghostbusters" knock-off.

The film is also a good showcase for Michael J. Fox in his last major movie role before being afflicted with Parkinson's, and contains great supporting turns from its cast of genre veterans like John Astin, Dee Wallace and Jeffrey Combs, who pretty much steals the movie when he shows up halfway through as VERY bizarre FBI agent.